So as I was walking around the mall marveling at all the crap you buy these days, I happened upon a new store that sold all manner of mini vehicles. They had the mini bikes, the not-so-mini bikes, scooters, ATVs and even a dune buggy. As I strolled through the store, ogling all the different vehicles. So many wonderful ways to propel your self forward while hugging the ground… and so little time… not to mention money. Which is the point of this short diatribe. Fully one third of the inventory of the store had a small sign on it that read: "This item is in layaway, please don't sit on it". The entire back wall of the store was devoted to a large banner saying "You can have it all now… XXXX Financing Available". I must say that at this point I became quite aware of the orange bracelet hanging around my wrist. I am, of course, refering to my Dave Ramsey Freedom Bracelet. Dave is a champion of getting out of debt, so you have money for other things like retirement instead of just interest on your Visa card. Anyway, the large amount of layaway and financing just seemed out of control in this store. I mean, it's not like these were cars to drive to work or something. They were $2000 toys. If you have the kind of money to buy your kids an $1800 scooter, that's GREAT. You're doing well. But how hard is it to resist plunking down a few GRAND that you don't HAVE, just to get your kid a TOY? On the bright side, companies like mine really like employees in debt up to their eyeballs — they don't call-in very often. They can't afford to.