Alyssa & John 5: She's Raising Fashion Conscious Girls

[SassyPants]

4 hours ago, justmy2cents said:

Found a few.

I really see Carlin and Layla in the photo with the orange shirt. I see the resemblance between KJ and Alyssa in the bottom wedding photo.

[AussieKrissy]

9 hours ago, Johannah said:

I think Gil looks exactly like Nathan in those pics

Yep. I have always thought Nathan was the most like just dad. 

[AussieKrissy]

8 hours ago, SassyPants said:

I really see Carlin and Layla in the photo with the orange shirt. I see the resemblance between KJ and Alyssa in the bottom wedding photo.

Yeah these are still not the one I am thinking of. She is with her dad. I think she looks about 18. I think She was in a yellow singlet top. She is to the right of the shot and leaning weirdly. Prehaps on something...

[AussieKrissy]

God I fell down the Bates photo hole whilst looking for the photo I was thinking of... back when they were normal. Back when her parents and siblings looked normal. I have to

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admit. Gil got better looking with age. Horrible beliefs aside he is not physically unattractive. But he went through a very awkward stage. As IMO so did Alyssa and Katie. Erin has always been pretty but IMO “daggy” stage when she was all about the Ellie May Clampett style. Also who is Michael holding in the pink dress?

 

 

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Edited June 11, 2020 by AussieKrissy
Bad with uploading pics. Soooo sorry I will get it one day

[CarrotCake]

6 hours ago, AussieKrissy said:

Also who is Michael holding in the pink dress?

 

Looks like Josie to me, would that work age-wise?

[AussieKrissy]

1 hour ago, CarrotCake said:

Looks like Josie to me, would that work age-wise?

Yeah maybe. She just doesn’t look like a Bates kid (well like they currently do). Normally I can pick them. But this kid doesn’t look like their adult self in this. 

[Tangy Bee]

Love that pick of them sitting on the little sail boat. Kelly Jo was wearing a pink jumper. When exactly did they turn Gothard crazy?

[HermioneSparrow]

I never saw the resemblance of Carlin with her family but in that picture of Kelly with her family when she was little, she looks sooooo much like Carlin. Also, Tori looks a lot like Kelly's sister (the one who's by their father).

[Johannah]

Kelly really is/was stunning. Even after she did the Josie makeover recently, she looked amazing. 

[OHFL2009]

7 hours ago, CarrotCake said:

Looks like Josie to me, would that work age-wise?

I think it looks like Josie too; Josie and Michael are about 10 years apart, so I think it would make sense; Josie about 3 and Michael about 13. The only other sister it could be based on the age difference would be Katie, but I think it looks more like Josie. 

[Melissa1977]

6 hours ago, Tangy Bee said:

Love that pick of them sitting on the little sail boat. Kelly Jo was wearing a pink jumper. When exactly did they turn Gothard crazy?

They never ever used birth control, so I assume they were on the extreme since their wedding. They stated that Kelly thought that birth control was a sin and was against it. For years, they were having children every 13 or 14 months. By the time they had 4, that house must have been a nightmare! 

When they had a bunch of children (maybe 6 or 7) were very into Gothard cult and Gil left his good job, because a real man cannot have a boss, of course. They literally couldn't afford the children and ate miserable food and lived in a miserable house, but keep adding arrows to the quiver.

Edited June 11, 2020 by Melissa1977
Clarify

[FrumpyAtheist]

Pretty interesting that with all their patriarchal beliefs and expectations about men being providers and protectors they found it acceptable for Gil to basically be a stay at home dad and not have a job. 

[SassyPants]

18 hours ago, FrumpyAtheist said:

Pretty interesting that with all their patriarchal beliefs and expectations about men being providers and protectors they found it acceptable for Gil to basically be a stay at home dad and not have a job. 

What I find so interesting is these families where no one  appears to have a paying job (cough Bates and Duggars prior to Tv contracts), yet the daughters have to do all the child rearing. How come we never saw JB at the SOTDRT or Gil cooking meal after meal? WTF were THEY doing? 

