"Downsized": anyone watch this show???

[mrodgers]

And her brothers are just outright rude and need those smiles wiped off their faces.

It would be hard for them to wipe the smiles off their faces. Not everyone is cut out for an acting career. They are terrible actors....

 

[angwill]

It would be hard for them to wipe the smiles off their faces. Not everyone is cut out for an acting career. They are terrible actors....

I think it's great that they can smile through all that is going on in their lives. It is best that they survive it with a positive attitude. If they were all sad and crying all the time like the one daughter I would worry more about that.

 

[Kika]

Don't even get me started on Starbucks. It's not the caffeine she needs, it's the yuppie-boost of carrying around a Starbucks cup. Mustn't be seen without it, apparently. And, yes, sweetie, you ARE harming your children. Wake up and smell the coffee in your own kitchen.

I haven't seen the show yet, but it sounds like the actions of this mom are questionable, relative to the sacrifices she is asking the rest of her family to make. I'm going to need to check my local listings to see when it is on here so that I can check it out.

It's fine if you want to treat yourself to a Starbucks once in a while (or even more often than that if you can afford it); however, before there even was such a thing as Starbucks, and even now, people can buy 2 lb. cans of Folgers or Maxwell House on sale for $7 and can get over 200 cups of coffee out of that.

 

[Molliday]

I loved their financial planner.

The mother was a real piece of work in last night's show. She seems loaded with excuses.

 

[DisneyDizzy]

I had really been on the side of cutting them some slack UNTIL the financial planner mentioned that they spend $500 a month eating out. AND get food stamps. You could buy a LOT of really healthy food for $500. They were so unhappy about cutting out the eating out and said they would cut it to $200 a month but that would only be going out twice!

My husband and I both kept saying, drink some Maxwell House, it won't kill you.

 

[DoomBuggy0922]

I love Starbucks as much as the next gal... but really? Can't she just buy a pound and brew it at home? She can even get a reusable Starbucks coffee mug for goodness sake!

I did kind of empathize with Baily... I know she's acting like a brat, but she's only 16--- so, to her, moving is, "like, the worst thing ever."

 

[graygables]

I think it's great that they can smile through all that is going on in their lives. It is best that they survive it with a positive attitude. If they were all sad and crying all the time like the one daughter I would worry more about that.

It's not a positive attitude smile, it's a mean, making fun of other people smile as in when Bailey was crying at the thought of moving away and the brothers got a kick out of breaking the closet door. They laugh it off and think nothing of the seriousness of the situation.

AND...how those boys were behaving at their "job" fooling around and eating all of the food? If I were the boss, they'd be on the street looking for something else.

 

[softychik]

I do not have WE and cannot watch the show, so please forgive my Monday Morning Quarterbacking...

While true that any ol' coffee should do...and I should not that I abhor the taste of coffee with a passion...mocha flavored ice cream even grosses me out and Kahlua better not be anywhere near my adult beverages...BLEK!

It seems her emotional attachment is high. When one is very sick or suffers from a long term condition, their attachment to vices may be stronger. I can relate because I was pregnant last year and we ate "out" bunches due to my sensitive stomach/hyperemisis. My husband had been laid off last Nov 1 and my birthday was Nov 10. He still got me my Texas Roadhouse for dinner..but we downsized and I was the only one who got a meal. The kids understood and my tummy was happy with the steak. He did not have a new job yet and we negotiated a temporary hardship reduction in our mortgage. (basically a 1 year interest rate deduction) to help us stretch our pennies further. Now--O could have done without it...but eating was difficult, plans were ruined anyway due to my illness...but I got my steak and ate it to.

He began a new job Dec 1 (he had had found the job within a week of layoff, and things moved fast when he was hired).

Our budget was stretched beyond capacity...but I had my reasons for eating the way we did.

I'm sure the mom has her reasons for the starbucks. Downsizing has a learning curve. Short of a true emergency (credit frozen, bank account empty forcing one to hit a soup kitchen)...there is a learning curve. It is easy to sit from the comfort of one's home and judge these people. It is truly about baby steps.

Perhaps she could try making starbucks at home? Surely while it isn't the same, she can try to replicate some of that, couldn't she?

