That "I hate asking you" line stuck out to me because it sounds like she knows the April money is still hanging over both of you. Did the two of you ever talk about that $600, or did you just let it go and start fresh with the new plan? My worry would be that skipping over the old debt makes the $50 plan feel like a reset button instead of a real fix. What happens if she misses the first payment on the 15th?

Temperature control matters way more than the tool you use. Your hands are basically a thermostat, so when you cut butter in by hand you can feel when it starts to soften and stop before it gets greasy. A food processor spins so fast it can warm the butter and smear it into the flour before you even know what happened. That is why Ruth's mom never used one, not because she was old school but because she could not feel the dough through a plastic lid. The grating trick works for the same reason, it keeps the butter cold while breaking it into small pieces fast. So no, you are not behind the times, you just learned the thing that most recipes leave out.