Author Topic: The $1100 car payment for cello lessons  (Read 14845 times)

madmax

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The $1100 car payment for cello lessons
« on: June 27, 2016, 11:42:15 PM »
So much fail in this blog post, I don't even know where to start

http://blog.penelopetrunk.com/2016/06/23/why-being-admired-is-overrated/
« Last Edit: June 27, 2016, 11:51:15 PM by madmax »

Metric Mouse

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Re: The $1100 car payment for cello lessons
« Reply #1 on: June 28, 2016, 12:06:05 AM »
Oh Mylanta... that made my head hurt...

Sylly

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Re: The $1100 car payment for cello lessons
« Reply #2 on: June 28, 2016, 01:03:04 AM »
His mid-life crisis car is a manual Honda Fit (Mustachian tendencies maybe?), whereas she doesn't seem to care that she got her $1100/mo car re-possessed or that she ruined his credit! I feel sorry for the husband...


Telecaster

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Re: The $1100 car payment for cello lessons
« Reply #3 on: June 28, 2016, 03:57:42 AM »
Great galloping Odin!  That was a train wreck I couldn't take my eyes off.  Here is another gem of hers.  I quoted the first one, but the rest are similarly horrifying. 

13 Ways to Keep Debt from Holding you Back

1. Compartmentalize.
When you’re saving for a house you still buy food.  When you go on vacation you still expect to buy a car in the next ten years. That’s compartmentalization. We compartmentalize our financial requirements to enable us to have a long-term goal and fulfill short-term needs too.  Get a money-allocation system in place that will keep creditors from calling all the time, and then stop thinking about it. Do that system and any money left over put toward your bigger goals.

(For a visual explanation of compartmentalization, see the photo up top. Last year I set aside the fact that our house is missing siding and I used that money to build a new section in my garden so I wouldn’t miss spring planting.)

2. Make deals and stick to them.

3. Give up the idea of retirement.

4. Realize you can take back the debt’s power.

5. Don’t stop taking risks – the price is too high.

6. Talk to your friends.

7. Forget about the dream of zero debt if you want kids.

8. Achieve financial security as a mental state.

9. Don’t use debt as an excuse.

10. Stop putting so much money toward your debt.

11. Just tell people you don’t have money.

12. Declare bankruptcy.

13. Wait out the terrible feelings instead of panicking.



http://blog.penelopetrunk.com/2014/01/30/13-ways-to-keep-your-debt-from-holding-you-back/

Jack

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Re: The $1100 car payment for cello lessons
« Reply #4 on: June 28, 2016, 05:26:43 AM »
WTF did I just read? Not only was the financial incompetence completely ridiculous, it jumped from topic to topic so incoherently it sounded like it was written by the love child of Ambrose Bierce and the dog from "Up!"

Elderwood17

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Re: The $1100 car payment for cello lessons
« Reply #5 on: June 28, 2016, 05:49:10 AM »
I am dumbstruck......there is so much wrong in here. 

patchyfacialhair

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Re: The $1100 car payment for cello lessons
« Reply #6 on: June 28, 2016, 08:10:51 AM »
So much fail in this blog post, I don't even know where to start

http://blog.penelopetrunk.com/2016/06/23/why-being-admired-is-overrated/

I clicked around; the author states that she has Asperger's. That's probably why her blog posts have no way of connecting to even a slightly logical person.

For what it's worth, I'm still dumbfounded by what I just read on that blog post.
« Last Edit: June 28, 2016, 08:15:34 AM by patchyfacialhair »

Kitsune

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Re: The $1100 car payment for cello lessons
« Reply #7 on: June 28, 2016, 08:23:02 AM »
Ah, right, she's the one who wrote that rage-inducing blog post about how girls need to be taught that it's ok to stay home with kids and earn less because a long-term plan of being dependant on a future husband for the rest of your life is totally realistic.

Right.

boyerbt

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Re: The $1100 car payment for cello lessons
« Reply #8 on: June 28, 2016, 08:28:53 AM »
"10. Stop putting so much money toward your debt.
Negotiate the minimum amount you can put toward the debt. It might feel like you’ll never pay it off, but it doesn’t matter. Paying it off does not actually change your life, and  financial stability comes from something deeper than paying off debt"

...umm, what did I just read?

NoStacheOhio

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Re: The $1100 car payment for cello lessons
« Reply #9 on: June 28, 2016, 08:33:29 AM »
Divorce. Good lord.

Sidebar: why was she in charge of the payments? Clearly she's incapable.

