I guess time is really taking its toll on me. I am still working on getting my degree and I am realizing that it will soon be time for my daughter to choose a college. I feel a little behind the times in some aspects, however, I have and have had a full range of experiences in this lifetime, for which I am very grateful. I just wish that her going on to college didn’t mean her leaving home. I know that she will want to go and as her mother I should definitely and will definitely encourage it, but she is my only daughter and although the nest will not be empty when she leaves, I will miss her desperately.
She is a very strong academic student and she is taking an SAT test prep glass and contacting the admissions departments at some of the colleges throughout the state. I know that she is interested in a school that will offer her the opportunity to some schooling online, however she wants to go to a campus so she won’t be considering a completely online university. Although she is very much a good student, she is used to being in classes and going to school. I am afraid that if she were just working on an online degree that she would get really lazy and not finish her work. She is the type who needs a teacher standing over her every now and again to see what she is doing.
With me being in school, we will need to find her some money to go away to school and we have been looking into some academic scholarship programs that may afford her some free money to use toward her schooling. I know if she does some good test preparation that she can score really high on her SAT’s and that will really get her lined up for some good scholarships. She already has made plans to go away to school with her best friend, who is a year ahead of her in school, so I am not really sure that will work out, but that is what she is talking about, and I think it is healthy for her to make plans and talk of leaving the nest.
I know she will do well, and I can’t wait for her to have the opportunity to go away and spread her wings, but I just don’t know how I will survive in the house of testosterone…alone. (LOL)
Posted on Saturday, August 23, 2008 9:06 PM by Carol Ann
I can't believe summer is already coming to a close. Last year we went on two vacations over the summer break, but this year we haven't been able to go on a vacation at all. I am struggling just to get the kids back to school and am feeling really kind of sad that we haven't gotten to go on a family vacation. We love to stay at hotels and even motels and in the past I have been able to find a weekly vacation rental that did not cost a fortune. Unfortunately, with a large family, normal hotel accommodations don't always cut it. We sometimes have to get two separate rooms, just to accommodate the family and that leaves my husband and I sleeping separate, as leaving the kids to have their own room is not really an option at their ages. Although, I think the older ones would love it, they are not quite to that place yet.
I am really hoping that I can afford a beachfront rental in the coming month or so where the weather will still allow for an enjoyable beach vacation, but the prices will be down because it is off season. My soon to be 13 year old has informed me that he would really like for our family to take a ski vacation over this coming winter. He really wants to try and ski, but I am not sure how much staying at a ski lodge will cost. I will look into it for him, but I don't know if it will be possible to take 2 vacations this year, since I have been really struggling just to put one short vacation together.
Times are really tough and for a large family like ours we are really feeling the pinch. My husband finally has a better job again, but I have learned a lot over the past year and I now know that saving is way more important than getting in that extra vacation. We have had a really tough year, but in that time I have learned a lot more about the importance of saving money and trying to get ahead and stay ahead. With an unstable economy and rising food costs, it has become more important than ever to create a cushion for ourselves, even if that means tightening the belt more than it needs to be tightened. This is a lesson that I think our whole society is getting the hard way.
Posted on Monday, August 18, 2008 9:06 AM by Carol Ann
The Bermuda Triangle…Family, Money, School
With back to school time rapidly approaching, there is so much to do, especially if you have kids. You have to get the school supplies, new clothes, pay the school fees, and attend the open house nights (which in my case puts me at 3 different schools). That is right, the more kids you have the crazier it is, and yet the happier you are that school is beginning again…Am I right? Anyway, in our house, it is not just the kids who have to get ready to go back to school, but Mom as well, and therefore I have been really thinking about how to effectively finish up my degree and still balance it with being the mother to 4 very active and talented children. Well, as you know the boys play soccer and that will take up to 6 days every week when in full swing, and at least 5 days for sure. Then my oldest one wants to take singing and piano, and my oldest son is joining jazz band which means staying after school 1 day a week. My youngest will probably want to go back to cooking classes this fall, another after school program. With all these activities all afternoon and being in class all day, I will never get anything done. Sure they could help, but they probably won't and my husband will be working and running the kids everywhere too, so I am just not sure what my plans should be at this point. Also, with money being so tight and with my schooling accumulating more debt for us in the form of student loans, it really makes it difficult on the family if I don't work.
I understand the plight of the working women of the world. You want to raise your kids, be there for them with brownies every afternoon; however you also want them to be able to go to college and get married some day. Balancing the priority of family and the need for money becomes a constant tug of war physically and emotionally. I know that the loan rates are pretty good right now, and we have been relatively debt free for a while now, but still I am not sure that with the current economy it is a wise choice to refinance. I just worry about where the financial times are leading to. Are we headed towards the bread lines of the 1920's and if so isn't it hard to imagine picking up more debt right now? Credit cards are helpful; however you can't live on them, not if you want to have any credit left when you are through.
Posted on Wednesday, August 06, 2008 1:25 PM by Carol Ann
Easier Said Than Done
Being a wife and mother on top of being a student just adds extra pressure to tighten the purse strings. My husband has just started a new job after being out of work for some time and it is good to know that he will back getting health insurance at a good price in addition to getting back into 401K savings again. We have accumulated some credit card debt since he has been out of work and of course I have accumulated some student loans along the way. We have been living off our savings and it will be very freeing to be able to start paying down our debt and start to save again.
I have some serious issues that I am trying to work on in this area and so I know it is going to be tough. Unlike my husband, I am a spender. Savings is not my specialty and that makes me a little nervous. I am afraid that finally having a decent income again might cause me to spend more as it usually does. I don't mean to do it and this time I am trying to prepare myself for it. This has been a huge issue in my marriage. I love to buy things for my kids. I don't need to buy for myself, as a matter of fact I don't. The kids however are a completely different story. If I have the money then I have a hard time saying no to them, and of course they have learned this and take full advantage.
I can see that the overall economy is not doing well, and I really am trying to do some things already to cut down our expenses so that when that first paycheck comes of my husband's I will have a savings plan in place. I need to start saving as if it is another bill, to be paid first and not just with whatever I have left over at the end of the week. I want to be debt free and stay debt free. As a matter of fact I just changed banks and will be attending a free class that they have their about debt management and budgeting, so maybe I can truly figure out where and how I am going wrong. I just want to know that my family is on a good financial footing now, so that when I actually graduate school and get a better job that our family finances can truly soar. I don't want to spend every penny I make with nothing put aside for an emergency or the future.
Posted on Wednesday, August 06, 2008 12:50 PM by Carol Ann