Our family has downsized...but not by the standards of some here. We sill own our second house (unsellable and short selling is not an option), and my kids still do all of their activities. We have cut other things as we go for a more crisp bottom line. But it is a process. We have significantly reduced eating out, changed spending habits and bringing a whole new meaning to couponing. We live in a more expensive area but with a lot of grocers and I feel that we have hit the couponing/sales motherload. We have already experieneced a significant reduction in grocery spending just in 2 months.

Anyway--I wish I could watch the show and appreciate folks posting a synopsis. .

I thought the 3000 dollars was money they had borrowed from the kids over the course of the year...because she said we have to pay them back we dont know when we will

 

[dschnelz]

I too was VERY taken aback by her snotty comments about her teachers salary.

The show was eye opening for me, I just watched it last night at like midnight and I had a tough time falling asleep after it.

I understand how people question them living in a nice home, but with that said it is RENTED and we don't know for how much. And if you watched the clips for the coming weeks episode, they are going to look for a smaller house. Of course they are like almost any parent who wants to maintain the home so the kids have something they can count on.

I will continue to watch....I am interested to hear what her "secret" next week is?!?!

It is so refreshing to hear from another teacher regarding "low pay". I too am a teacher and I feel so lucky to only have to work 190 days out of the year! If you were to take her salary of $39,000 for 190 days and had her work the actual 260 days that most people work (like my husband), her salary would be around $50,000 - that doesn't look like peanuts to me.

 

[Schachteles]

it is so refreshing to hear from another teacher regarding "low pay". I too am a teacher and i feel so lucky to only have to work 190 days out of the year! If you were to take her salary of $39,000 for 190 days and had her work the actual 260 days that most people work (like my husband), her salary would be around $50,000 - that doesn't look like peanuts to me.

amen!!

 

[graygables]

It is so refreshing to hear from another teacher regarding "low pay". I too am a teacher and I feel so lucky to only have to work 190 days out of the year! If you were to take her salary of $39,000 for 190 days and had her work the actual 260 days that most people work (like my husband), her salary would be around $50,000 - that doesn't look like peanuts to me.

As a former teacher myself, THANK YOU! I taught summer school and even night school to bring my salary up to the full-year level. I used to do the math all the time and wonder what people were complaining about, but always got a kick in the teeth if I ever pointed it out.

 

[allison443]

It is so refreshing to hear from another teacher regarding "low pay". I too am a teacher and I feel so lucky to only have to work 190 days out of the year! If you were to take her salary of $39,000 for 190 days and had her work the actual 260 days that most people work (like my husband), her salary would be around $50,000 - that doesn't look like peanuts to me.

Please post this on one of the threads discussing teachers' salaries some time. There would be an explosion.

 

[angwill]

As a former teacher myself, THANK YOU! I taught summer school and even night school to bring my salary up to the full-year level. I used to do the math all the time and wonder what people were complaining about, but always got a kick in the teeth if I ever pointed it out.

lol Some people will never be happy with what they make. I love the way she started to cry about how she makes less than teachers made in 1972 and the FP cut her right off.

 

[barbarabini]

The starbucks has got to go. I have this nifty little thing called a coffee maker -- for which i fill with maxwell house for 1.99 on sale. Then, I use this other nifty thing called a "travel mug" - place it in my car and bring it with me. I buy the flavored creamers when I am in a spendy mood.

(2) why not cut out dining out -- we had pizza night at our house growing up. Sat on the floor and got to eat pizza picnic style. Its cheaper than 200 a month.

Obviously they are in trouble, but they could cut these things to try to keep ahead.

 

[Schachteles]

The starbucks has got to go. I have this nifty little thing called a coffee maker -- for which i fill with maxwell house for 1.99 on sale. Then, I use this other nifty thing called a "travel mug" - place it in my car and bring it with me. I buy the flavored creamers when I am in a spendy mood.

(2) why not cut out dining out -- we had pizza night at our house growing up. Sat on the floor and got to eat pizza picnic style. Its cheaper than 200 a month.

Obviously they are in trouble, but they could cut these things to try to keep ahead.

