Well, I'm better now that the loan has been approved...but, now my sister is staying up all night wondering about what to do with her debts...of course, it doesn't help that her ex-husband keeps dumping the children's expenses on her (he just makes some lame excuse and doesn't give her any money....what is she supposed to do, just let my niece go without school?..no, of course she pays for it...then again, I've always said: sue the idiot! Even if you don't get much, at least you'll have the satisfaction of having done SOMETHING about it!)...It also doesn't help that he does give the children lots of stuff (shoes and clothes for my niece, for example, but, not school clothes or shoes....or $$$ to go to concerts and things like that!)...AND it definetely doesn't help (and this is one of the things that she COULD help!) that she constantly feels that she has to "match" him and not just be the one that provides necessities...so, she ALSO gives them a lot of stuff - wants, not needs! - my niece has about 40 pairs of shoes, of which she wears mostly 5 pairs....this is EXCLUDING school shoes!...consequently, my niece really doesn't believe that "there's no money" ...Point in case? my niece NEEDS to go to the orthodoncist for a follow up visit...there's no money for that, but, her dad just gave her a $25 ticket to see DJ Paul Van Dyk and my sister gave her a $25 ticket to go see Ricky Martin....YES, I understand that those things ARE more important to a 16-year-old than braces, but, shouldn't the grown ups act maturely and NOT just give in to the teenagers' view of the world??...my sister also acts like this because, growing up, her own teenage years were "the best of her life" because my parents had money back then and all she had to do was wish for something and it would "magically" appear....it's stupid, if you ask me!...she sort of uses the same "logic" on my daughter - another disadvantage to living with her! - but, I manage to curb it - I'm the mom, I have the last word!...I'm sure glad that alejandra has a better grip on the money situation (at age 5!) than my niece at age 16!...The sad thing is, of course, that my niece is being taught NOTHING about handling money (other than how to spend it, of course!)...the other day, my sis was crying because she was desperate and my niece just said: Chill out, mom, don't be overdramatic (this, from the Drama Queen herself!), it's not like you REALLY don't have money!....she lives in Fantasyland....Some days, I wish I could just slap some sense into (both of) them!...my sister is getting to the point where her credit cards are catching up with her (been there, done that!), which is the point where you are using the credit cards to stretch your salary from one payday to the next, but, then finding that you have to use almost all of the money you get to pay for the credit card, just so you have enough credit available for your next grocery bill!...OUCH!...Right now, I'm living paycheque to paycheque and, I know a lot of people think I'm stingy because I never have more than $5 in my wallet and because I don't even have a debit card...well, there is a very good reason for that: I CANNOT TRUST MYSELF WITH MONEY!!! - at least I recognize that....I used to charge everything on the debit card and then find myself one month behind with rent or, having to apologize to the maid until payday....which just sucks! I mean, I'd make this poor woman wait up to 3 days for her money, when she makes so little, just because I had overspent on WANTS...it's horrible!...so, now I'm counscious of that and work with cheques only - I cash a $45 cheque every week, $40 for the maid and $5 for my lunches...Every payday I withdraw $20 for gas and others...if I'm lucky, the car consumes less than $15 and that gives me $5+ for "fun" money...if not - like last time!- then bad luck!...((sigh)) I know my sis thinks this is a miserable life, but, I sure wish she would see the rewards...which of course, none of us will see in the short term...right now, the advantage is that I'm not creating any more debt, which is not such a "visible" advantage!!