[Earl]

Did anyone catch the Suze Orman show last night? I love her show and think she is brilliant. Last night was the most "holy carp" show I have seen of hers. She had a guest on who is $230,000 in credit card debt and her $990,000 house is mortgaged to the hilt. Suze suggested she sell the house, move into a 2 bedroom apartment and sell everything she owns and start over. the woman said NO and she will not do any of this. Her husband brings home 9K a month and they have 19K monthly expenses!!! Holy Carp, I can't believe people live like this.

So, does anyone else love Suze Orman? if you don't know her, check out youtube and see her videos, one of her segments is "can I afford it" where people call up and ask if they can afford a luxury. They tell what they make and have in savings and etc. She tells them if she thinks they can afford it or not.

[Kitty]

Wow, I feel a little better about my financial situation after reading about those poor folks. How on earth do you rack up $230,000 in credit card debt???

Anyway, I've watched her before. She's smart and has some great strategies for getting and staying out of debt. She's just a little too "hyper" for me.....after a few minutes I get annoyed and change the channel. She was on Oprah a few weeks ago and I caught a few minutes of it while I was flipping channels. It looked like Oprah was getting a little irritated, too, but that could have just been my perception.

I think she makes most of her fortune through her books and tapes...QVC has started selling them now.

[AfterMyNap]

Can't stand her!

It's hard to imagine being in uncontrolled debt, if I got anywhere near that, I'd never be able to sleep!

I can see how it could happen, I have self-imposed limits on all my cards, they hate doing it, but I insist on it. Yesterday a replacement card came for an expiring one and they upped my limit to a sum that's higher than my annual income! Gee, how can people go into debt so easily?

[NurseNancy]

she's a little gritty to take sometimes but she's so well versed in financial matters that i give her slack to hear what she has to say.
it makes "cents" to me.

i did see it last nite and that family is going to crash and burn soon.
and take their 7y/o with them. what awful values they must be modeling for her.

[Jules A]

I rarely watch it because a majority of her "guests" are bozos, imo, but for the most part I do like Suze Ormond.

The things I disagree with her on is that I don't feel she encourages people to pay off their mortgates early as often as I'd like to see. She also isn't as strict on people thinking its ok to take out massive student loans and not work while in school. I'm of the opinion there isn't any "good debt". I do think her message is very important even if only one knuckle head gets it.


My favorite book on this topic is Ginger Applegarth's "Wake Up and Smell the Money". I read that when I was in my 20s and it truly changed my life. It is just so important to live within your means.

[Kitty]

I haven't used my credit card at all in over a year now. It's strictly for dire emergencies.

I sometimes use a debit card that's linked to my checking account so it's still easy to "swipe the card". I usually stick to cash, though, and only keep enough on hand to cover the necessities. That way I'm not tempted to splurge.

I'm living within my means (don't really have a choice but oh, well...) and not accumulating interest or additional debt. It feels good.

I cringe when I see all those TV ads for furniture and stuff that you don't have to make a payment on till 2010 or later.....who wants to make payments on furniture that's two years old or older? So many people have good intentions of paying it off before the interest starts but other things happen and they don't do it...and that's what these companies are banking on. They don't want you to pay it off....

[AfterMyNap]

Originally Posted by herekitty

I haven't used my credit card at all in over a year now. It's strictly for dire emergencies.

I use one card for virtually everything I can, I am on all auto-pay and just make one payment in full each month. That's how I get my free stuff.

I have a few other cards that I keep for big-ticket items, I pit them against one another to get terms of 0% when I need something that will take a little time. I only do this when I am certain that I can meet my obligation within said term of 0%.

[Vonn07]

uh ... I'm with Kelly ... after a while - she does get annoying ...

I have no credit cards - learned to live without ... and am only $15g in debt .. due to losing my job after the dx ... but, heck - I'm okay - it'll all work out ...

[SallyC]

I never heard of her??? What station is she on?

[lady_express_44]

Sounds interesting . . . I've never seen her either, but I will watch for her show now.

"Too much of anything is not good for you, everything in moderation" . . . that's my motto.

At times, there was no way I would have been able to pay my daycare or pay my transportation cost to attend my job, or even eat, if it wasn't for credit cards. And . . . there have been times where I could no longer even afford to pay my payments ("creative financing" of using one card to pay another wasn't going to work any more ). That is when I would consolidate, and start all over again.

I didn't use my cards for outlandish "luxuries", but when it came to necessities or opportunity for my kids, there were no other choices at the time. However, I've managed to single-handedly provide for two kids, and they have been able to participate in sports, attend all their school field trips, and have birthday parties because of those credit cards. It was worth the debt at the time.

I am out of debt now, and I'll be back in debt one day. Swings and round a'bouts is just how some people survive.

Cherie