Washington Post Article is Bugging Me (middle-class, appliances, credit)

[nwlv]

The vinyl siding appears to be coming apart at the seams in that household.....Geeeeeeez. There are two billion people on Earth living in homes made of bamboo, they'd probably make better neighbors, too.

[Gottasay]

Well, foreclosures in the NOVA area are kicking back up again (Nova Home Guy: Resale Inventory Tight, Preforeclosures Soar), so there's going to be more pain before it gets better.

[ScranBarre]

Direct quotes from the article:

"How will they do it without traumatizing Hannah, 8, and Jackson, 3."

(In response to having to stop shopping at Juicy Couture and reflecting upon "redecorating" what is probably a newer McMansion). I was considering scraping as many nickels and dimes together as possible so I could receive home delivery of the Washington Post at my new digs in Herndon, but if they think that usage of the word "traumatize" was APPROPRIATE for describing a family that is going from living beyond their means to living WITHIN them for a change, then they are truly just trying to sensationalize things in order to sell more papers to those of a lesser intellectual caliber who honestly probably DID feel sorry for them!

"The twice-a-month maid service was the first thing to go."

What's so difficult about cleaning up after yourselves? It's not that difficult to make your own bed, load/unload a dishwasher, give the granite counters a quick wipe down every once in a while, sweep the front walks, etc. Hell, you could even by a Roomba if you hate to vacuum, and they even have an aquatic robot to clean pools now as well (friends in another nearby subdivision have one).

"We know now to buy dish detergent at Target because it's cheaper than the grocery store. We never thought about these things before."

HOW?! What did they do when they were fresh out of college with a job paying in the $40k range? Did they just leech off of their parents? Were they trust fund babies? How can you possibly be running a household with NO concept of budgeting? Granted as an accountant I'm more apt to do these sorts of things, but any IDIOT should know that spending a few minutes to clip coupons can add up to savings of hundreds of dollars per year.

"And hosting a dinner party -- that would cost $300 to $400. An $80 roast, wine, flowers -- all in, it was three to four hundred."

Amazing! My parents have hosted dinner parties for colleagues, neighbors, friends, etc. for much, much less than $100. Does this family's ineptitude get ANY worse?

"In February, instead of paying someone $1,500 to paint the inside of their house, Stacey and Michael spent $200 on paint and did it themselves."

So this family admits in a prior paragraph that they no longer give generously to charity, family, or friends because of their "situation," and then they proceed to spend $200 anyways to paint their McMansion. Nice.

"I got a vasectomy, and we looked into getting it reversed. It costs $12,000. And insurance definitely wouldn't pay for it. We've thought about it a lot; I always wanted three kids. But the bottom line is, even if I did get it, we couldn't afford to have another baby."

First off, why didn't you understand the ramifications of a vasectomy BEFORE you had the procedure done? Secondly, I'm sure there are many unwanted children in NoVA who would love to be adopted into a caring family. I plan to adopt myself someday (if it's legal for me to do so in whatever jurisdiction I'll be residing in). Why is adoption so frowned upon by so many people?

"It used to be, she'd be bored on a Saturday and she'd say, "Let's go get our nails done," and I'd say okay. Now, I'll sometimes say no -- or we'll go, but we'll only do our fingers, not our toes."

BOO HOO!

"I really want the children to see more of the world. That's been one of the hardest things, not being able to get them out of their Ashburn bubble."

Well WHO forced you to move to suburbia in the first place?

"We want the kids to see D.C. And I thought, the zoo -- that's a cheap thing to do. Well we went, and by the time we paid for pizza, two cups of coffee, hot chocolate and parking, it came to $100. We're not going to D.C. again."

Yes. What a brilliant idea. Let's punish a city because we don't know how to find a CHEAP way to enjoy all it has to offer such as the FREE museums!

"Everyone puts on airs. I call this the neighborhood of the Stepford Wives. Everyone's keeping up with the Joneses; no one wants to say, "We're in trouble."

