24 — MANCHESTER HERALD. Wed., March 17, 1982 Debt Budget For A Family Of Four It'll be paint, This computer It's time for Road to solvency con be painful if credit abused not vinyl can tell future l^ome fix-up By Peter Costa about 19,200 to an average of 12 extra income like overtime and pecially must learn, experts say, to ... page 3 ... page 13 Supplement inside UPl Senior Editor different creditors. dividends to get them through the defer their acquisitive desires until It used to be that those who were month. they can afford them. Don’t, go out NEW YORK — Across the nation deeply in debt were in their 50s and How do you get out of the debt and buy a new car or thousaiids of there is a sound more penetrating took a lifetime of bad money mess? dollars Worth of furniture until you than whirring electric appliances or have enough savings to do so. management to get there. Now, THE FIRST THING is to know booming stereos or other gadgets more and more deht-ridden people Also, if you cannot control your thought to be necessities by the exactly day by day, hour by hour, credit card spending, get rid of are in their late 20s or early 30s. hoW much you are spending. average American in the 1980s. Many experts attribute the shift in them. It is an unnerving and undeniable "W e urge families to keep a spen­ “ We often recommend people age to the ease in which people can ding diary. Mdst are shocked to see Clouds return sound deep in one’s conscience that get credit. Also, the burgeoning mis­ give up their cards. Sometimes we Manchester, Conn. runs like a precise quartz clock where the money is going,” said urge couples to cut up their cards at use of credit cards has contributed Eldward C. Krehmeyer, dirrctor of Friday afternoon ticking off the same question: how to the crisis. a counseling session to break their Thurs., March 18, 1982 in the world are you ever going to Family Financial Counseling, a divi­ dependence on them,” Krehmeyer — See page 2 pay for it all? sion of United Charities of Chicago. ANOTHER TREND is that many said. Single copy 25<p How indeed? “Once they see where the money of those seeking , counseling are For many who have abused their goes, they can get some idea of how IF YOU DO USE your cards sen­ recently separate or divorced. credit and find themselves sinking better to handle their discretionary sibly, make sure you pay off the full "We’re seeing a great deal more into deep debt, the solution can be income.” amounts of the credit card balances single head of households who were hard and long and painful. Ms. Tutfle says that next to stop­ each month. Prompt payment in­ doing nicely on two paychecks but With soaring inflation, wage ping spending, putting an end to sures you will not pay high interest who have had to set up separate freezes and layoffs, more and more borrowing is key to financial rates on your debts and promotes residences which means double heretofore secure people find recovery. spending discipline. expenses,” said Beverly Tuttle, What do you do, if after keeping an themselves in deepening debt. “ Do not consider talcing out a con­ • .yAl executive director of the Connec­ solidation loan (borrowing money accurate spending diary and MORE THAN 60 percent of those ticut office of Consumer Credit from one major creditor to make receiving counseling you find you Floods who seek financial counseling at of­ Counseling Service (CCCS). ■ payments to other lesser creditors). just cannot make it? ' '-Nv*!*' fices of the Consumer Credit How do people know they’re in Almost all of our clients — before "W e don’t like to recommend it, Counseling Service around the na­ trouble? Usually, when it’s almost coming to us for counseling — have blit in the most severe cases, tion are married and owe an too latet Ms. Tuttle says. had consolidation loans,” she said. sometimes the only way out is to average of 50 percent of their annual “ ’They know when they get dun­ "It doesn’t teach good money declare bankruptcy,” Ms. ’Tuttle salary (or 6 months salary. ning letters, when they have to management or budgeting, all it said. cover In Connecticut, the average age of juggle payments and have to borrow does is just bail you out so you can Since 1979, personal bankruptcies those seeking counseling is 33 years from savings to pay their monthly start spending over again.” have gone up almost 130 percent ac-' old. Most owe — excluding the debts,” she said. cording to