Debt Diet Oprah show

[Ima saver]

Oprah is doing a show today, titled the debt diet. It will be on again next Friday, feb. 24th. What do you think about it? David Bach is on this one. One couple eats out 3 times a day to the tune of $100 a day. Makes me feel a little better.
Step one: calculate your debt
step two track your spending
step three learn the credit card game
step four stop spending.

[sweeps]

I probably will miss the show. What is the credit card game?

[flash]

Seems like step 4 should be higher on the list!

[Ima saver]

She says you can go to oprah.com and learn all about it, even sign up for the debt diet america. Credit card game is learning to move all your old balances to low paying or 0 credit cards. Problem is, that is hard to do if you have bad credit.
They featured 3 families that they are going to try and help and will follow on her website.

[him&her]

She does shows like this at least once a year. That's where we first saw Suze Orman. Good advice for one show, but Oprah is the queen of a media conglomerate! It's hard to take her seriously when she peddles her stuff to the very same audience. I appreciate the effort, though.

[Ima saver]

Shows like this make me feel a lot better about myself.

[Snoopy2645]

I know what you mean makes me feel 100% better about myself when I see this on her show. I think they should talk about more ways you can cut back for example on her sight tells about buying cards cheaper how about printing your own thats what I do. And how about teaching people to coupon rebate & shop out of season for clothes. I dont know things like that. And driving cars that are like say 5-10 years old instead of brand new.

[Tree0164]

I wish I have seen this. She has had Dave Bach on before! I will have to check out her site.

[dwallyfam]

I saw part of it. One couple made over 100K and they couldn't live on it. I was so dumbfoundedby the consumerism of these people. To me this was as bad as showing the people who couldn't clean their houses.

[Ima saver]

I was shocked over the first couple. They made $102,000 a year and spent $100 a day in take out food. She would not wash dishes, so they had paper plates, cups, forks, etc. They had 5 cars. She spends $8000 a year on her hair.
When the bills come, she just throws them away.lots of her bills have been turned over to the collectors.

[Snoopy2645]

I know how could you even eat $100 in food a day I am not sure my family of 5 could do that if we tried!!!

And 5 cars why does any family even need 2 really we had 1 for years & we bothed worked ft also!!

[baselle]

Originally Posted by Ima saver

I was shocked over the first couple. They made $102,000 a year and spent $100 a day in take out food. She would not wash dishes, so they had paper plates, cups, forks, etc. They had 5 cars. She spends $8000 a year on her hair.
When the bills come, she just throws them away.lots of her bills have been turned over to the collectors.

Wow. What are they eating and where are they getting takeout? Or are they just really really good tippers?

Gosh, I miss the concept of the poorhouse for these people.

[robex]

We have friends who are just like this couple. When the husband was suddenly terminated from his $120,000 a year job, well, you can imagine what happened...trust me, it was not pretty!

him&her--we joke that our house is divorce free because whomever leaves has to take the children, so neither one of us will be going anywhere!

[PrincessPerky]

One very useful thing learned - 100 a day is reasonable estimate for eating when on vacation .

I only cought part of it, but it seemed the denial is the hardest to get thru. Admitting the problem before you can fix it.

[frugalfarmwife]

OK, I'm sorry but 7,000 a year on her hair? YIKES!!! I run my household (with the exception of mortgage) on less than that! GEEZ!!! That covers my groceries, heat, phone and electric on a farm and then some!!!

kj

[cercis]

Rachel Ray's show is all about eating out on $50/day - for one person. So, going by that, $100 a day would be easy to do.

When DH travels for his job, his food per diem is $60/day ($5 for b'fast, $10 for lunch and $15 for dinner). They don't make him show a receipt so he gets the $60 but generally does it for $20/day or less (he tries to book hotels with free b'fast and cocktail hours). I guess maybe this is one of our less than ethical frugal ways?

[BCHGRL]

This doesn't surprise me? Do any of you watch Wife Swap? There are so many women out there who spend their weekdays getting pampered - taning, nails, the whole works.

I read "military saves" tips, and I can't believe some of the advice. I.e. "Bounce one less check a month." I can't believe this is really advice "one less"? I thought any bounced checks were bad news.

[elcheapo]

Yes, I saw the show and this is all about the pampered poor. It is so important for us to teach the next generation how to manage money. It really isn't about how much you earn but how you manage it. this was truly a sad show but it reflects what is becoming more and more rampant in our world today.

[Ima saver]

The one couple with the teenage daughters was a good example. They let their girls buy everything they wanted. The 17 year old drove a newer car than her parents and they bought it for her, she isn't making the payments, they are.
When I got my first car at age 16, I saved and paid for the whole car. I paid the tag, insurance, gas, everything. There will be another show this Friday afternoon, on Oprah.

[jmjj215]

The problem with these shows is that they show the extremes. So when people who are still in bad shape see it, they say, "Well, I'm not that bad" - and they continue on their merry way. I don't think that's a great thing to have happen. They need to have people on there that the audience can relate to. They obviously can't relate to $8,000 hair and 5 cars.