Once again, who FORCED you to move to suburbia? This is what you should EXPECT in the suburbs. I've grown up in this same sort of environment of people keeping to themselves and trying to "keep up appearances," hence why as soon as my finances in my new career path permit I'll be high-tailing it into a working-class urban neighborhood where people care more about WHO you are instead of what's in your driveway.

"We have two college educations to pay for. And we'd like to retire someday."

1.) I've nearly graduated college, and aside from student loans (that I'll be repaying) and SOME help from my parents I footed the bill myself by working nearly full-time while attending school. Why do YOU have to pay for your child's education? Let them get a job!

2.) If you're already in your 30s and haven't started to save for your retirement yet, then that's YOUR fault. I'm already planning to sacrifice in my first year living in Herndon in order to max out the matched portion of my TSP (401k equivalency) contribution at 5% and have decided to invest in savings bonds as well. You should pay YOURSELF first through voluntary payroll deductions whenever possible and then learn to budget the rest.

The stupidity of so many people who earn so much more than I do never ceases to amaze me.

[Denton56]

There is NO WAY that a pizza and three drinks could cost $100! And their solution was no more trips to DC! Sheeze, not a clue how to problem solve.

Was this article some kind of joke? It read like something from The Onion.
Concerts Held To Wish World's Poor Good Luck | The Onion - America's Finest News Source

[Denton56]

Scanbarre,
No one adopts because there are no children under 10 available for adoption. There are some older, sibling, groups, and some children in their teens with delinquency problems, and some children with very severe handicaps who you might adopt someday, but there are not very young children.

Most people would like a baby to adopt, but there are only 7,000 infants in the entire US who are relinquished for adoption each year. Your chances of being chosen by a birth mother to adopt one of those babies is very, very, slim.

If you choose to go overseas to adopt a younger child, expect to pay $50,000 or more, IF you can find an available child. Many countries have closed adoptions to those outside their country.

Perhaps now you can understand why people choose to have their own children, rather than adopt. It's not prejudice against adoption, but the reality of the adoption pool.

Hope this helps!

[ChristineVA]

I'm still trying to figure out the motivation for featuring these people. I know that the Metro section has been doing "slice of life" articles for the recession . Most of them have been the normal struggles. As another poster said, this did seem like something from The Onion. All of the other Post articles seemed to show fairly responsible people getting caught up in the recession. They all showed how "it could happen to anyone" type of thing. These two were just bozos. And the guy sitting there in the photo with his Abercrombie shirt on. I just had to laugh. I mean a 34 year old father of 2 needing to shop for his clothes at Abercrombie and Fitch for his T-shirts?

To me, this couple just didn't have the common sense at all required to live responsibly. I wonder if they even have a clue that they are probably 5 minutes away from financial ruin. They are upside down in their mortgage and I'm sure their debt is astronomical although the article didn't mention that--they have to be.

These are the types of people that do make up a large portion of the foreclosures and it's very hard for me to feel sorry for them--whether they were asking or not.

They definitely had a "keeping up with the Joneses" mentality. If that's what it takes to live in Ashburn, I think I'll just stay in Woodbridge!

[Mike From NIU]

This article definitely made me roll my eyes, too. As for the Post, I am seriously debating whether or not to cancel my subscription. I've been benefitting from a $.99/week introductory offer, and now they want me to pay full subscription rate of ~$4.50/week. At $.99, the coupons alone saved me a lot of money (not to mention knowing what's on sale/store coupons in the Wednesday paper). I'm debating whether to cut back to Sunday only or turn to <shudder> the Washington Moon-y Times. Does the Times have as many coupons as the Post on Sunday?

This couple reminds me of the military couple featured on Sundays from last year who "struggled" making close to $200K. They just have no concept of a conservative living style. And I'm sure it's not just the mortgage that's sky high. Anyone want to bet an over/under on their credit cards? I'm saying $20K.