AH013

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Re: The $1100 car payment for cello lessons
« Reply #10 on: June 28, 2016, 08:34:49 AM »
I feel utter pity for this man.  I guess marrying her is what happens when you live in a town of 500 people and there aren't any better options.

What a narcissistic...well, in the interest of forum rule #1 I don't have any words to describe this person that are not derogatory.

Some of you commented that she's all over the map in that article.  That's probably because after reading her bio I'm convinced she has ADHD.  Volleyball player turned English grad student turned website developer turned math something-rather turned auctioneer turned blogger turned career advice giver turned economist turned rural farming housewife, with a healthy dose of MLM and website get-rich-quick schemes on the side to make her convince herself she is some successful business woman.

What I do find funny is her brand.  You're miserable where you live, can't manage your businesses cash flows, have trouble budgeting, and can't remember to pay bills, but you're going to tell other people where they should live and how to run a business and how to do math?????  Bahahahahahaha!!!!!!!

I have a feeling one day when her husband gets tired of her treating him like an ATM/slave (no, that's fine, he'll drive you & your kid to the repo place and get all YOUR shit out of YOUR car that YOU didn't pay the bills on f-ing up HIS credit, all while you blatantly state you're happy this happened while you shave your legs on the driver seat like a petty child taking your revenge out on the poor schmuck that buys your car next and your kid looks on) she's going to be involved in a "farm accident".  The world will have about as much pity for her as she had pity for the cat she killed because medicated food was too expensive to buy for it (can't dip into the $1100/mo car budget, can we?).

Sylly

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Re: The $1100 car payment for cello lessons
« Reply #11 on: June 28, 2016, 08:47:05 AM »
WTF did I just read? Not only was the financial incompetence completely ridiculous, it jumped from topic to topic so incoherently it sounded like it was written by the love child of Ambrose Bierce and the dog from "Up!"

I have no idea who Ambrose Bierce is, but that made me chuckle since the (non-)flow of that post does remind me of the dog from "Up!".



12. Declare bankruptcy.


This is a pet peeve. It annoys me to no end when I hear commercials on the radio encouraging people to declare bankruptcy as if that's not a bad thing to do. It should be a last resort, and you should feel ashamed. You just backed out on your word to pay back money you owe. There should be stigma attached to it (I give a pass on situations due to unexpected tragedy / health emergency, but we know by and large that's not the targetted demographic), but no.. today's society is telling people "Go ahead, run up your credit. Just declare bankruptcy and start over." as if it's perfectly fine to borrow money with no intention of fully paying it back.

deadlymonkey

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Re: The $1100 car payment for cello lessons
« Reply #12 on: June 28, 2016, 09:04:48 AM »
WTF did I just read? Not only was the financial incompetence completely ridiculous, it jumped from topic to topic so incoherently it sounded like it was written by the love child of Ambrose Bierce and the dog from "Up!"

I have no idea who Ambrose Bierce is, but that made me chuckle since the (non-)flow of that post does remind me of the dog from "Up!".



12. Declare bankruptcy.


This is a pet peeve. It annoys me to no end when I hear commercials on the radio encouraging people to declare bankruptcy as if that's not a bad thing to do. It should be a last resort, and you should feel ashamed. You just backed out on your word to pay back money you owe. There should be stigma attached to it (I give a pass on situations due to unexpected tragedy / health emergency, but we know by and large that's not the targetted demographic), but no.. today's society is telling people "Go ahead, run up your credit. Just declare bankruptcy and start over." as if it's perfectly fine to borrow money with no intention of fully paying it back.

I agree, but the people who just run up their credit with no intention of paying it back are the minority.  Half of all bankruptcies and are medical and another 25% are due to unemployment.

fattest_foot

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Re: The $1100 car payment for cello lessons
« Reply #13 on: June 28, 2016, 09:36:30 AM »
I think the most frustrating part is her complete lackadaisical attitude towards it all. "Oops, totally forgot to pay the bills for 4 months. My bad!"

MgoSam

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Re: The $1100 car payment for cello lessons
« Reply #14 on: June 28, 2016, 09:38:52 AM »
WTF did I just read? Not only was the financial incompetence completely ridiculous, it jumped from topic to topic so incoherently it sounded like it was written by the love child of Ambrose Bierce and the dog from "Up!"

I have no idea who Ambrose Bierce is, but that made me chuckle since the (non-)flow of that post does remind me of the dog from "Up!".



