Season 6 Blogs: Episode 7
While Gail will not be able to answer questions posted on slice.ca, you can visit her personal blog here.
Debt, the Damsel, and the Doofus: Angela & Gord
Angela would be a good candidate for my new show, Princess. At 26, Angela is still living at home rent free, planning a wedding (or two?), and having a baby. Mommy and Daddy have done everything to help Angela. Now Gord, her trusting husband-to-be, is stepping into the fray.
It’s easy to have a soft spot for Gord. He’s a happy fellow who made some mistakes but is working hard to solve his problems. His big vice is food. He loves to eat. And he loves to have a good time. He maxed out three credit cards in his party-hardy years. He says of Angela and himself, “She’s the brains. I’m the brawns.” He has no real sense of the mess Angela is making of her life and what will be “their” life.
Angela hides purchases and bills from Gord because she doesn’t want to have to answer his questioning her spending. Thirty-six-hundred dollars on a set of pots and pans? Really? She controls everything and is then resentful that Gord just leaves it to her.
She tells him he has a $200 budget for his tux rental but leaves out the $2,000 budget for her bridal gown for Wedding #1. You see, Angela is planning two weddings. Mommy and Daddy are throwing in a pot of money so Angela will be married before the baby comes. The second $40,000 blow-out comes later. And she still hasn’t told Gord about the second wedding dress for $6,000.
So despite having more than $52,000 in debt between them, four-fifths of which is Angela’s, she’s ready to rack up some more to par-tay.
Oh, let’s not forget that there’s a baby coming.
According to The Book of Gail: Letting adult working children live at home rent free is just dumb. They get used to having money to spend on crap and then when they have to take on the responsibilities of being self-sufficient, they can’t curtail their spending.
Gail’s to Do: Adult working children who live at home and spend every cent they make on fun and frolic are parasites. Shame! If you have adult children living at home, make ’em pay rent. If you don’t need the money to keep your budget balanced, set it aside as a gift to help them with a down payment, a honeymoon, or whatever else turns your crank. In the meantime, they’ll learn to live on a reasonable amount of disposable income so they won’t feel the pinch and wrack up debt once they’re finally on their own.