Has anyone ever had one of those days where....

It seems like nothing is going right. You just feel so darn blucky that you just wanna go back to bed till the next week. When you pay all your bills and look to see how much you have left for groceries and realize that you have but $10 left. And it seem that ALLLLLL the bills are due at the same time..i mean come on bill collectors give us a break...These gas prices are killing me and my checking account...and with soccer practice and games every week, i just dont know when it will all end. Will things every get better, I mean to a certain point i can understand not having any money but geeze louise when ever penny is gone from a check and you have to wait 2 weeks for another one....The sad thing is i am just gonna have to enjoy my houseplant that i have now, cause i can not buy any for alittle while....Oh one more thing....How long are the school pictures gonna be so dang on high...it cost $40 for the whole package, which is enough for me but i have 2 girls at the same school, so that is $80...i usually go to WalMart for them but, then i end up spending just at much there cause they take those extra shots that you just can't pass up...uggghhh and don't even get me started on the field trips at school, my daughter is going to the a place down here called "The Biltmore Estate" some fancy place, i dont even know what it is...well i do but you know...anyways it is gonna each student $42 to go and that is not including food....I just wanna scream and pull my hair out...I guess i best go do some more yard work before I end up bald...hehehhe

Thanks for letting me vent..and ohhh if ya would like you can throw in a prayer or two for me...


Char

Well, I can tell you the price for school pictures never goes down!!! For my daughter I had to buy just one pose of the cheapest package available of her senior pictures, besides the $25 'sitting fee', the cheap package cost me $235, and there aren't even enough 3X5's or larger to send to the relatives that I normally would send or give pictures to!! They must have taken 8 or 10 poses, and the kids could even bring different outfits to change into, if they wanted. What a racket, how can you not buy pictures of your kids!!! I felt so bad that I couldn't afford some of the other poses.
Deb

You guys! God is in the plan... Just think about all those folks who are sick, and don't have a place to go at night, and have no support group! At least you know you can come here and we'll support you...

So look up! Because God is looking down. He sees you just where you are, and He can see tomorrow! Isn't that refreshing?

Princess, would you like for me to send you a box of plants? I have plenty, and --this week-- I can afford the shipping! I'd be glad to! You need some blooms in your rainy day!!! -FlowrLady

Flowrlady,

Thanks so much for your offer, that was really sweet of you...And if you would like to send me a box I would love it....But please don't spend to much on shipping.

I know that God is in control and would not give me more then i can handle..it just gets hard sometimes.

Char

Char,

I found, years ago, when I had multiple kids in the school system, that the extras were killing me. Field trips, lunches, supplies, books that the school didn't buy, omg, it was horrendous. The sixth grade always spent a week at nature camps in the mountains and that cost $150 15 years ago. This school was in a well to do neighborhood, and when I gave my daughter a birthday party, the other girls brought her gifts that were $40 to $50. For a 10 year old???

I went to a PTA meeting and protested. What I learned was that there was a quiet fund for help on field trips. All I had to do was request help through the office. We weren't welfare parents, we both worked, but like you, there wasn't money at the end of the paycheck. No one made me fill out any declarations of what I made, or prove my income or anything. They just made sure my kids got to participate with all the others.

It won't help with school pictures. But this school even did school pictures twice a year. I was floored. AND you had to pay in advance or they wouldn't even take them. I decided once a year was enough. And I also refused to patronize the "official" senior portrait taker. By doing that, I saved several hundred. As far as I was concerned, my kid didn't NEED pictures in 8 outfits, and that several hundred dollars would be better used buying books for college.

DD #2 was a little irritated with me, but she got over it quick. Right about the time she got a job and realized just how hard those dollars were to make. I really think every kids first job should be hard, physical, manual labor. Lol.

I sympathize! Our schools do the twice-a-year photos twice a year (it is a racket), but my kids know we're only going to buy fall OR spring - usually fall, unless the pictures are terrible, and then I'll buy the spring ones. When they were all in sports, I really got hit hard - three kids, three seasons of sports = 9 "opportunities" to buy sport photos every year, plus school pictures. Sigh...

My boys haven't balked when I refused to fork over $500 for a class ring from the "official" ring people (we got a perfectly decent one for the oldest for a fraction of that) and the oldest's senior photos ran about $300. We'll be doing that again this summer for the next one. It's still an "ouch" but not like some of their classmates, whose parents blithely handed over $600 or more for photos.