the,CCCS. But one need ONCE YOU FIND out how much amount of their home mortgages — Others have had to depend on not think it’s hopeless. you are spending now, the next step, 8 experts say, is to set up a year-long houses budget plan. This is how to do it: By Dana Walker 1. Get a sheet of ledger paper and SUPER SAVMGS list on one side the amount of your United Press International monthly take-home salary and any 'Mi Houses in Fort Wayne, Ind., were submerged up to How can you tell other income derived from M T i BOIUNZA their roofs today — the result of five days of flooding dividends or rental income or what that has caused more than $16 million in damage. The have you. worst storm of the year in Southern California set off 2. On the other side, list fixed TODAY THRU SAT. mudslides and avalanches. if you're sinking? expenses like rent or mortgage \ The South also was hit by violent storms with golf payments and the variable expenses \ MARCH 17th thru 20th ballsize hail and 75 mph winds reported in Alabama and like food, child care, newspapers, a tornado near Atlanta. used to pay out of your monthly By United Press International clothing, etc. Miles of sandbag dikes in Fort Wayne were saturated paycheck? 3. Total the items on each side. If almost to the bursting point and police scurried from Here is a simple quiz that will tell 7. You’ve borrowed before on your debts are greater than income, you I door to door urging wary residents to flee. you whether you use credit wisely. life insurance, but this time, are the will need to see what items you can Some, like an 82-year-old woman armed with a The quiz is based on counseling chances of paying it back more cut out or how you can rearrange or shotgun, refused to heed advice and warned officers not materials made available to UPI by remote? reduce your spending patterns. to take another step. a credit cour\seling group called 8. Do you depend on extra income, Another option may be to take a “ She said she wasn’t going to leave her home for Family Financial Counseling, a divi­ such as overtime and dividends, to second job or put in for more over­ Herald photos by Tarquinlo anything,” said Fire Department Capt. Ed Keller. He sion of United Charities of Chicago. get you through to the end of the time at your present place of said water near her home was 5 feet deep. 1. Do you use credit today to buy month? employment to augment your in­ •Out on the street ” We’re concerned about dikes on the northeast side many of the things you bought last If you answer "yes” to two or come. Many counselors, however, near the Lakeside neighborhood,” a spokesman said. year with cash? more of the above eight questions, see this measure as only a tem­ The tenants of an apartment above Marlow's hadn’t paid the rent for a year and that he "Sandbags are extremely water soaked and have been 2. Have you taken out loans to con­ charices ate you need to take a porary solution. Department Store were evicted this morning. solidate your debts, or asked for closer look at your budget and con­ paid the electric bill for a year. "Am I a tough seeping all day (Wednesday).” MANY OF THE financial experU AUTO-PEPROKT Carol Wolfinger (right) and her husband M extensions on existing loans to sider financial counseling. 8 ’= = landlord if I wait for a year?” he asked. Officials also said if the dikes go, on the St. Joseph, St. reduce monthly payments? Besides local banks and other surveyed by UPI say there are some REnUOBIIATOR were thrown out by landlord George Maripw, Neighbor Cliff Mason (above) helps Mrs. Mary’s and Maumee rivers, Indiana’s second-largest 3. Even though your standard of agencies run by charities like the specific things one should watch out allegedly for rionpayment of rent. Mr's. Wolfinger move her belongings, while a city could be cut into six mini-cities. living has stayed the same, does Family Financial Counseling ser­ for in budgeting. ' DOUBLE STAMPS WPlOOflOr c h a r i ^ the rents were too high mover (b a l^) M|)i,:^^Jb^bng||r)ga oj^ on As much as 3 inches of rain in about 24 hours has One should be careful not to fall and tnm ; slhee her husband w m laid off, they soaked Southern California — the most to fall in any one your checkbook balance get lower vice of Chicago mentioned above, DELUXE the sidewalk. Mrs. Wolfingaf sailo'she ha^ by the month? there are financial counseling into the "inflationary psychology” WITH ANY ‘ couldn’t meet the bills.