[QuiverFullofBooks]

4 hours ago, SassyPants said:

What I find so interesting is these families where no one  appears to have a paying job (cough Bates and Duggars prior to Tv contracts), yet the daughters have to do all the child rearing. How come we never saw JB at the SOTDRT or Gil cooking meal after meal? WTF were THEY doing? 

JB is legitimately self-employed (real estate, property management, used car sales).  Maybe Gil did some child care. He did have the tree business.

[Melissa1977]

5 hours ago, SassyPants said:

What I find so interesting is these families where no one  appears to have a paying job (cough Bates and Duggars prior to Tv contracts), yet the daughters have to do all the child rearing. How come we never saw JB at the SOTDRT or Gil cooking meal after meal? WTF were THEY doing? 

JB and Michelle had some real state business. And he was a polititian (for a few years, though). In fact, they earned money, but he spent all in his failed political career. I wouldn't say he wasn't working. 

Gil worked, too. But his business was not enough to feed to kids.

Both were too selfish and too deep in the cult to put kids first. But there weren't as lazy as David Rodrigues or others.

[neuroticcat]

I think the Duggars in particular were pretty savvy financially and worked really hard early on, especially given the fact that they were teenagers when they started out with no higher education. Whatever else they’ve done, I think they’ve had sharp investment instincts and a frugal lifestyle that has paid off.

I think their philosophy of flipping real estate and buying/trading up would have kept them with solid passive income for their big family even without tlc (though with a lower standard of living). I get the sense JB and Michelle both did all the things in early years (she writes about watching car lot/he mentioned in an episode remembering what it was like doing childcare with no big kids to help). I think that was likely true of both families in the early years but then as older kids grew they could do less of what they didn’t want to do - fundie parenting philosophy touts this as a patenting goal to work yourself out of a job so I think it was intentional.
 

The Bates might have had to share parenting responsibilities but don’t seem to have as much financial savvy/luck. Seems like they relied on the tree business and Lawsons income so we’re more dependent on actively earning income, even as their family grew. Maybe it would have leveled out with older kids all contributing later on, but TV income radically helped in my opinion. 

Edited June 12, 2020 by neuroticcat

[SassyPants]

18 hours ago, neuroticcat said:

I think the Duggars in particular were pretty savvy financially and worked really hard early on, especially given the fact that they were teenagers when they started out with no higher education. Whatever else they’ve done, I think they’ve had sharp investment instincts and a frugal lifestyle that has paid off.

I think their philosophy of flipping real estate and buying/trading up would have kept them with solid passive income for their big family even without tlc (though with a lower standard of living). I get the sense JB and Michelle both did all the things in early years (she writes about watching car lot/he mentioned in an episode remembering what it was like doing childcare with no big kids to help). I think that was likely true of both families in the early years but then as older kids grew they could do less of what they didn’t want to do - fundie parenting philosophy touts this as a patenting goal to work yourself out of a job so I think it was intentional.
 

The Bates might have had to share parenting responsibilities but don’t seem to have as much financial savvy/luck. Seems like they relied on the tree business and Lawsons income so we’re more dependent on actively earning income, even as their family grew. Maybe it would have leveled out with older kids all contributing later on, but TV income radically helped in my opinion. 

But they started having kids at 21...how hard could they have worked to amass  such a large amount of money? Did someone give them a bunch to start off? My husband and I are financially secure, in our 60s, always had 2, well paying jobs, have invested well, only have 2 kids, granted highly educated kids, but...unless someone gifted them a fortune, or they are into illegal/shady endeavors, I just don’t see it. I know what it takes because we’ve done it, and it takes hard, hard work and investing well, for decades to amass money. The math doesn’t work for me. They just didn’t work enough years to front load their lifestyle and all those kids, plus financing a failed political career in the mix.