12. Declare bankruptcy.


This is a pet peeve. It annoys me to no end when I hear commercials on the radio encouraging people to declare bankruptcy as if that's not a bad thing to do. It should be a last resort, and you should feel ashamed. You just backed out on your word to pay back money you owe. There should be stigma attached to it (I give a pass on situations due to unexpected tragedy / health emergency, but we know by and large that's not the targetted demographic), but no.. today's society is telling people "Go ahead, run up your credit. Just declare bankruptcy and start over." as if it's perfectly fine to borrow money with no intention of fully paying it back.

I agree, but the people who just run up their credit with no intention of paying it back are the minority.  Half of all bankruptcies and are medical and another 25% are due to unemployment.

+1

MgoSam

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Re: The $1100 car payment for cello lessons
« Reply #15 on: June 28, 2016, 09:43:04 AM »
What got me was the comments, I felt like people were way too supportive of her, although there were also a good amount of facepunches.

vivophoenix

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Re: The $1100 car payment for cello lessons
« Reply #16 on: June 28, 2016, 10:29:56 AM »
the entire time it seemed like she was in another world.

she was shaving her legs in the repo'd car.

they talked about getting another car, and makes it seem like she forgot to make the payments.

but in truth it sounds like they can not afford the payments.

in the strange self analysis of her feelings she never arrives at that they lost a car they couldn't afford and appear to be living a lifestyle they can't afford.

she literally has no shame, but keeps pointing out weird artsy/educated shit, like we are supposed to be impressed that she reads the Economist, but can not budget.

this man put her in charge of all the finances but she has bad credit and 'forgets' things?

rockstache

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Re: The $1100 car payment for cello lessons
« Reply #17 on: June 28, 2016, 10:31:51 AM »
That was crazy. I'm sure it will be controversial of me to say this, but I'm sorry to hear that she homeschools her kids. I can't imagine that her disorganization does them any academic favors.

NoStacheOhio

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Re: The $1100 car payment for cello lessons
« Reply #18 on: June 28, 2016, 10:55:15 AM »
That was crazy. I'm sure it will be controversial of me to say this, but I'm sorry to hear that she homeschools her kids. I can't imagine that her disorganization does them any academic favors.

There's nothing controversial about that statement. She has no business trying to be an educator.

Canadian in KS

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Re: The $1100 car payment for cello lessons
« Reply #19 on: June 28, 2016, 11:05:11 AM »
I made the mistake of clicking around her blog a little bit. OH BOY. Save yourselves, don't go there!

Jack

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Re: The $1100 car payment for cello lessons
« Reply #20 on: June 28, 2016, 11:11:19 AM »
WTF did I just read? Not only was the financial incompetence completely ridiculous, it jumped from topic to topic so incoherently it sounded like it was written by the love child of Ambrose Bierce and the dog from "Up!"

I have no idea who Ambrose Bierce is, but that made me chuckle since the (non-)flow of that post does remind me of the dog from "Up!".

Ambrose Bierce was an author who pioneered the use of the stream of consciousness narration mode.

However, after having re-read An Occurrance at Owl Creek Bridge just now, I think I may have insulted Mr. Bierce by the comparison as it is not nearly as disorganized as I remembered...



I clicked around; the author states that she has Asperger's. That's probably why her blog posts have no way of connecting to even a slightly logical person.

Some of you commented that she's all over the map in that article.  That's probably because after reading her bio I'm convinced she has ADHD.

I have friends with ADHD and autism-spectrum disorders, and neither condition excuses this drivel. She just sucks at writing (unless she's doing it on purpose to be "artistic" or something, in which case she sucks at art).

LadyMuMu

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Re: The $1100 car payment for cello lessons
« Reply #21 on: June 28, 2016, 11:20:11 AM »
I've enjoyed PT's blog off and on over the years. She's blunt and driven and somewhat nuts. It's oddly attractive and enthralling. But this post makes me sad. She sounds seriously mentally ill and oblivious to the effect it has on those around her.

TheGrimSqueaker

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Re: The $1100 car payment for cello lessons
« Reply #22 on: June 28, 2016, 11:28:20 AM »
That was crazy. I'm sure it will be controversial of me to say this, but I'm sorry to hear that she homeschools her kids. I can't imagine that her disorganization does them any academic favors.

Or helps them develop any social skills. I read through some of her other self-absorbed maunderings and was pretty disgusted at how she gives herself a free pass for abso-flipping-lutely everything bad she does to other people. If her writing is in any way accurate and not intended as satire, she truly does not care about the damage she does to others. Yet she's got the gall to be devastated when there's some consequence to precious little her.

