Maxwell 44: Must We Permit Mephistopheles and Beelzebub to Perform Financial and Performance Audits

[allyisyourpally5]

23 hours ago, mango_fandango said:

I think they even mentioned a family who didn’t own their house outright on the blog once... this family were using the principles of being debt-free anyway, or something. The Maxwell sons did have it pretty easy, living in such a cheap housing area anyway. 

I remember someone commenting on one of the debt free posts about wishing it was possible for their sons, but they live on an area where the average cost of a home is at least $300k odd or something as high. Steve’s response, obviously not a sympathetic acknowledgement, just a “harder, but certainly not impossible”.

Cheap housing makes it easier. Buying off of the family (Christopher) also makes it easier (likely to get a much better deal). Self employed brother (and hardly working sisters)  keep labour costs down significantly, and having Daddy on the books of your businesses (its pretty obvious Steve had a hand in starting the businesses ) also makes life a lot easier. This is what the Maxwells don’t get - not everyone is in the same situation. 
I will let the Maxwell “kids” off a bit on this though - because they grew up Maxwell. Sheesh, what a life. 
 

I also remember the One Ton Ramp or whatever it was payment plan. There was a cash option to put a certain amount in an envelope each month until you could afford it. Patronising as hell. 
 

How are those bed bugs Maxwells?

[Jana814]

I live in Northern New Jersey. It’s very hard in my area to buy a house debt free. The houses in my area are not cheap. I know a few people who brought the homes they grew up in. One of them would have never been able to afford a house in the area if she hadn’t brought her mother’s house. 

Edited November 26, 2020 by Jana814

[Giraffe]

7 minutes ago, Jana814 said:

It’s very hard in my area to buy a house debt free. The houses in my area are not cheep...

It’s not lost on me that two of the people (JB Duggar and Steve Maxwell) who are adamant about buying houses debt free live in areas of the country with low costs of living. In my area the only people who buy debt free are either large corporations or the 1%. If JB and Steve lived in expensive areas they’d probably change their tune real fast. 

[sparkles]

38 minutes ago, allyisyourpally5 said:

<snip> I also remember the One Ton Ramp or whatever it was payment plan. There was a cash option to put a certain amount in an envelope each month until you could afford it. Patronising as hell. 

This is what I remember as well. I don't ever recall them saying you should pay off a credit card purchase in installments, not for One Ton Ramp or anything else. Obviously they accept them (or so I'm assuming because I can't see how you could run an internet-based business without them) and I would also guess they use them but pay off the balance each month, which is what I do, but I can't seem them telling someone outright to incur credit card debt.

[fundiefan]

18 hours ago, Kelsey said:

Isn't that kind of a dick response? I'm not particularly sensitive but if someone responded to me like that.....i'd be like wtf? 

Yes, it is a dick move. 

The Maxwells are tone deaf among all the other absurdities in their life. 

Remember when Anna discovered Google & she made a point of saying "Google it". 

I am very glad Sarah, or Teri, or whoever wrote the blog, put everyone's name on the picture. I don't think I'd have known who any of them are without it. 

I hope no one coughs or breathes on Anna. As an immunocompromised person, I find it pretty stupid of her to be going to the mother house for Thanksgiving. 

Again, I am realize how happy I am to have the family I have and grew up nothing like the Maxwells. I hope Anna does not get sick. As an immunocompromised woman, she is putting herself & her family at risk. It boggles my mind.  

Edited November 26, 2020 by fundiefan

[anniebgood]

I just read this on the Freethought Now blog on Patheos and I wonder if this is where the Maxwell girls went to do Operation Christmas Child? Guess they may not be going. 

Quote

Perhaps you think I mean the Freedom From Religion Foundation’s recent victory in Pratt, Kan., halting its public school’s partnership with a Christian ministry sponsored by Samaritan’s Purse. called Operation Christmas Child. The purpose of this “shoebox ministry” is to convert children in the developing world to Christianity. That isn’t charity, but predation: “a powerful tool for evangelism and discipleship — transforming the lives of children and their families around the world through the Good News of Jesus Christ!”