[FrumpyAtheist]

I remember the original 14 kids and counting, and they clearly were not financially successful at that time. They were living in either a 2 or 3 bedroom house with 1 or 2 bathrooms because they talked a lot about having to wait for the bathroom. They ate ketchup and bologna sandwiches. Lots of homemade clothes and home-done perms. And they had been working on building their giant house from a kit for years, chipping away at it and doing all the labor themselves or with friends.

 

And that was already two decades into their marriage. So I'd say they might have had a lot of irons in the fire and were debt free, but they definitely weren't as well off as Jim Bob likes to think.

[QuiverFullofBooks]

2 hours ago, SassyPants said:

But they started having kids at 21...how hard could they have worked to amass  such a large amount of money? Did someone give them a bunch to start off? My husband and I are financially secure, in our 60s, always had 2, well paying jobs, have invested well, only have 2 kids, granted highly educated kids, but...unless someone gifted them a fortune, or they are into illegal/shady endeavors, I just don’t see it. I know what it takes because we’ve done it, and it takes hard, hard work and investing well, for decades to amass money. The math doesn’t work for me. They just didn’t work enough years to front load their lifestyle and all those kids, plus financing a failed political career in the mix.

They were very lucky (or, as they would say, blessed) in getting into real estate before prices went up. They also lived below their means for many years, investing instead of spending money. And they went straight to work, without spending time and money on higher education. They didn’t have a big family until the twins were born when JB was 25; by then he owned a small home and business.

[SassyPants]

12 minutes ago, QuiverFullofBooks said:

They were very lucky (or, as they would say, blessed) in getting into real estate before prices went up. They also lived below their means for many years, investing instead of spending money. And they went straight to work, without spending time and money on higher education. They didn’t have a big family until the twins were born when JB was 25; by then he owned a small home and business.

We bought our first  home for $120,000*in 1982, before JB and M were even married. Interest rates at that time were 12%. Our mortgage was 1200/month, to live in an OK house in a very middle class neighborhood in the Bay Area of CA. I know they were in Arkansas, but the math still doesn’t work for me. They bought a home, cars and a business , had multiple kids, and were living debt free? Where was the money coming from? They were basically kids.

Whatever they’re doing or whatever their secret is, EVERYONE should be doing it. Instead of talking about God, JB should be selling his get rich before you’re 25 secret. Funny, none of his kids have been able to replicate the success.
 

The house was 20 years old and a bank repo.

[JanasTattooParlor]

1 hour ago, SassyPants said:

We bought our first  home for $120,000*in 1982, before JB and M were even married. Interest rates at that time were 12%. Our mortgage was 1200/month, to live in an OK house in a very middle class neighborhood in the Bay Area of CA. I know they were in Arkansas, but the math still doesn’t work for me. They bought a home, cars and a business , had multiple kids, and were living debt free? Where was the money coming from? They were basically kids.

Whatever they’re doing or whatever their secret is, EVERYONE should be doing it. Instead of talking about God, JB should be selling his get rich before you’re 25 secret. Funny, none of his kids have been able to replicate the success.
 

The house was 20 years old and a bank repo.

Housing prices in AR were probably very cheap back then and they probably got the house for under 100K. Depending on what their first jobs were, it may not have been difficult to save the recommended 20% down payment. If they were flipping houses, that’s definitely a great way to make money. My dad did that for years and still has several rental properties that he makes money on that he is putting into his dream home currently. JB and Michelle also haven’t stopped doing real estate work while their kids have taken over the car lot. I remember seeing either early this year or late last year that they sold a flipped mansion for like $1.5 Million. That coupled with TLC money are probably doing plenty to keep them afloat.

Honestly though, if there were some tips for how to get rich by 25, I’d listen. I’m six months from 25, but I’d love to buy a house by the end of next year. Problem is, the area I live in keeps increasing in price and to get out of town and into a little more rural area that’s cheaper puts me 45+ minutes from work. 

Edited June 13, 2020 by JanasTattooParlor

[neuroticcat]

They talk about how they did it in their first book.

