While I generally try not to take notice of other people's sad FB posts, this one struck me so significantly, I couldn't turn away and had to share:
Acquaintance on FB is unemployed but receives some governmental assistance for a mental health disability (no problem there). She - I'll call her "Sally" - is married and has two children. For the last 12 months, Sally and partner have claimed to be "getting serious" about Dave Ramsey's plan - interspersed with impulsive posts about going out to eat/ vacations/ etc. (Fine, no problem, ignore/hide Sally's posts from my feed to avoid becoming a financial voyeur).
Then, a mutual friend 'liked' Sally's recent posts, which led me to re-look at her page where she:
~ is excited to receive their impending tax return so they can finally be at Dave Ramsey Step 1 (save $1000).... after what I assume has been 12 months of trying to save $1000
~ has just purchased a 47" flat screen TV from Amazon with multiple year warranty (the cliches run deep)
~ is excited to receive impending tax return so they can get caught up on backdated $1200 bill they owe the electric company
~ posts updates about her extensive tattoo artwork being done (for I assume, hundreds of dollars)
~ would like to grow their family by another child asap, but implies this will require financial and reproductive assistance. I get the sense this post was directed at an in-law.
and finally, the icing on the cake:
~ Sally and her partner have posted a link to a crowdfunding site (IE, indiegogo, gofundme) where they have asked others to contribute to a ~$15,000 goal for a down payment on a home
Via her link on FB, Sally claims people should contribute to their down payment (of $0) because of their recent financial turn around (?) and because they are a 1 income family trying to make ends meet.
I feel sad looking in on her life, but also astonished that she (and her partner) share these bits and pieces so publicly. Amount raised so far from family/friends: $0
Edited to clarify Sally created her own crowdfunding page