downwithdebt

I am getting in to the Christmas spirit a little early this year. I went to a local store and noticed that the giving tree was full, so I picked off two kids this time.

I love these giving trees! And I will tell you why.

(Many, many years ago!)

I started out as a young mom and married, after 8 years of marriage, he decided that there were other greener pastures, and I was left with two kids and a father that was no where to be found, at 25 I worked full time and scraped by, meeting the husband I currently have. I re-married and he took the full responsibility of being my kids new dad, we had a son together right away. We rented a old farmhouse and I stayed home since it did not pay for me to work outside the home with daycare costs. What he made barely paid for the necessities, we received toys for tots and food shelf donations the first Christmas, we had absolutely nothing. I went to trade school for two years and we were broke. Everything we had was used including our clothing. ( I still like garage sales!)

I will never forget these times, we always wondered or worried how we were going to get by another day, but we did. A newborn baby and two older daughters. It is bad enough when it is just you, but I had three kids, and I was always worried.

I look back and wonder how we made it, and I always will remember out of know where a truck came on Christmas eve bringing gifts for the kids(more like necessities), and a box of food for us. And even a little gift for me, came with that, a small glass angel Christmas ornament, except we did not have a Christmas tree because we could not afford one. So I put it in the window sill.

This year I grabbed a newborn and a 17 year old, I went out and had fun shopping for them, I know that they will be very grateful for what they receive. I always get the parents something also, since I know they are down and out. I encourage any one who can to do the same, I know this economy poses some real challenges.

My kids love doing this also, I have them each take a tag off the tree for another child about there age. I have a big family in “today’s” standard, (6 kids) but I still find that our kids have more “stuff” than I would have ever had, and I am sure that I had more than my parents. It is hard for kids to understand when they go to school and see all the new, trendy clothing and electronics, there is another side to the story, where there are others who do not even have the basics that they need. By teaching our kids there is more to life than “stuff” we can help them get a better start in life.

Life is not “having” everything, or he who dies with the most toys wins.

I have gotten better on my quest to kick the Diet Pepsi habit.  I have tried several times to quit drinking this stuff.  I have found that I just can not drink it at all, I do not have enough self discipline to have just one or one once in a while.  The benefits to my wallet have been great, (In 2004 Americans spent 66 billion on carbonated drinks!) and I am sure that the benefit to my body will be much greater.  I always had a threshold of 3 dollars a case, and that as also helped since now it is not very often that you can find soda under $3 a case.  I keep telling myself that it provides NO benefit to buy and drink this stuff, not one!  Now if I can get the rest of the family to give up the soda, we have cut back quite a bit, one step at a time.

An intersting web sight on the  dangers of aspartane, splenda or artificial sweeteners in general, check out this blog .

I drank diet soda because I thought I was making a healthy, non-caloric choice and the flavor lent to a feeling of satiation.  All things in moderation, can be great.  But with me, and I suspect there are millions of others who drink it like water.  I actually drink it in lieu of water.  Not only was I ingesting a ton of artificial chemicals, I was dehydrating myself!

What is so addicting about soda, is it the carbonation?  The artificial sweeter or sweeteners in general?

There are several theories ranging from caffeine, sweeteners, and carbonation.  All I know is that it is really hard to quit and if you google “soda addiction”  you can find many others who also struggle with the same problem whether it is sugar or diet sodas, it seems there is a level of “addiction”.  I have tried to research what causes this stuff to be so addicting and I have found nothing.

Any comments on what you have done to help would be greatly appreciated!

I just started reading an excellent book called Born to Buy.  The cover of this book is disturbing, it caught my attention. This book goes in to the consumerism that is being marketed to our kids and how it affects families.  I was really struck by when the author looked in to families that were simplifying there lives that she found that virtually none of them had kids.  Just the fact that kids are so heavily marketed to and parents would not want there kids to be made fun of because they don’t have the right brands or gadgets, and how that influences parents and families to consume more because they would not want there child to be looked down on. 

As a parent, how to you “simplify” your life.   I here this a lot from other parents, “I want to give my kids more than what I had when I was growing up.”

The only way I could probably agree with this is if our basic needs were not met, I grew up in a larger family and although we did not get a lot of “stuff” we had everything that we needed and usually did receive one toy that we may have wanted.

What drives us to think like this? 

I would have to say that even “poor” children these days have significantly more than what there parents had.  Does that make them any happier?  Having more=happiness?

How can we teach our kids it is not all about who had the most and best treadmill, there is always something else out there that is better or more. 

If there is anything good about the down turn in this economy it is that maybe we will really now stop and think about are belief system and how we came up with it.  Maybe we will find peace in our hearts to say NO and we won’t feel guilty about it.  Our quality of life could be little better with a little less “stuff”.  And teach our children that having more stuff does not equal happiness.

In regards to one of my previous posts, I just want to say that if you have valid debts obviously you should pay them. However you do have the right not to be constantly harassed and threatened by collectors.

With that off my shoulders I also want to say that you should not be forced in to paying for something that is not a legitimate debt. If a collector calls you and says that you owe them money you have a right to request in writing that they validate the debt. What I mean by debt validation is the company has 30 days after you write them to prove that the debt they are trying to collect is valid. Which means they must have an invoice or statement from the original debtor as well as the dates which the debt was last active.

Most of these scummy collection agencies can not prove the debt is legitimate. These companies buy these debts off of lists that may or may not be correct and could be as old as 20 years. These agencies prey on you not remembering something and just sending them the money if they harass you enough. Worse they “re-age” the debt and put it on your credit report as if it just occurred starting the cycle of it showing up on your credit report for 7 years. These companies need to be reported you can do that here just click the state to get your information.

Check out the BCS Alliance for information on this here.

It still makes me angry that these companies that are known for there poor conduct, are allowed to put anything on anyone’s credit report! They should have to prove the debt is valid in order to be able to put it on the credit report. And worse yet you have to take the time and go through the red tape to get these items to be removed and my experience with the three big credit reporting agencies is they really don’t care and there is absolutely no customer service, but they will gladly “sell you YOUR CREDIT REPORT to you which they have”. I feel if it is my report I should have the right to it without paying for it after all it is supposedly my information.

Here is an article that says that 4 out of 5 credit reports have mistakes on them. In this down turn of our economy be aware of any of these companies that may be trying to scam you! Don’t fall for it and know your rights.

Here is a fun project to do with the kids or maybe the big kid in yourself over the Thanksgiving holiday!  I used this recipe to make ghosts for Halloween.

2 C. flour

1 C. salt

1 C. water

Mix salt and flour. Add in half the water, gradually add the remaining water. Knead until the dough is smooth.

For flat dough ornaments roll out the dough on baking paper. Use cookie cutters, cut-out templates, or just use your hands.

Dust dough with flour and begin to add details to the ornaments with a toothpick or knife.

Use a straw to make a hole so you can hang the ornament.

Baking: Time varies based on thickness of ornament
Temperature: 325°F.
Time: 1 1/2 hours - or until dry

Let cool. Paint with acrylic paints. Glue on beads, buttons, or any fun accessory. Use an acrylic varnish when everything is dry.