They scrimped, worked multiple jobs in the early years, and amassed enough to pay their first (very inexpensive and small) house off cash. They also ran their business out of that house, so I think they really eliminated a lot of unnecessary costs. At that time I’m pretty sure Jim Bob worked at a convenient store, had a towing business, and they were also selling cars.Once they eliminated their monthly house payment they invested and just kept flipping houses.
 

When we see them in the first special I think there’s still scrimping, but that doesn’t mean they weren’t building wealth. I think their buy used and pay save the difference philosophy really is what they lived by even when they could have bought new. Michelle talks about how Jim Bob was really tight and would always put any extra cash into new investments when she for instance wanted a new washing machine or something. At some point they took over grandma Mary’s properties as well, and she was heavily into real estate flipping.

Anyway, I’ve always thought that they did work hard and save early on and it paid off for them. Without TLC I don’t think they would be fantastically wealthy or anything, but I do think they would have been able to support their family satisfactorily.

In the early years at least I don’t think they were lazy. 

Edited June 13, 2020 by neuroticcat

[neuroticcat]

1 hour ago, SassyPants said:

 

Whatever they’re doing or whatever their secret is, EVERYONE should be doing it. Instead of talking about God, JB should be selling his get rich before you’re 25 secret. Funny, none of his kids have been able to replicate the success.
 

The house was 20 years old and a bank repo.

He did shill some IBLP financial seminar for years. It was outrageously expensive to purchase and I imagine has all the “secrets” to living debt free.

I think it was this one - I guess you can watch for free now

https://embassymedia.com/series/financial-freedom-seminar

Edited June 13, 2020 by neuroticcat

[SassyPants]

17 minutes ago, neuroticcat said:

They talk about how they did it in their first book.

They scrimped, worked multiple jobs in the early years, and amassed enough to pay their first (very inexpensive and small) house off cash. They also ran their business out of that house, so I think they really eliminated a lot of unnecessary costs. At that time I’m pretty sure Jim Bob worked at a convenient store, had a towing business, and they were also selling cars.Once they eliminated their monthly house payment they invested and just kept flipping houses.
 

When we see them in the first special I think there’s still scrimping, but that doesn’t mean they weren’t building wealth. I think their buy used and pay save the difference philosophy really is what they lived by even when they could have bought new. Michelle talks about how Jim Bob was really tight and would always put any extra cash into new investments when she for instance wanted a new washing machine or something. At some point they took over grandma Mary’s properties as well, and she was heavily into real estate flipping.

Anyway, I’ve always thought that they did work hard and save early on and it paid off for them. Without TLC I don’t think they would be fantastically wealthy or anything, but I do think they would have been able to support their family satisfactorily.

In the early years at least I don’t think they were lazy. 

But didn’t he also cash in a six digit savings on a failed bid on a senate seat? How does that jive with buy used and blah, blah...she couldn’t get a new washer, despite having eleventy kids, yet he could blow a wad on a whimsical failure? Decisions like that do not jive with either conservative spending or easily amassing money.

[neuroticcat]

21 minutes ago, SassyPants said:

But didn’t he also cash in a six digit savings on a failed bid on a senate seat? How does that jive with buy used and blah, blah...she couldn’t get a new washer, despite having eleventy kids, yet he could blow a wad on a whimsical failure? Decisions like that do not jive with either conservative spending or easily amassing money.

I think, and I have no idea if there is proof or not, that he blew their savings on that bid. I vaguely remember Michelle saying they prayed about it because she wasn’t sure but they felt it was Gods will.

It reminds me of the philosophy of the rich dad/poor dad guy who was big in the 90s where you hurry to grow your passive income early on and it eliminates your living expenses and increases wealth exponentially. I think that’s what they did. It’s definitely possible once you have a house paid for in full/ you keep flipping up and investing in bigger things. I could see them having a million after fifteen years of doing that and living a poverty lifestyle?