We earn a "comfortable" wage (at least until our fuel bill started running more than the food bill, lol), but our kids know that it's totally unrealistic to drive a BMW or Lexus to school (as many of their friends and classmates do), and we don't buy $100 jeans when I can cover their backsides with an $18 pair of Old Navy jeans ;o)

Both boys are employed (oldest works full-time and goes to college; next one will be a senior next year and works part-time.) DD is 10 and has already discovered that if she wants more spending money than the very meager allowance I provide to her, she'll have to work for it - there's plenty of yard and house work (aside from chores) that she can do if she wants more money. She ruthlessly saves her Christmas, birthday and allowance money - and when she is ready to bargain hunt, it's not unusual to have her walk out of a store with a shopping bag full of clothes for the price of one pair of jeans. I hope that trend continues as she enters the teenage years when so many of her friends will be sporting obscenely expensive clothing, which we wouldn't buy even if we could afford it.

Having been through 5 kids, with the last one graduating next week, I can definitely sympathize.

Over the years we've been buying all the photos that the school takes, (I am a scrapbooker, so it's my own fault). I just can't let a picture go by. I really wish they would let us just buy one photo, instead of the entire price inflated package. That part is a racket for sure.

Then there's graduation. Yikes! DH and I sat down and figured it out the other night. So far, we are just shy of $1500 for graduation expenses for this kid only, and we haven't even paid for the open house food yet. Graduation photos, announcements, cap and gown, and don't forget the stamps! Those stamps to mail the announcements added up really quick, but we do still have a few left over for the Thank you cards. DH and I have taken to calling graduation year the "International Rip The Parents Off Year"

All this is taking a crunch out of our checkbook too. Then the price of gas has taken another huge chunk out of our checkbook because Jaden drives 16 miles a day for school, and I drive 52 miles a day for work. :(

Yep, I'm there with ya. I feel the pain too.

Hi all. I've sure been there watching my parents struggle with this growing up. I've done better for myself in my life but don't yet have kids in school so I'm sure the shock is yet to come! Mom used to complain that the list for school supplies got longer every year. I mean there is everything under the sun on those lists: trapper keeper, special colored pens so students can correct their own work, #2 pencils, markers, classroom tissues, colored pencils, sissors, etc etc etc. They also started the twice a year shots at the schools up there in Michigan! They only did it once a year when I went.

It was always my job to buy a yearbook if I wanted one. There was no discussion about classrings because I didn't value it enough to buy one and I knew that would be the only way to get one. When it came time for Senior pics I went to Kmart. Yep. So many kids spent several hundred on them and I spent $80 including getting all the many shots. I have so many pics left I should have enough for each kid and grandkid. LOL. So many things that really after the years go by really didn't matter at all.

I rarely look at the yearbook, friends stopped wearing their classrings and the pics...they weren't any better than the ones I took with my own camera surrounded by friends. =)

Just keep that in mind. The nickle and diming you won't matter in the end.

Here, if you don't have the pictures done by the photographer they choose, you don't get your kid's picture in the yearbook. So to be included in that, there's no way around it, at least for Senior year. The other years they took school pictures, and you ordered, or didn't order, but Senior year, unless you paid the sitting fee, and ordered pictures, you don't get in the book.

Momcat,

That is HORRIBLE! WOW. I saw some really great shots some kids had done and there's no way you'd of gotten the variety or quality in a shot done in chair!!! I was in Michigan when I graduated (close to you) and can't imagine being so limited like that.
Like I said, got mine at Kmart and the school had a drop box to put the picture you wanted in the year book.

Aimee, you were wise in your youth.

Momcat, that's close to blackmail.

Every teen I see has a phone, or the latest anything. I wonder how the parents or the kids afford it. Ring tones, jokes, phones that take pictures. Do they need that right now? Do they know the added features aren't free? I guess people make choices.

My daughter has a phone, she pays the bill most of the time, though it is in my name. She works after school as a waitress, 3 days a week. She is able to pay her car insurance, gas, phone, and still have some spending money.

I love that she has a phone, and I would probably pay for it myself, if need be. I am a single parent, and constant worrier. When she's out late, I can call. (I've asked her to call me, but that doesn't happen).

Before she got her phone, when she just got her drivers license, she went out with a girlfriend, and on the way back took a wrong ramp on the expressway, and ended up headed toward Iowa. The exits are few and far between on that toll road, and once she realized, was almost in DeKalb before she could exit and turn around. She didn't get home until after 1am. I was worried sick, and I drove her friend's family crazy calling every half hour to see if they had heard anything, even though they promised to call if they did! We got the phone shortly after that so she could call if lost, and I could call when worried.