Here she is, painted into a corner and claiming to have no idea how she got there, when in reality she's the one wielding the brush. She's become an entrepreneur not once, but FOUR TIMES. Yet she still doesn't grasp that she's chosen a line of work characterized by irregular cash flow. She therefore has some choices to make.

(1) She could choose to learn the specific money management techniques that allow billions of people worldwide to live responsible and productive lives despite having irregular cash flow. Any adolescent of normal intelligence can learn to do this.
(2) She could choose some other line of work not characterized by irregular cash flow.
(3) She could turn over all money related decisions to a person with better skills, such as (perhaps) her husband.
(4) She could take an ultra-frugal approach and spend very little, allowing money to accumulate by controlling the outbound part of her cash flow.
(5) She could live in a very financially irresponsible way, but arrange her life so that other people don't depend on her to be responsible or suffer when she does something financially asinine. This would require her to not marry or have kids.
Or,
(6) She could choose to do absolutely nothing that required effort on her part, spend with zero regard to the consequences, take full advantage of other people's history of trusting and responsible behavior, and drive the whole family into bankruptcy while chirping that she's got absolutely no idea why they should be upset.

Guess what the self-absorbed clown chose? Yeah. The thing is that options 1 through 5 required effort on her part, whereas 6 allowed her to reap all the benefits while offloading the disadvantages and risks onto others who didn't necessarily consent to being conned.

She still doesn't seem to grasp that the root cause of her problem is not the fact that her cash flow is irregular. The root cause of her problem is that she is not doing what she must in order to compensate for an irregular cash flow. Every waitress, musician, sales rep, and entrepreneur know that the key to getting by with an irregular cash flow is to stash cash when the times are good and build up a massive cushion that will let them get by when times are bad. It's not rocket science. The solution of her problem is not to giggle, or to dip into her husband's bank account, or to run up huge monthly bills and simply skip paying them because she knows-she-should-but-just-doesn't-wanna. The solution is also not to deliberately cheat other people out of the results of their labor. She's oh-so-religious (but a member of a religion it isn't fashionable to criticize in any way), but she sees no conflict between the moral teachings of her own holy book and deliberate theft.

That's not Asperger's, that's a critical lack of personal responsibility. It's more likely some form of fetal alcohol effect. People on the autism spectrum can and do learn to give a rat's butt about what happens to others, if they've got enough brainpower to understand cause and effect. An Aspie who's religious is more likely to by hypersensitive about theft, or about deviating from how their religion says they should treat others, if they give a rip about other people's experience and wish to be treated with kindness and compassion in exchange. This writer doesn't.

She most likely shouldn't have reproduced, and should probably consider letting her children be raised by people who care about what happens to those who are close to them, and I do not just mean her husband and enabler-in-chief. Leading them to believe that infantile irresponsibility and conning constitute normal adult behavior is not doing them any favors.

slugline

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Re: The $1100 car payment for cello lessons
« Reply #23 on: June 28, 2016, 12:48:31 PM »
She was the one placed in charge of the family finances? The husband must be really bad at that!

Also, is it really true that a cello cannot be carried inside of a Honda Fit? I wouldn't have guessed those cases were that big. . . .

Kitsune

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Re: The $1100 car payment for cello lessons
« Reply #24 on: June 28, 2016, 01:03:48 PM »
She was the one placed in charge of the family finances? The husband must be really bad at that!

Also, is it really true that a cello cannot be carried inside of a Honda Fit? I wouldn't have guessed those cases were that big. . . .

I have fit 2 adults, 6 fruit trees, 3 berry bushes, 4 flats of vegetables and herbs, AND a toddler in a car seat into a Honda Fit. If you put the seats down, the back is 5+ feet long, and you get diagonal space AND if needed can squeeze smaller things between the front seats in front. I've fit a 2-piece 300+lb 1960s Hammond organ PLUS AN AMP in the trunk of that car.  A cello absolutely fits.

vivophoenix

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Re: The $1100 car payment for cello lessons
« Reply #25 on: June 28, 2016, 01:13:37 PM »
i thought it was pretty clear that she thought the Honda fit couldn't 'fit' a cello cause she wants a BMW.

i meant seriously: they run a farm( and live on), and she keeps 'starting businesses' with cash flow issues, so the practical car is a BMW, and the midlife crisis car is a honda fit?

for a stay at home mom, who home schools, and keeps doing new side hustles nothing mades sense.

too many bells warning signs went off in my head at this.

