Christ what a bunch of A'holes some of you are! Sure, she has a skewed idea on what it is to be poor and should have been putting money away and not blowing it on expensive sundries, BUT it's relative. As for borrowing, at the least she'd paid of her credit cards mid year and hadn't used them since - more than can be said for most of us, if we're honest! However, as some have said, she and her friend(s) still seem to be focussed on material things, rather than family. Perhaps they should have been up front with their kids when things started to get tough and tell them not to expect expensive gifts and if the brats don't like it, tough - they can get a part time job and buy it themselves*! *As a kid, both sides of my family were relatively wealthy (not so now, sadly) and I certainly wasn't bought expensive toys/gifts and if I wanted something like a bike, I was encouraged to save up half and my parents would match it - if they approved.