 

[MamaJunebug]

4 hours ago, sparkles said:

This is what I remember as well. I don't ever recall them saying you should pay off a credit card purchase in installments, not for One Ton Ramp or anything else. Obviously they accept them (or so I'm assuming because I can't see how you could run an internet-based business without them) and I would also guess they use them but pay off the balance each month, which is what I do, but I can't seem them telling someone outright to incur credit card debt.

Oh honey.  I hate to bring up the time when I voluntarily attended a Maxshow but I guarantee you they were taking all kinds of payments at the merch table.  Cash, checks, debit and credit cards ... many of the mommas there were wearing clothes that were at least  20 years old, not that that's a bad thing: It just showed that people will forego their own wants for their children's needs.  The Maxwells know that and had at least one credit card machine up and running.

[SPHASH]

14 minutes ago, anniebgood said:

I just read this on the Freethought Now blog on Patheos and I wonder if this is where the Maxwell girls went to do Operation Christmas Child? Guess they may not be going. 

 

I believe they went to a distribution center in Denver.  Is this Pratt KS where they take the boxes they filled to?

[thoughtful]

Quote

 Learning Lessons is my longest book so far with 243 pages and 23 chapters.

Thank you Sarah, for this very important information.

8 hours ago, Giraffe said:

If JB and Steve lived in expensive areas they’d probably change their tune real fast. 

They would never live in an area where there were too many _____________ people (insert any group other than white Christians), so anywhere other than non-urban areas of the Midwest or South is out.

Really, they could have built Maxwellia anywhere, since they don't mix with the locals (except to try to convert them), and don't care about cultural activities, entertainment, or, as far as I can tell, weather. So they might as well be where houses are cheap, politics are conservative, and people they try to convert are mostly Christians to begin with.

[petrushka]

On 11/26/2020 at 8:28 AM, Austrian Atheist said:

From the comments:

"This is Gigi’s favorite meal of the year. She and Christopher’s family will be here today, unless someone wakes up sick, but as of last night everyone was well. Most of the sons are out of state with their wives’ families. Nathan and Melanie have a lady from church joining them."

Doesn't sound like much quarantining is going on...

And per Laura Craig's IG, the newlyweds Jesse and Anna joined them in Ohio for Thanksgiving.  The Craigs looked like they had a lot of fun making gingerbread houses yesterday.  Not thrilled with those two traveling on the holiday, but Jesse is smiling broadly in several pictures.  I'm sure his life has improved in many ways since marrying Anna.  The Craigs are fundie for sure but not averse to having some fun times.

[fundiefan]

Jesse built a gingerbread house? How, exactly, is that a godly representation of Christmas? I mean, the Maxwells only decorations are those that bring glory to their god and making a gingerbread house is not in any way edifying or having "fun" while learning something useful; it's fun for the sake of fun. 

[usmcmom]

2 hours ago, petrushka said:

  The Craigs looked like they had a lot of fun making gingerbread houses yesterday. 

But were they debt free gingerbread houses? Because that would make a fantastic book!  Heh. 

[mango_fandango]

I think the Maxwells made a whole gingerbread village one year!! I’m pretty sure it was for a little family competition or something. I forget what year it was.

[Bethy]

11 minutes ago, mango_fandango said:

I think the Maxwells made a whole gingerbread village one year!! I’m pretty sure it was for a little family competition or something. I forget what year it was.

Yes, they did that in 2011. There was even a church. I was kind of surprised when they did it. It wasn't a particularly functional or ministry-based activity. Basically it was the sort of thing that regular families do together for...*gasp*...FUN! And at that point I think everybody but Mary had graduated so it wasn't like they could chalk it up to "homeschool" (home ec, art, geometry if you REALLY want to push it.) It was just...an activity for the sake of doing an activity.

[Dru]

On 11/25/2020 at 8:27 AM, fundiefan said:

There was an FAQ with 1-ton ramp and one of the questions was "is there a payment plan/installment plan" or something of that nature. Their response? "Yes, there is. You can pay your credit card off in installments,"

They absolutely accept and use them.  

https://web.archive.org/web/20111014214617/http://itonramp.com/faq#cat2

Quote

Do you have a payment plan?

