The Borrowing Dilemma Scenarios

Scenario 1:

2–3 actors required: Person 1 wants to buy a new [insert item] and asks their family (Person 2 or 3) to borrow money to buy it. Person 1 buys the item right away, excited to have the new purchase. A month later, the family member asks for their money back, but Person 1 doesn’t have the money to pay them back.  

• Make a plan before borrowing money from someone. 

• Earn money before spending it. 

Scenario 2:

2 actors required: Person 1 wants to watch the new season of [insert show]. They can either pay $15 a month for a one-month subscription or pay $10 a month for a year-long subscription. Person 1 calls Person 2 on the phone to discuss the options. Person 2 says they think one month is good enough but Person 1 disagrees with them. Person 1 decides to take the year-long plan with the cheaper monthly price. They figure they will do odd jobs like shovelling snow to pay it off each month. 

• Create a long-term plan before making a long-term financial commitment. 

• Calculate total costs before making decisions. 

• Look into penalties for early cancellation. 

• Only spend money that you have for non-essential items or services, rather than borrowing money. 

Scenario 3:

4 actors required: Person 1 gets $50 in birthday money and decides to go on a shopping spree for some new clothes. Person 1 asks friends for advice. Person 2 tells them to shop on a website that gives them points if they spend over $50. Person 3 tells them to buy it on a website because even though it takes time to be shipped internationally, the clothes are less expensive, and they can purchase more items. Person 4 tells them they should save the gift card to use when they need something important. Person 1 is confused and doesn’t know what to do.  

Decisions should be made based on a combination of factors including quality of item, necessity, cost, fair trade, and personal circumstances. 

Scenario 4:

4 actors required: Person 1 receives a weekly allowance including lunch money from their family (Person 2). In the first two days of the week, Person 1 spends all their lunch money at [insert choice of food vendor]. Person 3 [food vendor employee] accepts their money when they purchase their lunch. For the rest of the week, Person 1 borrows money from a friend (Person 4) to purchase lunch since they already spent all of their money and promises to pay it back the following week. The next week, Person 4 asks Person 1 for their money back, and Person 1 doesn’t have enough money to pay for both lunch for the week and to pay Person 4 back for the money they borrowed. 

• Create a budget for a weekly plan. 

• Research different choices before spending money. 

• Avoid borrowing money without a plan to repay it. 

Scenario 5:

4-6 actors required: Person 1 wants to save up for a new purchase by having a lemonade stand to make money. Person 1 calls a friend (Person 2) to tell them the plan. Person 1 and Person 2 create a budget to plan out how much money they need upfront to buy all the materials. Person 1 asks a family member (Person 3) to lend them the money to start up the business. Persons 1 and 2 hold their lemonade stand and sell to several people (Person 4–6). Once they have earned enough money to buy the new item, Persons 1 and 2 go shopping. They decide to keep up the lemonade stand to pay back their loan.  

• Pay back owed money first, before spending on new items. 

• Create a plan to payback borrowed money. 

Scenario 6:

3 actors required: Person 1 is playing a mobile game and wants to buy a special character that costs $20. They don't have money in their account, so they ask their parent (Person 2) to use their credit card "just this once”. Person 2 agrees but tells them this is a loan that needs to be paid back. Person 3 (sibling/friend) watches and warns Person 1 that these purchases add up quickly. Person 1 buys the character but realizes a week later they rarely use it and still owes Person 2 the money. 

• Carefully consider warnings from those who care about you. 

• Avoid impulse purchases online. 

• Reflect on how a purchase might be used, before making the purchase. 

• Avoid borrowing money to buy non-essential items. 

• Earn money first, before spending on non-essential items. 

Scenario 7:

3 actors required: Person 1 notices an advertisement for a really cool [insert product] online with a "Buy Now, Pay Later" option that splits the cost into four payments. They have already used this option for a few other purchases recently but have not paid these plans off yet. Person 1 calls their friend (Person 2) to discuss whether it's a good deal. Person 2 thinks it sounds easy since it's "only small payments." Person 1 signs up and buys the [insert chosen product]. A month later, Person 1 realizes they have multiple "Pay Later" payments due from different purchases and doesn't have enough money in their account. Person 3 (family member) discovers the situation when payments start bouncing. 

• Calculate total costs of long-term purchases before making commitments. 

• Create a plan to pay for long-term purchases to determine if the expense is realistic for you. 

• Carefully consider marketing strategies like “By Now, Pay Later” as they are often intended to influence financial spending long term. 

Scenario 8:

3 actors required: Person 1 forgot their friend's birthday and wants to buy them a digital gift card online as a last-minute present. They don't have any allowance money left in their debit account because they spent their allowance on Monday buying themself a new [insert product]. They are trying to decide if they should ask their auntie/uncle (Person 2) to use their credit card with the promise to pay it back next week. They decide to ask and auntie/uncle lends them the money. Person 3 (friend) gratefully receives their gift. 

• Create a plan to pay back borrowed money. 

• Consider weekly expenses before making non-essential purchases. 

• Try to save some money for last-minute situations.