AgKnowledge: Number 93: Money 2000 Teaches Idahoans Good Dollars and Sense

Money 2000 Teaches Idahoans Good Dollars and Sense

hen it comes to financial management Barbie Vanderboegh is a brave woman. The Homedale, Idaho, resident and her husband alternate managing the family’s finances from month to month. And they are still married.
     “We just have different routes to get to the same tree,” says Vanderboegh.
     She wanted to hold up her end of the spousal agreement by learning which bills to pay first and how to make her family’s income go further. She also wanted to “be enlightened” about money matters. She enrolled in Canyon County extension’s “Money 2000” program and attended workshops on budgeting, credit history, and record keeping.
     The statewide extension program, which began last September, is now in 17 Idaho counties. It sets an ambitious goal: to help families save $2,000, or reduce their debt by $2,000, by Dec. 31, 2000. Money 2000 even has its own mantra: “Save more and reduce debt.”

Barbie Vanderboegh and her husband tackle the monthly bills using extension’s Money 2000 training.
Photo by Dick Selby.

     Extension educator Beverly Healy, who conducted the workshops that Vanderboegh attended, faces an uphill battle. Recent statistics rank Idaho 12th in the nation in credit card debt. According to the American Bankruptcy Institute, chapter 7 personal bankruptcies in Idaho increased 10 percent in 1998 over the previous year. Idaho’s bankruptcy filings, both business and personal, have increased an incredible 129 percent over the past 5 years (1994-98). One in every 56 Idaho households filed for bankruptcy in 1998, more than the national average of 1 in every 68 households. (Idaho is tied for ninth place with Indiana and Arkansas in that dubious distinction.)
     According to the Commerce and Human Resources Committee of the Idaho Legislature, consumers owe state businesses approximately $5.4 billion, and consumer debt is growing an average $340 million per year.
     Healy says debt is often caused by a “keeping up with the Joneses” competitive consumer mentality. “We live in a world of too many things to want. It has become harder for families to discriminate between wants and needs—cable TV, caller ID, eating out, just to name a few. If other families have these things peer pressure doesn’t make it easier to cut these items from the list of expenditures.”
     Money 2000 uses existing extension programs and publications, and customizes them to fit individuals’ needs. Those needs include reducing credit card debt, saving for retirement, investing, managing retirement funds, coping when income drops or divorce occurs, shopping smart, and so on.
     Under the umbrella of Money 2000 are popular Idaho extension programs such as Rx for Financial Wellness and the Women’s Financial Information Program. In Owyhee and Canyon counties, Healy used correspondence study methods to teach “Coming to Grips with Your Finances.”
     The record keeping class sent Vanderboegh to her filing cabinet to purge and organize. She learned that 6 years is the recommended time to save income tax returns, W-2’s, and any canceled checks. Immunization records, birth certificates, house and car titles, and insurance policies should be kept in a safe place forever.
     Even though the Vanderboeghs are committed to saving $2,000 by the end of the year 2000, or reducing their debt by the same amount, Barbie admits, “Saving is hard, especially with two sons at Boise State University. But we’re trying.”
     For more information, call (208) 885-6681.

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