As far as money and my financial situation goes, I do not want to be like my mother. I love her to death but, how she is with money is not how I want to be.
I don't think I realized it when I was young but, my mom has always spent money that we didn't really have to be spending. Even after my parents divorced she continued to do it. She didn't go to college because she had been in the army, so career opportunities were limited. She worked at a school as a Teacher's Assistant, and didn't get paid much. It was pay check to pay check. She liked to buy purses a lot, she had a huge collection. She did it even when we didn't have the money to waste. Purses or clothes is what it always was, and occasionally she would return them because we needed the money.
Another thing she would do if she could... is "borrow" money. I remember the first time she "borrowed" money from me. My oldest brother had moved across the country, and I started saving every bit of change that I got so that I could buy a ticket to visit him sometime. I had saved $70, not much but it was the most I'd ever saved. My mom ended up asking if she could borrow it for groceries or something. I never got it back. It got to the point over the next couple years that I would save money, and not tell her. I would not let her know I had it because I didn't want her taking it. Of course when she did know, and asked because we needed food or something, I would give it to her. More than once... she came home with cigarettes, and a new purse! And the "groceries" consisted mostly of snack/junk food; Hostess cupcakes, Hot Pockets, etc.
I never got my money back. There were a few times if she had it, she'd give me a $20 to go toward paying me back but, then would end up taking it at a later date.
I will not be this way. I will do everything in my power not to end up like that. I am going to go to college and get a degree, so that I have more options than she did. I will provide better for my children. I rarely ever buy something that I just want. I try to stick to buying things I need. I wear my shoes until I really need a new pair, and same with my clothes. I still have a sweater that I've had since I was 14 years old (I am now almost 20)! Crazy? Maybe. However, it is still in good condition: no holes, stains, it doesn't look like something I've had for 6 years, and it still fits because I have not grown.
I'm a saver, not a spender. I can thank my mother for that. She was always there for us, loved us, took care of us but, she could have done more if she didn't spend the way she did. Where is my mother today? Her and her boyfriend moved so they could live together and are currently living in a bedroom of an apartment shared with college guys.

Good for you! I, too, am trying to break the cycle. My parents and my in-laws were both horrible financial examples and so DH and are trying (not 100% succeeding but trying!) not to be like them. My mom would do similar things like when I had my own car, it was my job to pay the insurance on it. I was on my mom's policy, so I'd pay her. She'd take my $, which was $60 a month, no small amount to someone working in high school. And she wouldn't pay it. She'd tell me 'we don't have insurance any more' and I'd say 'but I've been paying!'. Oh well.

So keep up the good work!

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Ordinary riches can be stolen; real riches cannot. In your soul are infinitely precious things that cannot be taken from you. ~Oscar Wilde

Hey are the three of us somehow related? I remember the summer between my sophmore & junior year in HS I worked for a camp fire girls summer camp. I came home after being away at camp w/$$$ from working all summer. I worked very hard for that $$$. As soon as I got home my mother asked to borrow the money I had earned so she could take my sisters and I out to dinner and shopping. I started to cry and my mother got very angry at me. I couldn't believe she expected me to give her all the money I had worked all summer for but she did. I never got it back .

Thanks to Dave Ramsey's TMMO I am changing my family tree and I will never borrow $$$ from family or my children.

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Me Mom
DS Matthew
DS Patrick
Family Pugs Disney & Parker
Completed the Disneyland Half Marathon 09/03/07.

My mother taught me to always be able to take care of myself. She and my father were divorced after 18 years of marriage. It was a surprise, since that is a long time to be together. Afterward, she told me that she was so happy she had obtained her bachelor's degree and made plenty of money, so she didn't need anything from my father. She makes quite a bit of money, and even though she doesn't spend it very wisely, she gets by just fine. I will always do what I need to to take care of myself and my children in case the same situation presents itself.