I took a peach pie over to my friend’s house last weekend. This seemingly mundane activity sparked quite an interesting conversation:

Friend: I have been meaning to make a pie for years.

Me:       Really, years?

Friend: Well, summers go by really fast.

Me:       Pie doesn’t really have a season.

Friend: Maybe I’ll make a pie next year.

Me:       You can make a pie in like an hour!

Friend: I don’t have a pie server.

Me:       Well in that case, you’d better wait.

On the way home, I was thinking that if my friend can come up with multiple excuses not to make a pie, imagine how many excuses there must be to avoid money management. You are probably thinking that my friend’s excuses not to make a pie are lame, right? Well, I think most excuses are. For example, I asked a few people why they aren’t doing what they know they should be doing with their money. Here’s what they said:

-Times are tough right now.
-I need more time to research my options.
-I’m looking for a new job.
-I think I’m doing okay.
-I haven’t had a chance to go in and update the software.

Pretty lame, right? What’s your excuse?

A tweet by @CNNMoney_News lead me to an article about the increasing number of consumers who are using layaway plans to pay for back to school supplies. Honestly, I didn’t even know that layaway was still a thing. In fact, my only experience with layaway is when I pass the abandoned desk at my favorite discount retailer.

Since I am in the store a lot more than I should be (another story for another day!), I had the opportunity stop by the unmanned desk yesterday to see what layaway was all about.

The first think I noticed was that it took more than ten minutes for someone to notice that I was standing there. During my time, I read the terms. In a nutshell:

-It costs $5 (plus tax) to put something on layaway
-You must put a down a deposit of $10 or 10% (whichever is more) to hold something
-You have only 30 days to pay in full
-If you don’t pay in 30 days, there is a $5 fee (plus tax)
-You can’t put sale items on layaway
-Some full price items are not eligible for layaway (at their discretion)
-You don’t get to take the item until it’s paid for
-If the item goes on sale while you’re paying, you don’t get the discount
-There is a $5 fee (plus tax) if you change your mind

Wow, with a sales pitch like that, who could resist?!

I should also mention that they accept cash, checks, and (drum roll please) CREDIT CARDS! So not only do you have the opportunity to pay fees for the privilege of holding something you can’t afford, but you can also pay interest! Sarcasm aside, I truly wonder why this payment option hasn’t been retired.

Perhaps layaway made sense when “stuff” and credit were scarcer, but we seem to have an abundance of both today. My advice is to save up your money and then go buy what you need.

Note: This is a good time for me to remind readers that my opinions on this blog do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Money Management International.

It can be challenging to write about the same topic for months/years on end without repeating yourself. And coming up with new and exciting angles about the recession is next to impossible (type the word “recession” into Google and you come up with more than 49 million hits!) So, to make things easier for you, I’ve created this handy Recession Sentence Builder. Think of it as a depressing version of Mad Libs.

Using the Recession Sentence Builder is easy. Simply pick a word from each category and call it done. For example, I think that “The fiscal turmoil is stabilizing” would make one heck of a good headline. Give it a try—there are 512 possible combinations!