[athousandlogins]

I don't see why The Post should limit itself to only reporting about people who meet whatever definition of "responsible" that we're using. Since when is it good journalism to only report on people who make fewer than some certain threshold of mistakes? I imagine the motivation for the story is just a little bit of realism - like it or not, there are a fair number of people out there who are in that exact financial position for the same stupid reasons, and those people are impacting the economy of our region and the entire nation. Should we pretend they don't exist just because we don't like the way they have lived?

And again, it got people talking. In a time when people can't wait to brag about how they've already canceled/thought about canceling/are going to think about canceling, I don't blame a newspaper for doing anything to create buzz.

I don't think the point of the piece was to garner sympathy for this family. The reporter who wrote it up probably lives on $20K a year.

[becwells]

Originally Posted by athousandlogins

I actually think this article was a great decision by The Post. It's obviously got people talking (when was the last time you got worked up about something in the Metro section?) and, it's a very honest picture of a life a lot of people do live in our area. I can get international headlines anywhere on the internet, and insightful analysis from some of the more in-depth magazines, but nobody else is doing what The Post did this morning for my "neighborhood."

That said, yeah, I had the same reaction about the $100 zoo trip and the lavish dinner parties and the pedicures. WUT?! Well. It was a slice-of-life piece, not a You Should Live Like Them piece. Nobody says by putting them in the paper that they're meant to be role models. But despite their obvious cluelessness in some ways, I do like the family's attitude overall. They're not burying their heads in the sand or being complacent anymore. Maybe they're thinking about detergent several years too late, but at least they're thinking now.

The biggest laugh for me was probably the mother wondering if years of living like this would have a long-term emotional impact on her children. REALLY? I mean, there are too many homeless and hungry and abused children out there *right now,* and you really worry that your child will suffer from not being able to play every sport she has her heart set on? There are children living in war zones out there! Boy, do we have some luxurious problems around here, or what?!

I agree!

Although I find it hard to feel any sort of compassion for people like this who come off as being whiny and unappreciative and almost ridiculous, I think the article is a real reflection of what's happening across a lot of the country. Sure, there are plenty of people in serious need of help, who have lost almost everything. But there are also a LOT of people who are feeling the "pinch" of the economy in ways similar to this family, and they're cutting back on the same things this family is.

I don't find that this family was particularly frivolous in their spending. They were simply spending at a level that matched their incomes. Yes, people earning in the mid-$100's should be able to get a pedicure every so often. Yes, they should be able to drive a nice car. Yes, they should be able to afford fresh shrimp instead of frozen. Maybe they didn't need all that stuff, but there's no reason why they shouldn't enjoy some of the smaller, finer pleasures of life if they can afford it. Now they're finding they can't afford it as often, so they're scaling back.

I'm actually suprised at the level of outrage surrounding this article. This seems, to me, to be a normal family, making decent money, who are realizing they need to cut back on some "fun" spending. I don't feel sorry for them, but I don't think that's the author's intent. I think it's a very real story that shows what a lot of people are dealing with. Not everyone is suffering at the magnitude the media seems to always portray. It's not all doom and gloom, "I've lost everything I own". Some of us are just making little adjustments here and there.

[becwells]

Originally Posted by athousandlogins

I don't see why The Post should limit itself to only reporting about people who meet whatever definition of "responsible" that we're using. Since when is it good journalism to only report on people who make fewer than some certain threshold of mistakes? I imagine the motivation for the story is just a little bit of realism - like it or not, there are a fair number of people out there who are in that exact financial position for the same stupid reasons, and those people are impacting the economy of our region and the entire nation. Should we pretend they don't exist just because we don't like the way they have lived?

And again, it got people talking. In a time when people can't wait to brag about how they've already canceled/thought about canceling/are going to think about canceling, I don't blame a newspaper for doing anything to create buzz.

I don't think the point of the piece was to garner sympathy for this family. The reporter who wrote it up probably lives on $20K a year.

Heh. We're on the same wavelength. Reps to you!