Yes, but it's not what you're thinking. Break the course fee down into the size and quantity of payments you are comfortable with. Then, we would encourage you to take each payment, put it in an envelope and set it aside. When you have the tuition amount in your envelope, deposit it in your bank and register for the course online. You will have learned your first valuable lesson from your association with ITonRamp.

 

Perhaps they eventually gave in to cc on 1Ton, but it definitely wasn't that way in the beginning.

ETA- Maybe I'm misremembering and they posted this and still accepted cc at the time. For sure at one point they (titus2.com) only accepted mailed in checks. Of course I've been following them since the "SA invasion" days. LOL

Edited November 28, 2020 by Dru

[Tangy Bee]

Looks like Jesse spent Thanksgiving with his in-laws. Saw his wife helping prepare dinner with her sisters on instagram. Hope they go for Christmas as well because things could get boring at Steve's house.

[ElizaB]

If you look at their December 2011 blog you will see the gingerbread houses they did. I will give them credit they actually look pretty good. In my family our's usually just end up as a pile of broken pieces and half eaten candy.

[IReallyAmHopewell]

On 11/25/2020 at 10:05 PM, Joe Pukepail said:

I don't care about any of this as long as I find out how to cut up my lettuce with a pizza cutter. You cannot imagine how many heads of lettuce I've had to watch decompose into a fetid sludge in my crisper drawer, all because Teri refuses to tell me how to break them down into units that will fit in my mouth.

I'd also appreciate a post on how to clean the inside of my vest pockets or advice on how the clean the coffee maker and on what schedule. LOL

[CyborgKin]

Going from "here's Sarah's new book please buy it" to "our best Amazon affiliate links for studying the Bible" is rather blatant, and following it up with that tiny dull Thanksgiving post is a new level of boredom.  This 'blog' is moving closer to being a twitter or insta every day  

[browngrl]

I wonder what is up with Steve.  In their Thanksgiving picture he looks gaunt and mildly jaundiced. This is the worst I've seen him look in a while. Perhaps it is the lighting, but everyone else looks fine. I suspect he is either ill or has an illness which is progressing. I have a lot of snark for the Maxwell's but I don't blame Steve for keeping his medical issues private. In any case I doubt he'd want the sympathy of a feminist atheist such as myself.

[WiseGirl]

On 11/18/2020 at 3:52 PM, Loveday said:

Well, except for Catcher In The Rye. I'm in @mango_fandango and @MamaJunebug's corner about Holden Caulfield. 

Late as always but I am here with all of you too. I hated this book and didn't give a flying fig about Holden. Still don't. 

I read Trixie Belden, Nancy Drew, Little Women over and over to where the spine is broken, Diary of Anne Frank, and then came Flowers in the Attic and the Jackie Collins type books. 

[clueliss]

Trixie!  No Nancy Drew here.  Judith Krantz and Mary Higgins Clark.

[Loveday]

1 hour ago, clueliss said:

Trixie!  No Nancy Drew here.  Judith Krantz and Mary Higgins Clark.

I liked Nancy, but I wanted to be Trixie. She was a little more relatable when I first started reading her, I think. And I always wanted to live in a town called Sleepyside. And have a cute boyfriend named Jim, and a rich best friend with horses. 

[PennySycamore]

@WiseGirl,   @clueliss. @Loveday, in the Hallmark Movie and Mysteries Christmas movie Holly and Ivy. the recently graduated with an MLS young main character tells the two young neighbor girls about Trixie.  I think she loans Holly and Ivy her copy of The Mystery of the Haunted Mansion.

It's an unusual HMM Christmas film as while there is a budding romance in it, the romance is not the center of the film.  The affection between the librarian and the girls and her desire to keep them out of foster care if their mom should die is.  

[WiseGirl]

1 hour ago, Loveday said:

live in a town called Sleepyside

Imagine my disappointment when I moved in the general to discover there is no Sleepyside! Other areas mentioned in the book exist such as Sleepy Hollow and White Plains. Such a let down. She was more relatable to me also. 

@PennySycamore I might have to watch my first Hallmark Movie!