Deb

I am with Deb on the cell phone issue. My daughter is 12 and yes she is still young she goes alot of places with her friends and I love the fact that i can call her and check on her, if it is just for my peace of mind. She does not have any fancy phone, matter of fact it is my old one and when i upgraded she got it. It was only $10 extra a month to add her on, and if that is all i gotta pay for me to worry just a tad less when she is out then i will gladly pay it. Nowadays you can't be to careful.


Char

I fought like crazy letting my oldest get a phone when she was in high school. She was a good student, and great kid, so I relented. As my kids all started being away from home more, a cell phone for each was a lifesaver. If they didn't like the driving or condition of the person they were with, they called. If lost, (and one of mine can get lost in the back yard) she called for directions. Mine did call when they were going to be late. If they broke down driving, they called. When a school went into lockdown for any reason, we could still communicate. On the reverse, it sure was nice to call them and have them stop at the store on the way home.

Maybe it is more of a city thing. I grew up in a small town, and if anything happened, the town looked out for us, but this isn't a small town, and times aren't what they were when I was a kid.

I'm glad I graduated HS in 97, before any of the kids even THOUGHT of cell phones! I can't imagine thinking or expecting I'd be getting one. I really can only imagine what an uncool parent I will be because I don't plan on giving my kids technology. Not really. If they want cell phones, computer/video games etc they will have to pay for them. I would do all I can to ensure they get a quality education and love at home and that's the extent of my planning. =)

Adding my daughter was only and extra $10, though I did upgrade to a more minute plan, and she added the text messaging. I just worry so much less knowing that I can call her anytime, or, if anything should happen, she can call me.

One night coming home from a orchestra concert she played in, she had a flat tire. It was in an industrial area between home and school, it was dark, and not alot of traffic. She was able to call me, and I sent my 21 year old son over to help her.

Money is tight here, but I don't think of the cell phones as a luxury. In this day and age, I feel that it is a necessity, at least in an urban, or suburban area.

Deb

Deb,

My DH is trying to change my mind to the slant you have on cell phones as well. He doesn't want our kids, especially at driving age, on the roads without it. And honestly when we decided to start living on a budget we both said we CANNOT give up the cell phones we each had. It's 80 a month but we have a great plan and I said, we pay more for auto insurance or health insurance and we use the phone EVERY DAY...it's like INSURANCE!

I guess my fear is the sense of entitlement kids are having these days. But hopefully I can raise responsible and hard working children and we can all feel like they are earning their privledges, including a possible cell phone for emergencies.

My parents helped my brothers (early 20's) by adding them to their plan (things sure have changed since I lived at home! LOL) and they actually ran up the bill to several hundred bucks. That's my fear. But I guess as a parent you can usually tell if you can trust your child or not.

Aimee,
I had a problem with my son, when I first added him to my account. He ran over the minutes, a time or two. I got in the habit of checking minutes on the account, and would warn him. There were a few months when the bill wasn't paid in total, but we got caught up, he paid me back for the overages, and he now has his own, pay as you go, type phone. My daughter has never gone over on the minutes, but I did have almost $20 in text messages on one bill. She paid for that, and we added text messaging to her phone, so she now can send 200, or maybe more, I don't recall, that are included in the cost.
Deb

Deb,

That is great that you found plans that work for your kids!!! And they sound like such good kids to work on paying you back. I've always been pretty responsible and never gone over on minutes and won't text because of the cost but I just worry my kids wouldn't be as careful about things. Sounds like I can learn lessons from you though! You are a SUPERMOM!!!!!!!! =)


This message was edited May 31, 2006 7:27 PM

We added unlimited texting to the kids phones for $5, found it saved a bundle on minutes. Also if they are in a situation where they can't talk, i.e. job, dead zone, noisy situation I could still get my message through. And with texting, I could send them a message, and they couldn't claim the phone never rang, they didn't hear it, or any other nonsense. I never accepted the excuse of the battery dead either, cause teens simply don't want to be cut off from communication.

They thought, when they got phones, it was their idea, and very cool, but actually it just became one more way they were never out of reach of the long arm of the Mom!