The eating out FLOORED me...our family eats out way too much, but we can afford our mortgage. If we weren't able to, I would stop eating out before I would move. And honestly I think the kids would understand not eating out if they didn't have to change schools. I was amazed at their "need" for the extras when they couldn't even afford the basics. There is just NO way!

 

[disneymom3]

I saw that she has MS, and that has to be a struggle...but maybe she should limit the Starbucks to like once a week. And the eating out-wow. They did a lot of that, and I know it's expensive, since we are seven people. Dh and I both have jobs and we limit it to twice a month max. Did they end up with a cheaper rental? I fell asleep during the house hunting.

I have MS too and can understnd much more readily the eating out issue than the coffee. MAking coffee at home is as easy as it gets but by the end of a busy day, making dinner about takes it all out of me. My kids have cereal more often than I care to admit. My poor husband is a saint.

The starbucks has got to go. I have this nifty little thing called a coffee maker -- for which i fill with maxwell house for 1.99 on sale. Then, I use this other nifty thing called a "travel mug" - place it in my car and bring it with me. I buy the flavored creamers when I am in a spendy mood.

(2) why not cut out dining out -- we had pizza night at our house growing up. Sat on the floor and got to eat pizza picnic style. Its cheaper than 200 a month.

Obviously they are in trouble, but they could cut these things to try to keep ahead.

You are so innovative! What are these new fangled inventions you speak of??

Oh yeah, we hvae pizza a lot too. For $5.99 I can get a Papa Murhpys family sized pizza (with coupons ) And it takes NO energy. Thankfully we all like pizza. Cut up some fruit or make a salad and we are good to go.

 

[Colleen27]

It seems to me that the government could spend some of my tax dollars wisely by creating a "Guide to Getting the Most From Your Food Stamps", including couponing, recipes, buying generics, following sales, etc. For most of us, on this board particularly, those things come naturally, but we had to learn it somewhere. I learned from my parents, but also from my own early experiences on a "frugal living" message board. Some people never learn it, just as these people never did. I can't believe the financial planner had to be the one to bring up coupons (and I had already noted the canned biscuits, bagged salads, etc).

I'm usually the first to point out all the reasons why families on food stamps don't necessarily make good choices (too much time spent in Detroit, where there isn't a real grocery so all the couponing and watching sales in the world is wasted unless you have transportation to follow through), but this family sure seems to need something. They really don't seem to get it, and the mom is the worst. She seems more to be looking for a way to get by until things get back to "normal" than trying to learn to live within their current means.

Dad's not out pounding the pavement, he's waiting for work to come to him. He is exactly like my own hubby and it makes me insane, which is one of the reasons I live 1,000 miles away from him. I just can't take the "no follow-up", "no gumption" thing anymore.

Yeah, that struck me too. My DH is in the same business, albeit on a much smaller scale, and when there's no work he's calling friends in the industry for daywork, networking in the community, volunteering with Habitat to make new connections, etc. He doesn't just sit here and wait for the phone to ring and then complain that we don't have enough money coming in.

 

[Jeninindy]

After this past episode, I lost any sympathy for them.

The financial planner thing was just crazy. $500/month EATING OUT???? A Starbucks addiction that cannot be curbed because she has MS???? $145/mo for cheerleading when you cannot pay your rent????? And you getting food stamps????

If you can spend $500/mo eating out - figure at least $200/mo on your starbucks addiction and spend $145/mo on cheerleading, then you should not be receiving government assistance.

Cook supper, make your own coffee and sorry, you cannot afford cheerleading.

I don't care if the kids like eating out.....that mom is behaving like a spoiled brat. I can understand that in a 16 year old, not in the mother.

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.......

 

[happygirl]

I like how the planner called them out on stuff. I think the mom needs a good ole reality check, coffee or being homeless. I think the hubby gets it now she needs to get it

 

[herdtoDisney]

I can understand the mother being too tired to cook at night-she works all day and has MS. However, she needs to be utilizing the help she has in that house, namely the teen kids. There are enough kids so that they could rotate cooking simple meals that mom could plan for. Give each kid a weekday and let him/her cook-it could be simple foods like baked chicken or burgers, with a salad and noodles. Or pasta and jar sauce and salad. Keep it simple and cheap and let them do it-this removes the temptation to go spend $500 on eating out.