MandalayVA

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Re: The $1100 car payment for cello lessons
« Reply #26 on: June 28, 2016, 01:17:02 PM »
Wow, I haven't read so much concentrated batshit crazy in a while.  I'm borderline impressed.

Miss Piggy

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Re: The $1100 car payment for cello lessons
« Reply #27 on: June 28, 2016, 01:30:26 PM »
Anybody else notice that she offers 1-on-1 coaching sessions? Oy.

acepedro45

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Re: The $1100 car payment for cello lessons
« Reply #28 on: June 28, 2016, 02:05:48 PM »
What a trip her writing is. I guess it just goes to show that anyone with a distinctive voice and lots of determination can eventually make it as a blogger. There were occasional clickbait titles like "My kids are four years below grade level and I don’t care" but really, the blog is just mostly her rambling. 

I couldn't figure out how much of the weirdness was for shock value, how much was utter obliviousness, and how much was calculated through some strange level of brilliance.

Here's the story of her getting the Highlander that preceded her BMW. I love the "Lots of free hot chocolates" line.

Quote
I did such a lousy job of negotiating for the Highlander that car payments for the BMW are only $100 more a month. When I negotiated the Highlander it wasn’t a negotiation. I walked into the dealer and said, “My car has bed bugs and I want to get rid of it right now. I want a car right now.”

“What kind of car are you looking for?”

I said “Highlander.” I knew two people who had just bought one.

So I walked out of the dealer that day with a 2012 Highlander. Leased, with $800/mo payments.

Grace tells me I got totally ripped off, but that I shouldn’t blame the guy. She says I basically walked in and handed him extra money.

Okay. I get it. I panicked about the car and the bed bugs and I wanted to pay someone to help me. Which I pretty much did with that guy. He was very nice and helpful that day. Lots of free hot chocolates, for instance.


vivophoenix

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Re: The $1100 car payment for cello lessons
« Reply #29 on: June 28, 2016, 02:10:01 PM »
its gets worse


"The BMW guy had never seen a tax return for a farmer and he said the Farmer didn’t qualify, and Grace had to explain to the BMW guy that the Farmer could liquidate his farm and buy the whole showroom, with cash."


i could liquidate many things to buy other silly things, i don't think that is how you decide whether you can afford something.


 

MgoSam

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Re: The $1100 car payment for cello lessons
« Reply #30 on: June 28, 2016, 02:16:30 PM »
its gets worse


"The BMW guy had never seen a tax return for a farmer and he said the Farmer didn’t qualify, and Grace had to explain to the BMW guy that the Farmer could liquidate his farm and buy the whole showroom, with cash."


i could liquidate many things to buy other silly things, i don't think that is how you decide whether you can afford something.

And yet they were unable to make payments. Or was it because she didn't understand the 'importance' of making the payments?

It's not like they just show up randomly and take your car (I presume, never had a car payment), they probably give you a few notices before doing so. Does anyone know the procedures for repoing a car due to lack of payment?

acepedro45

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Re: The $1100 car payment for cello lessons
« Reply #31 on: June 28, 2016, 02:18:22 PM »
Vivophoenix, I see I am not the only one to get sucked into this psychedelic black hole. Check out this snippet, from when she first started dating the farmer guy she eventually marries:


Quote
The next day, he is very tired. He woke up at 4 a.m. because he heard thunder and he knew that the mother who has new twin calves would lose one in the rain. He went out and found the lost one and brought it back to the mom.

He tells me this story while we sit on the sofa on his porch. This is where we do everything. I hope we will make out on the sofa. But he is tired. And I am scared of being rebuffed, so we talk.

“How much would it cost you to lose a calf?”

“About $200.”

“You do all that work for months and months just for $200?”

“It’s not that much work every day for one calf. This is an exception. But bringing the calf back to its mother is not about the money. It’s about taking care of the animal.”

You can see where this is headed, right? We have this conversation 500 times.

Here’s another version, different day, same porch:

“I can’t move to the farm because I have so much more money than you do. I will get into the same situation with my last marriage. I will have all the power and it will be terrible.”

“I don’t think you have more money. I have more money. ”

“You made $15,000 last year. And it was a good year. I made $15,000 for one speech just last week.”

“You make a lot of money, but you spend it. You’re in debt.”

“It’s about cash flow. I have a lot coming in. I could have a lot. If I decided to be good with money.”

“My land is worth $2 million.”

“Really!??! That’s so exciting!”

“I’d never sell it. The land means way more to me than the money. And it’s ridiculous that you spend $200 on a pair of jeans.”

