DR and Christmas tip what would MM do?

csuave

I have a good friend that has gone into business for herself cleaning houses.  H and I have hired her to clean our house.  This friend is not MM and I think could really benefit from learning how to be MM in her life...now more than ever since she has become self employed.  I worry about her and have cringed at some of her poor financial decisions.  I suspect she would be receptive to the DR program and we are good friends so I don't think she would be offended by this offer.

Normally for a cleaning lady I would give a Christmas cash tip equal to one cleaning, $80 in this case. 

I'm thinking about offering her a choice of the Christmas tip or paying for her to attend FPU.  If I go that route I may want to make this offer around late Aug/early Sept since I think taking a class Sept/Oct may be better for scheduling than around Dec.

What does MM think?  Is this a good idea or should I just stick with the traditional tip?  If I make the offer should I wait and do it in December since that is when I would normally give a tip and January might be a fine time to take a class?  And that gives a little more time to make sure she is going stick to this current career track.
Any other tips or tidbits about FPU in general to know for this situation?

brij2006

We've lived DR's principals and have hosted FPU. We offered our church members half off the cost of the class, and we covered that half.

What I would do is I would talk about how DR has changed your lives and you're so glad you found those principals. Talk about what its done for you and your H. Say nothing about her finances or the way she's handling things right now.
Then maybe a month later say to her something like, "hey, I saw there's a class being offered X time. My H and I would like to pay for you to go if you're interested. Part of the plan is to give this to someone else later, and we would love to give this to you." You can either pay for all of it or offer to pay for half.
What we've found is that if others are invested in the class financially then they will be more invested in it emotionally and physically. If they're out nothing for not attending, then they may not attend or will let things get in the way of them attending. We learned this the hard way, so now we offer to people that we see struggling, that we will pay for half of FPU or we send them a copy of the Total Money Makeover.

I would personally do this in addition to her usual Christmas bonus, but would have it have no affect on what she receives from you for Christmas.

brij2006

Ooops duplicate.

LillibetteV

I would stick with the traditional tip. As a business the best payment for services or tips is cold hard cash and I would keep the business and personal relationships completely separate. 

However I would tell her about the program if you've found it to be useful and it's something you feel you can discuss with her as friends! My best friend and I talk budgets all the time so if one of us finds some new tip or trick we happily share with each other. 

hoffse

You know her best, but I would stick to the traditional tip also.  You can talk up the DR thing if you want and see if she's interested and then give her some guidance in signing up if she asks you about it.  But honestly, changing financial behaviors is something people have to decide to do for themselves.  Let her be the one to decide to make a change.

I will also add that unless you guys are very open with each other about money, all you know about her financial situation is what you can see externally, and she might be a lot better (or a lot worse) than you know.  There's a secretary in my office who is always telling me I need to take FPU.  She's reacting to the fact that I'm out of the office on vacation every 6-8 months and investing money in house projects.  She sees this as extravagant, and she assumes that I am living way beyond my means.  I know she's coming from a good place (and I hope I'm really nice about it), but it's incredibly presumptive. 

Now you may know more about your friend's actual situation than what this lady knows about me... but I'm just giving you an example of how it can come across if she's not the one asking for help.

short+sassy

brij2006 said:

We've lived DR's principals and have hosted FPU. We offered our church members half off the cost of the class, and we covered that half.

What I would do is I would talk about how DR has changed your lives and you're so glad you found those principals. Talk about what its done for you and your H. Say nothing about her finances or the way she's handling things right now.
Then maybe a month later say to her something like, "hey, I saw there's a class being offered X time. My H and I would like to pay for you to go if you're interested. Part of the plan is to give this to someone else later, and we would love to give this to you." You can either pay for all of it or offer to pay for half.
What we've found is that if others are invested in the class financially then they will be more invested in it emotionally and physically. If they're out nothing for not attending, then they may not attend or will let things get in the way of them attending. We learned this the hard way, so now we offer to people that we see struggling, that we will pay for half of FPU or we send them a copy of the Total Money Makeover.

I would personally do this in addition to her usual Christmas bonus, but would have it have no affect on what she receives from you for Christmas.

I agree with the other PPs that you should just give her the normal cash tip Christmas bonus.  However, if you want to help her with the DR course, I highly recommend you take @brij2006's advice and offer to pay for half...but only if she expresses an interest.  People much more value something they have invested in themselves.

A little off topic, but same idea.  While many people assume that "low prices equal more sales", marketing research has shown that usually isn't the case.  There is a point where lowering a price beyond a certain point, for the exact same item, will see less sales because consumers see less value/less worth.

Xstatic3333

I agree with most others; if she has mentioned finances to you I think it would be kind to offer all or part of FPU as a gift, but tying it to the Christmas tip feels off to me. You could mention that it made a big difference in your life and you'd love to pay it forward if she's interested, but I wouldn't push.

jtmh2012

I agree with the rest.  The Christmas tip should be a Christmas tip and this should be an independent offer.

csuave

Thanks for the opinions everyone!  Some good stuff to think about and a little bit of a chuckle reading @hoffse work story

@brij2016 I like that you mentioned the Total Money Makeover book.  I am not a DR follower so I forgot about that avenue for someone to become familiar with his plan.  Now I'm thinking of ditching my original idea and instead striking up a finances conversation with a recommendation to look into DR or read the book.