Mine came in high school. yeah I know but i've always been frugal. I was selling avon, I took over for my sister who was 19, I was constantly borrowing from left hand to pay right hand. I would cry and pray to God that I got out of the mess. I stayed in avon b/c there was no way to get out without admitting I screwed up. somehow I managed to come out ahead and then quit.

allgirls

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allgirls, mom to 3 girls

I can't agree more -- although I was on the other end of this. I was not being honest with DH over financial screwups/problems.. once it blew up in my face, the fact that being dishonest with him was a bigger problem than screwing things up with our finances. It took a LONG time for the trust to be rebuilt after all of that.

Other than this, being really irresponsible with our finances when we first got married messed us up really bad! We hastily rented an apartment that was too big after the studio apartment we wanted got snatched up by someone else while the landlord was on vacation; the bills for our apartment were crazy and we didn't know that with medical bills you could pay $5 a month on it to avoid collections.. we messed up really bad and wasted a ton of money. If we could get back even half of the money we blew, we'd have a nice savings account socked away for a crappy day.

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Three big time blow-its come to mind ...

1) Borrowing against the equity in my house.

2) Borrowing against my 401k. It was a small loan but what a mistake!

3) Not saving money when I was younger. Oh, I saved but I'd then tap my savings to pay down a debt. It took me forever to learn that really saving money means never touching it again and tapping only the interest, IF even that. Not learning that lesson sooner has cost us thousands of dollars in compound interest.

1. having the attitude that I'm entitled to things even though I can't afford it and charging stuff. We racked up a credit card debt. Then when dh went back to school and worked only part time making $9.00/hr we had to charge gas, and groceries most weeks. We have this mountain of debt we need to get rid of.

2. not establishing an emergency fund before we had kids when he made more money.

Pre-Marriage:

1. Letting my ex-boyfriend assume the loan on MY house I bought when I was 19... and paying off all his debt for him, so he could assume the mortgage. I basically gave him my house. It is now worth a boatload...

2. Not buying a particular house at rock-bottom prices 10 years ago ($80K)....which is now worth 10 times the amount. (on acreage in Arizona...holy moly..)

3. Not paying off my student loan with the $8,000 I had saved for that purpose. Instead, I blew it all in a week-long shopping spree, buying whatever I wanted (dishes, clothes, new purse, etc...) I had nothing to show for it a couple months later, and still had the D*mn loan to pay off. DOH, do I ever learn???

Recently:

4. Buying this house... our costs to live here exceed our adjusted income each month, so we pay $2K - $3K each month (on top of everything else) just to live here. OUCHIE. It has drained our savings....

5. Going along with #4, not buying a house which was a little bigger than our former home... and instead doubling in size. What waste! We lost our heads while house-hunting... now the market has cooled and we could barely sell for what we paid. Negative equity -is-Us!

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"Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind." ~ Dr. Seuss

ours wasn't the kirby guys but it was alng the same line. now since living outi n the country they don't bother us, and if they come here, i'mgonna tell em to leav or i will sic my dog on them lol

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Kimberley

"there is nothing to worry about, just plenty to think about" from an episode of Extreme Makeover House edition

check out my blog:
http://mommysavers.com/boards/journa...owjournal&j=21

When I got married the first time, my dad gave me the choice of a wedding or $10,000. This was in 1987. I took the wedding. Divorced 9 months later. 50% of that $10K would have been real nice...

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I really regret not buying a condo right before I got married. It would've been in my name only and a steal, with total payments including maintance under $500. I could've turned that baby around and sold it for a huge profit when we had the big housing boom happening. I didn't buy it because the association was threatening to go 55 and older and I was afraid I wouldn't be able to have kids there. Who knows now if they even went 55 and over? It makes me sad just thinking about it. That one decision could've really changed the course of my life!

Using credit cards!!! I also regret not getting my college done before I became a late in lifer!!!! LOL That would have reduced our stress and indebtedness tremendously! But hind sight is always 20/20. Live and learn! Angela