I wonder what that poor farmer guy thinks now when he reads that conversation.

vivophoenix

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Re: The $1100 car payment for cello lessons
« Reply #32 on: June 28, 2016, 02:23:11 PM »
its gets worse


"The BMW guy had never seen a tax return for a farmer and he said the Farmer didn’t qualify, and Grace had to explain to the BMW guy that the Farmer could liquidate his farm and buy the whole showroom, with cash."


i could liquidate many things to buy other silly things, i don't think that is how you decide whether you can afford something.

And yet they were unable to make payments. Or was it because she didn't understand the 'importance' of making the payments?

It's not like they just show up randomly and take your car (I presume, never had a car payment), they probably give you a few notices before doing so. Does anyone know the procedures for repoing a car due to lack of payment?

*cough*

in a former life

*cough*

there are multiple phone calls, letters and everything. she DID NOT forgot.

you can still even get your car back after they tow it, by paying the past due balance.

the fact that they went to empty the car out,  and not recover it, tells me, she did not have the money.


vivophoenix

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Re: The $1100 car payment for cello lessons
« Reply #33 on: June 28, 2016, 02:25:11 PM »
Vivophoenix, I see I am not the only one to get sucked into this psychedelic black hole. Check out this snippet, from when she first started dating the farmer guy she eventually marries:


Quote
The next day, he is very tired. He woke up at 4 a.m. because he heard thunder and he knew that the mother who has new twin calves would lose one in the rain. He went out and found the lost one and brought it back to the mom.

He tells me this story while we sit on the sofa on his porch. This is where we do everything. I hope we will make out on the sofa. But he is tired. And I am scared of being rebuffed, so we talk.

“How much would it cost you to lose a calf?”

“About $200.”

“You do all that work for months and months just for $200?”

“It’s not that much work every day for one calf. This is an exception. But bringing the calf back to its mother is not about the money. It’s about taking care of the animal.”

You can see where this is headed, right? We have this conversation 500 times.

Here’s another version, different day, same porch:

“I can’t move to the farm because I have so much more money than you do. I will get into the same situation with my last marriage. I will have all the power and it will be terrible.”

“I don’t think you have more money. I have more money. ”

“You made $15,000 last year. And it was a good year. I made $15,000 for one speech just last week.”

“You make a lot of money, but you spend it. You’re in debt.”

“It’s about cash flow. I have a lot coming in. I could have a lot. If I decided to be good with money.”

“My land is worth $2 million.”

“Really!??! That’s so exciting!”

“I’d never sell it. The land means way more to me than the money. And it’s ridiculous that you spend $200 on a pair of jeans.”

I wonder what that poor farmer guy thinks now when he reads that conversation.

i feel like we are in a book club,  going back and forth with our favorites parts. its awful

TheGrimSqueaker

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Re: The $1100 car payment for cello lessons
« Reply #34 on: June 28, 2016, 02:54:03 PM »
Anybody else notice that she offers 1-on-1 coaching sessions? Oy.

The fact people occasionally pay this woman to speak, while terrifying, isn't an isolated incident.

I once knew a guy who charged (and sometimes got) $200 an hour as a personal life coach. He was chronically unemployed, couch surfed a bit, and worked as a substitute teacher a bit because he couldn't get hired as a real teacher due to the lack of an education degree. He spent most of his money on seminars where he listened to whizbang motivational speakers talk about success. In reality, the speakers were raking it in from schmucks like himself. But in fairness, the guy did know how to keep his living expenses low to afford his one indulgence: motivational speakers.

This gent was what most people would call a "loser": undereducated, lacking in manners and initiative, disorganized, unreliable, obnoxious, overweight, flat broke, unable to keep a girlfriend, and not in the possession of marketable skills or assets despite being in his thirties. Now, the Chinese philosopher Wang Yangming once said: "to know and to not do, is to not really know." I'd maintain that the fact this dude was failing at pretty much everything was due to the fact he didn't have a clue.

Yet, astoundingly, there were a few people actually paying him a "discounted" rate of $100 or more for life coaching. Why is this?

His rationale was that sports coaches who coached elite athletes didn't need to be athletes themselves, just good strategists with an awareness of the theory and the ability to observe and communicate differences between what the athlete does versus what he or she should be doing. That halfway plausible argument looks good on the surface, and I suppose it's enough to convince the typical imbecile, but in reality coaching is a science that requires vast experience in the theory and mechanics. It also requires that the coach's skills be proven and tested in a variety of different leagues before going pro.

