Letters to the Editor
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Keep yer traps shut
I'll tell you a little story.
A co-worrker in my office had a shopping problem. She was thinking of selling the house she inherited to pay for the debt, we screamed at her no, no, no! We live in an equity building city where prices pretty much never drop. That's the coast for ya.
So she got her debt settled, in order and is on her way to a financially sound future.
She had a super duper bestest friend forever who was also having debt problems. Well she'll help out her bestest gal pal, she knew what it was like, went through it herself and fixed it right up and hey, her pal even asked for help! They had a little agreement, she'd help her manage her budget and other things I wasn't quite privy to. I told this co-worker of mine, lady you are going down a no-win path. This is money honey, it ends marriages, it can certainly end friendships.
Guess what, in a few short months, they are no longer on speaking terms.
Keep your mouth shut. It's not your place to say hey, look at all this debt, you've got to pay it off before buying that fancy watch/ring/HDTV system. Hey guess what, when you are young, in debt and you know that debt is going to be there for the next 5 or 6 years or more, not ever buying something nice for your lover because of college and medical debt just ain't gonna fly and you figure adding on an extra year of payments for the bliss something will bring now, eh fuck it. So don't go on about their gift buying habits or how often they go out to dinner. You have no idea where else they scrimp and save and most people just want a little bit of pleasure in their lives and not wait for that maybe one day, unless cancer or something. They are young and still living in the here and now, worring about 20 years from now just isn't there. Let them lament their debt when they are 35 and still probably have 10 years to fix it.