HBO’s “Big Love” follows polygamist family Bill Henrickson and his wives Barb, Nicolette and Margene, who all live in a suburb of Salt Lake City, Utah, with their eight children. They try to keep their lifestyle a secret, even as they discover running three households can be extremely expensive.
Three Roofs
Bill bought three neighboring houses for his three wives and children. The median price of a house in Salt Lake City is $284,756, according to www.saltlakecityutah.org. That means that Bill owes a total of $854,268 for all three homes. In addition to mortgages, he would have to pay utilities and car payments for his wives’ cars. His first wife, Barb, is the most financially responsible. His second, Nicolette, grew up on a Mormon compound and has difficulties fitting into the modern world.
Nicolette also has an addiction to shopping, and tried to hide her credit card debt from the family. She bought plenty of clothes from catalogs, and finally admitted to Barb that she accumulated $60,000 in charges on her credit card. She would most likely need a debt management plan if she ever wanted to pay it off in her lifetime.
Big Spending
With three wives and seven kids (so far), everyday expenses add up. Cash back credit cards can be beneficial—as long as they’re paid-off every month. Cash back rebates range from 1% of all purchases up to 10% at selected merchants. If the cards are used carefully, the cash back earned by the family spending would pay for the kids’ allowances…maybe.
One Income
Bill runs a home improvement store chain, while his wives are unemployed for most of the series. The purchase price of a franchise can cost up to $1 million, according to www.businessbroker.net. The show depicts Bill and his business partner, Don, purchasing property for their additional stores and seeking out a new business venture in electronic gaming. Bill’s credit score must not be that great; he had to ask his Uncle Eddie for a loan so he could bid on a casino business.
Margene, wife number three, decided to launch a jewelry business later on in the series, and Nicolette briefly worked at the district attorney’s office as a temp. In reality, the family would need more income to function each month.
The cost of living for this family keeps increasing as Bill tries to add a fourth wife to the family, and his wives have more children. The U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates that families spend $269,520 to raise a child from birth to the time they turn 18. Living a polygamist lifestyle is risky, and could cost them their family and their jobs. The show should probably be called “Big Debt” rather than “Big Love.”
A lot of LDS would NOT have CC debt. (Nicolette being an aberration in more than one way). Traditional LDS women would make a lot more homemade food and pride themselves on being frugal. That would only really be Barb, but they don’t seem to be into fancy stuff in general.Lots of handmedowns:) Definitely get their money’s worth! Nikki is another kettle of fish and seems to be costly in every way.
Bill once mentioned about one of his wives(not barb) being covered by medical ins. through his company-which I figure was handled through the other FLDS woman in the company (wife of bill’s partner).
No daycare. Cheaper by the dozen and all that. They would love costco:)
Comment by Shelly — August 18, 2009 @ 4:55 am
Polygamy in actuality is not all that expensive. Sure there are more people in the family but you are sharing your resources, talents and time with each other for the greater good of the family..sometimes that may be living in cramped quarters for awhile or sharing vehicles, whatever the situation may be. And I would say over 50% of the women in our polygamist church work outside the home as well.
Comment by Kay — September 23, 2009 @ 5:14 am