CmFtns

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Re: The $1100 car payment for cello lessons
« Reply #35 on: June 28, 2016, 02:55:52 PM »
This person is bat shit crazy... half of her blog posts are incomprehensible mumbo jumbo jumping around to random topics that don't even make sense to the point of the article

Quote
...it’s gotta be about $55K, which is what you have to earn in order to feed and clothe a family. No extras. Just that.

Quote
I get up to go to the bathroom. The flight attendant tells me to sit down. I pretend I’m deaf. Then I forget to flush. Sort of. It’s just too much noise in such a small space.

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Do you know what I love about being in First Class? It’s passive—there is someone who seems to be taking care of things: Feeding me. Cleaning the toilet. Making sure no one crushes the violin.

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I can’t see myself past that. Where would I be? I don’t know where I am. I am in a music lesson. (Three in one day, actually.) And I am on the airplane. And I am in the hotel.

But wait—I am not in a hotel. Because I thought I saved money for the hotel, but I didn’t, and then I had to make company payroll. So this morning I paid the last person and now I have to wait until money comes into my account.
« Last Edit: June 28, 2016, 03:07:28 PM by CmFtns »

ketchup

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Re: The $1100 car payment for cello lessons
« Reply #36 on: June 28, 2016, 03:54:28 PM »
I stopped reading at her missing payments on "the BMW" like it's not a big deal, and being upset with her husband for buying a "midlife crisis" manual transmission Honda Fit that allegedly can't fit a cello.   Wat.

No Name Guy

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Re: The $1100 car payment for cello lessons
« Reply #37 on: June 28, 2016, 05:23:29 PM »
Am I the only one to remember Ms Trunk from waaaayyyyyy back on Yahoo Finance.  She's train wreck first class.  'Bout as good a sense for finance as Ms. Olen is. 

Just laugh in her face and walk away.....

calimom

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Re: The $1100 car payment for cello lessons
« Reply #38 on: June 28, 2016, 05:27:48 PM »
Vivophoenix, I see I am not the only one to get sucked into this psychedelic black hole. Check out this snippet, from when she first started dating the farmer guy she eventually marries:


Quote
The next day, he is very tired. He woke up at 4 a.m. because he heard thunder and he knew that the mother who has new twin calves would lose one in the rain. He went out and found the lost one and brought it back to the mom.

He tells me this story while we sit on the sofa on his porch. This is where we do everything. I hope we will make out on the sofa. But he is tired. And I am scared of being rebuffed, so we talk.

“How much would it cost you to lose a calf?”

“About $200.”

“You do all that work for months and months just for $200?”

“It’s not that much work every day for one calf. This is an exception. But bringing the calf back to its mother is not about the money. It’s about taking care of the animal.”

You can see where this is headed, right? We have this conversation 500 times.

Here’s another version, different day, same porch:

“I can’t move to the farm because I have so much more money than you do. I will get into the same situation with my last marriage. I will have all the power and it will be terrible.”

“I don’t think you have more money. I have more money. ”

“You made $15,000 last year. And it was a good year. I made $15,000 for one speech just last week.”

“You make a lot of money, but you spend it. You’re in debt.”

“It’s about cash flow. I have a lot coming in. I could have a lot. If I decided to be good with money.”

“My land is worth $2 million.”

“Really!??! That’s so exciting!”

“I’d never sell it. The land means way more to me than the money. And it’s ridiculous that you spend $200 on a pair of jeans.”

I wonder what that poor farmer guy thinks now when he reads that conversation.

i feel like we are in a book club,  going back and forth with our favorites parts. its awful

The grist for the Mockability Mill is off the charts here.

Villanelle

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Re: The $1100 car payment for cello lessons
« Reply #39 on: June 28, 2016, 05:39:29 PM »
She said the BMW payment was $1100, and the Highlander payment was $800, but that the BMW was only $100 more than the Highlander? 

I wonder if at least some of this is trolling. Not sure that helps her get business doing whatever she does, but it would drive up blog traffic, which might bring in a few extra bucks. 

The Guru

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Re: The $1100 car payment for cello lessons
« Reply #40 on: June 28, 2016, 08:49:51 PM »
So let me get this straight: they have a BMW w/ an $1100 a month payment, and a Honda Fit....

....and the Fit is the one that is labeled "impractical"????

What planet is this woman writing from, and how does she transmit her blog to this one?

madmax

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Re: The $1100 car payment for cello lessons
« Reply #41 on: June 28, 2016, 08:54:27 PM »
Yeah, even giving her the benefit of doubt and labeling her as crazy, I'm wondering how her previously Mustachian husband goes from the guy who's quoted below to somebody who lets her control the finances.

