I agree with Kim. I didn't learn much from it.

However, if you followed Oprah's debt diet, this Monday is the follow up on the families.

And, on another note, Tuesday is a show about moms having it all, it will show stay at home and working moms too.

Be warned there were some PG-14 spots when the bill collectors were making threats and calling people the F-word (bleeped out, but still...). Also, there was a segment on Screetch from "Saved by the Bell" and how he begged for money on the internet to pay for his house (then later went on to market a **** video). Definitely fast forward through those parts if the kiddos are watching!

I recorded it and just finished watching it. At the end of each segment, I kept thinking, "That's all they're going to show?" I thought that they'd have someone in our situation - middle class people who were in ton of debt, got rid of it, and tips on how they did it. But no! I don't have a timeshare (or two!) to sell to pay my bills. Come on! Were we really supposed to learn something from that?!

And the cheapest family in America - come on, that was just a plug for their book. The lady on the internet - another plug for HER book. Dave Ramsey - another plug for HIS book. Come on now. . . I'm disappointed. I wanted to learn something new, to hear a tip that we haven't already done. I didn't plan on watching an hour-long commercial for these books.

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I watched it. I thought that first family on there was about as dumb as a sack of rocks. They could have easily gotten out of debt, but they couldn't give up their fancy schmancy house or their timeshares. And then they used their credit cards to fund a vacation AFTER they knew they had credit card problems. DUH! The counselor they used told them the same things we would have told them -- sell the big house and the timeshares to get out of debt. That was pretty much a no-brainer.

I would have like to have seen more on the supposed "Cheapest Family in America". It would be interesting to see what other things they do to save money.

Did anyone see 20/20 last night about how Americans are so badly in credit card debt? The main family they showed had a beautiful home, 2 timeshares, nice cars, a decent income and $60,000 in credit card debt. To outsiders it looked like they had everything but on the inside they were drowning in debt. Does this explain your family situation, or do you know others who are living like this?

I know people like this. They look to have everything, the nicest of clothes, new cars, huge houses, but their credit card debt is unreal! I just couldn't live like that. I have one credit card, and it drives me crazy paying on it. I couldn't imagine having more than that.

The problem with these people is that they didn't really seem to care that much. They said things like "well if we die now this debt won't matter" and that they'd taken more vacations that year even though buried in debt than ever before. Frankly, I don't have much respect for people who are in that much debt just because the WANT stuff. Who doesn't want time shares and fancy vacations. It's one thing if you're TRYING to cut back or pay off debt or had emergencies that necessitated running up large credit card bills, but these people had no real excuse other than greed.

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I think a key concept is 'decent income'. If you're making a 6-figure income, $60K in credit card debt is a lifestyle choice. If they were struggling to make the cc payments, they might be drowning in debt. And obviously, they might want to reconsider the COST of that debt. But I didn't see the show, either.

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"Poor people work for their money. Rich people make their money work for them."

I just finished watching it. I have to say, I love taping shows. No commercials, fast forward through the parts I'm not interested in .... a simple way to watch TV.

(I confess to fast forwarding through the whole debt collector part.)

The thing that struck me the most in the show was that the 'frugal family' - they called themselves cheap but they were frugal, were clearly so much happier and more content then the family living in a big house, two cars, two time shares, and a big pool in the backyard! I hope it inspired a regular / non frugal watcher that it is possible to live on less and be happier doing so.

I also thought there were some really good points like...

You don't need more than 2 credit cards.

Your total debt payments (including car, mortgage, credit cards, other loans) every month should not exceed 1/3 of your monthly income.

Once you pay off a credit card and don't want to use it anymore, cut it up rather than canceling it. Canceling it will hurt your credit rating.

Credit card companies want you to be in debt because they make most of their money off of interest fees and late payment charges.

Credit card companies aren't interested in people who pay off their account every month - they call people like us, "dead beats".

All in all I don't think I learned anything new but with the lack of financial education out there today, it's my hope that other non-frugal people did.

20/20 should be interviewing us! :rah rah:

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I watched it too. It really didn't do much for me except made me glad I live the way I do and have common money sense.

Here's what I don't get, if you are only supposed to have 2 credit cards what do you do with the others? They advise not to cancel but at the same time don't advise to have more than 2. We have more than 2 alot more if you count store cards but do not carry a balance on any of them.