Over the last couple of years I have donated to 2 crowd-funding appeals. Both were folks that I (somewhat) knew and both were for dire, life-altering reasons.
Lately, these types of "give me $$" appeals seem to be multiplying like crazy. Folks are asking for money for any and everything. I saw one on Facebook recently that was asking strangers to pay her entire way through nursing school
I don't know why this bothers me. Maybe it's the unspoken assumption that if I've worked my way into a position in life where I might have a few bucks to spare, I'd be happy to part with that money to help someone else not have to work as hard as I did. Obviously, I don't have to pay any attention to the appeals if I don't want to. It just seems so......nervy, I guess. As in, it takes a lot of.
Specializes in Specializes in L/D, newborn, GYN, LTC, Dialysis.
Red Kryptonite:
I had daycare expenses when I went to nursing school, too. They ate up quite a bit of the budget but I dealt with it. I guess, because, it was not up to OTHER people to pay expenses I incurred by having children in the first place.
No one owes you daycare expenses. You decided to have kids and go to school, and it should be YOU being creative to work it out.
I exchanged daycare/babysitting with other people to keep expenses down. Ate a lot of beans and rice, too. Cheap food, made my own lunches, never went out to dinner. A lot of sacrificing to get by. We lived on very little and those were lean years, but as I look back, they were the best of times, because I appreciated everything I had.
Again, I am shocked and surprised at the sense of entitlement these days. Call me old, but when my kids were young, I considered the cost of raising them and made do. No one funded me.
What in hell has happened in this country, whereby we don't ask our closest LOVED ONES for help?
...
Considering some of the requests for donations, I imagine that they might very well have asked these people for help. And after being told no, or being told no because of too many 'yeses' over the years, or....after being laughed out of the room because of the nature of the request....they opted to pester strangers on the internet.
According to SmilingBlueEyes, we shouldn't be asking family for help either.
Where are you all getting this "sense of entitlement" crap? There are people who have more money than me and are willing to give it away. So if I say, "Hey, I'd like to use it for X," then how am I acting "entitled?" I can ask, people can say yes or no. I'm not entitled to anything, but those who have it can choose to give it.
Do you hate the show Shark Tank this much? Because it's basically the same thing.
Specializes in Specializes in L/D, newborn, GYN, LTC, Dialysis.
Red Kryptonite:
Do not put words in my mouth, please.
I did say asking for family help should come first, before attempting "crowd funding". The current trend to get total strangers to pay for life expenses and frivilous items is ridiculous and horribly irresponsible. Taking advantage of goodhearted and misguided people IMO, is also wrong. This belief that total strangers should fund us is disturbing to me. And those funding requests that truly have merit, are clouded by the frivilous ones. So many who "might" do so, are discouraged and don't.
And, again, the decision to have kids is your own; you have the right to choose. But you also incur the responsibility to pay for your own kids' expenses; it's not the public's problem. It is a wrongful sense entitlement, IMO, to ask total strangers to pay your daycare expenses for those kids you chose to bring into the world. Also, I pay taxes that fund daycare assistance as it is; you might want to look into that since the service already exists for people who qualify.
I did without a heck of a lot paying for kids' expenses, including when I was in school. We lived paycheck to paycheck and had a lot of hand-me-down stuff and economized like crazy. I take pride in that I was able to pull myself through without asking for help, that is true. And yes, personally, I am not one to ask family for money; not that I consider it wrong, because, that should be where a person goes, not to total strangers. It's not the public's job to pay your way. This trend is disturbing and wrong and that people see no problem with it tells a lot.
I have certainly brought up my kids to pay their way too, not ask people they do not know to fund their livilihoods. That is what I have said.
To me, crowd-funding requests should come after catastrophic occurences that cannot be forseen, like catastrophic illness or losing one's home in a natural disaster, not paying for someone's daycare expenses, that could, in fact, be forseen when deciding to have kids. Totally different situations.
If it's a "shark tank" to you, you might look at your own attitudes and sense of responsibility. That's life; part of it is dealing with our own stuff and paying our own way. Public assistance exists for those truly in need. See if you qualify.
OK, had to post again here. Just saw on Facebook, my very lazy first husband who is retired but broke, and peddles his craft item on Etsy, etc. He is states that he is now starting a new phase in his life and accepting monthly pledges so he can concentrate on his writing. If he gets enough pledges he promises to travel all over the world to where his fans live and give lessons and workshops in this craft item he makes.
New phase of his life? Uh, his mother died years ago so he can't sponge off of her, and he ran through his inheritance in one year. Did I mention that his writing is boring and he is too undisciplined to finish anything?
Bitter? lmao! He doesn't want you, move on and stop stalking the poor guy on Facebook hahahaha
Ok my bad, it just came across bitter, I'm clearly wrong.
Just because we are friendly doesn't mean that I can't find amusement in his funny FB appeal and share it here on this thread. It was sooo in character for him, and so fit in with this thread!
He has always been a moocher. I was quite young when I fell into that marriage. I'm older, wiser, and richer now, thanks to hard work, perseverance, and careful budgeting.
Just because we are friendly doesn't mean that I can't find amusement in his funny FB appeal and share it here on this thread. It was sooo in character for him, and so fit in with this thread!
He has always been a moocher. I was quite young when I fell into that marriage. I'm older, wiser, and richer now, thanks to hard work, perseverance, and careful budgeting.
Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
You might think differently if you were in my area- the people standing on the street corner appearing homeless work the corners in shifts and get picked up/dropped off in nice cars. My charity goes through vetted organizations who vet the recipients, not the random people asking for money.
Years ago, a journalist at the Wisconsin State Journal went "undercover" as a panhandler for a week and wrote a story about it. He says he made more money panhandling than he made as a journalist!
Did I mention that his writing is boring and he is too undisciplined to finish anything?
SmilingBluEyes
20,964 Posts
Red Kryptonite:
I had daycare expenses when I went to nursing school, too. They ate up quite a bit of the budget but I dealt with it. I guess, because, it was not up to OTHER people to pay expenses I incurred by having children in the first place.
No one owes you daycare expenses. You decided to have kids and go to school, and it should be YOU being creative to work it out.
I exchanged daycare/babysitting with other people to keep expenses down. Ate a lot of beans and rice, too. Cheap food, made my own lunches, never went out to dinner. A lot of sacrificing to get by. We lived on very little and those were lean years, but as I look back, they were the best of times, because I appreciated everything I had.
Again, I am shocked and surprised at the sense of entitlement these days. Call me old, but when my kids were young, I considered the cost of raising them and made do. No one funded me.