Quote
I don’t think you have more money. I have more money. ”

“You made $15,000 last year. And it was a good year. I made $15,000 for one speech just last week.”

“You make a lot of money, but you spend it. You’re in debt.”

“It’s about cash flow. I have a lot coming in. I could have a lot. If I decided to be good with money.”

“My land is worth $2 million.


aasdfadsf

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Re: The $1100 car payment for cello lessons
« Reply #42 on: June 29, 2016, 12:32:27 AM »
A $2 million asset that generates $15,000 in income in a good year doesn't compute. Either the guy is a lousy farmer, or the land is that valuable because it can be profitably developed for other purposes. I'm afraid I wouldn't let sentimentality prevent me from selling that land. But then again, this is the guy who let his scatter-brained wife put a BMW on his credit, let her be in charge of the bills, let her dip into his income to pay the bills, and then watched her throw it all away and strand him at the airport.

aasdfadsf

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Re: The $1100 car payment for cello lessons
« Reply #43 on: June 29, 2016, 12:40:11 AM »
Quote
I have empathy for how he is way outside his financial comfort zone with me. But empathy doesn’t lead to action. In fact, empathy has been shown to actually undermine righteous action, which maybe means I have an oversized amount of empathy for him. But since empathy is really overrated, maybe I should preserve my energy for something more virtuous.

Holy fuck. It is astounding that this woman is still married. If I were in her husband's position -- she puts a pointless luxury car on my credit, dips into my income but still can't pay the bills, strands me at the airport, and then writes a blog post explaining how feeling bad for having just royally screwed me is a waste of her energy -- I am going to the county clerk and getting the papers before even bothering with the repo-men.

Metric Mouse

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Re: The $1100 car payment for cello lessons
« Reply #44 on: June 29, 2016, 12:50:38 AM »
A $2 million asset that generates $15,000 in income in a good year doesn't compute. Either the guy is a lousy farmer, or the land is that valuable because it can be profitably developed for other purposes. I'm afraid I wouldn't let sentimentality prevent me from selling that land. But then again, this is the guy who let his scatter-brained wife put a BMW on his credit, let her be in charge of the bills, let her dip into his income to pay the bills, and then watched her throw it all away and strand him at the airport.

You'd be correct. Farming is rarely a profitable career. It takes a special kind of person to work on a farm for years, knowing that you could retire if you sold all of the land and equipment, cashed in the grain in the bin and no longer have to have operating capital to put another crop in the ground.  And the ever falling food prices of the past several decades don't help.  Thank his noodley goodness that someone does it though.

AliEli

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Re: The $1100 car payment for cello lessons
« Reply #45 on: June 29, 2016, 03:02:29 AM »
Wow.  Has anyone else noticed this at the bottom of the page?

"Advertising and Sponsorships

I'd be happy to talk with you about advertising if your budget is at least $500. "

Who would want to be associated with this blog???????  And pay through the nose for that association????

TheGrimSqueaker

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Re: The $1100 car payment for cello lessons
« Reply #46 on: June 29, 2016, 08:02:52 AM »
Wow.  Has anyone else noticed this at the bottom of the page?

"Advertising and Sponsorships

I'd be happy to talk with you about advertising if your budget is at least $500. "

Who would want to be associated with this blog???????  And pay through the nose for that association????

A debt consolidation service? Maybe a payday loan company?

2Cent

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Re: The $1100 car payment for cello lessons
« Reply #47 on: June 29, 2016, 09:34:30 AM »
Exactly this:


NoStacheOhio

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Re: The $1100 car payment for cello lessons
« Reply #48 on: June 29, 2016, 09:59:23 AM »
Exactly this:


For a minute I wasn't sure if you made that yourself, specifically for this thread ...

Forcus

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Re: The $1100 car payment for cello lessons
« Reply #49 on: June 29, 2016, 12:38:41 PM »
She sounds seriously mentally ill and oblivious to the effect it has on those around her.

I'm incredulous after reading it. She's either completely tone deaf to reality or she is mentally ill (to a degree). The thing that really bothers me is that people read it and follow it.

**EDIT** I only read that one topic. I perused a few more and she says she has Asperger's / ADHD, etc. so I think I'll walk the above back a bit... not sure I want to sit here and criticize someone who doesn't / can't think like me.
« Last Edit: June 29, 2016, 01:04:29 PM by Forcus »