Far from Supermom!!! My kids were both old enough to know what was going on, and realized what a bad situation we were in when I divorced their father. We are all very close, they are 18 and 21 now, and in their way, they watch out for me, as much as I watch out for them. For the longest time it seemed like "us against the world", but we're OK, now!!
Deb

Deb,

Glad to hear it!!!! We all have those rough patches and...in tune with this thread....things just get better. =)


This message was edited May 31, 2006 7:27 PM

My daughter is graduating this year, and my oldest son will be next year. Senior pictures for DD ran us about 250.00 and we had to use the yearbook company or no picture in yearbook. Her class ring was made for her by a family friend as a gift, so that helped alot. She purchased her own yearbook. She is a straight A student and will be graduating with high honors. We told her that what ever she wanted or needed for graduation was to be discussed before purchase and we needed as much time as possible to save up and budget. She wanted a graduation party/open house on grad day but changed her mind when boyfriends mom announced she was coming to town only for that day. So instead they will spend the day with her and then that following weekend we are having a BBQ for about 25 that also helps celebrate my FIL birthday at her request.
Son doesn't want a class ring and really couldn't care less if his picture appears in the yearbook. He has mentioned that he doesn't care to walk or go to the ceremony at all. We hopefully have changed his mind but in the end we are letting it be his decision. We are going to have family portraits done this year and I am going to have a couple taken with only him and his cap and gown just in case.

When my kids were in elementary school I would volunteer to help on picture day and the company would give me a free packet for helping. That helped alot since our school did pictures three times a year. Fall, Spring and full class at the end of the year.

We live in a very fast pace city where most people dont acknowledge their neighbors much less someone in need on the side of the road. When my daughter first started to drive I would let her take my cell phone when she went out at night. One night she had a blow out on a tire and it threw her into a spin and off the enbankment of the road causing her to flip the car several times. There were no street lights, it was not a high traffic road and a different road then she usually traveled because of contruction on her normal path. Luckily she was able to call 911 and tell them where she was exactly so they could get to her and use the jaws of life to get her out of the car. She was not seriously injured thank God, but without that cell phone she could have been trapped there until daylight until someone found her and the outcome could have been much different. She now has her own cell phone as does my oldest son. My youngest (11) takes mine or DH's whenever he goes someplace without one of us. It is worth far beyond the monetary value when it comes to the safety of a child.

Oh I agree! I am not worried about the cost of it as a safety measure, I think of mine as insurance and I make a claim all the time! LOL! But just worried about ALLLL the gadgets and gifts kids today seem to be getting and don't want the seriousness or responsibility of having a cell phone to be lost on them in the midst of it. Deb let me see it's all in how your individual child can handle it. Sounds like you've raised some good kids too!

Two years ago, my sister got a cell phone for her daughter, then 16. The kid was told of restricftions in minutes so used text messaging instead without consulting her mother. In just a little over 6 weeks she ran the bill up to over $1600.00!

OH NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!

I did see this AWESOME cell for kids, since I don't have any I didn't store the info of the maker, but you've probably seen the new commercials for it. It's a real cell phone with a pay as you go bill and no contract agreement. Pretty neat! I would think texting would be a pain as it takes awhile to type in your message! I'd rather email or call the person.

I agree kids ahould have phones. I also think the best way is the pay as you go if possible.

Solitare, I understand text messaging now. I'm just not up on all the new age stuff.

Kids see commercials and don't always read the fine print. Phone companies depend on that. I wonder how many sign up for the jokes and such without their parents knowing.

Aimee, you are fast joining the ranks of us "old foggies." who are, according to my kids, out of touch with the times.

Texting can be done faster than email. My kids all have something on their phones called "predictive text" and they can send a text faster than I can read the darn thing. Predictive text, as I get it, is where you start typing the word, and the phone automatically figures out what possible word combinations can be made from the first few letters you type and you don't have to type the whole word. For example, if I type in S and O and M it offers choices of some, sometime, something, and a bunch of other possibilities. I am not good at it, but they are very fast.

Solitare!

Oh yes where can I sign up!!! LOL. I've always been an old soul...if only when I answered the door to a repair man he wouldn't ask, "Hi...is your dad at home?" and then I leave to go get my husband who answers the door and is actually younger than me. Bwahahahaha!!!!! I love it! And I'm sure my kids will hate me...unless I can just raise them to be responsible that is. If I can trust them then they can enjoy "privledges." =)

Char....hope things are 'looking up' for you!!

I'll be sending you a package in the near future, as promised (I didn't forget!)

I totally agree that in urban areas a cell phone is quite important for a teenager/child.....but......I agree with Aimee in that they don't *need* a cellphone just to keep in touch with friends...I think they can do that at home.

I have a Tracfone, only for emergencies. I give it to my oldest son when he's out....but he *knows* better than to 'use up' my minutes chatting with friends. It's just not necessary.

My $ .02

Nan,

Thanks for your good thoughts...and yes things are starting to look up for me and mine....hubby has been working ALOT of overtime. So we are getting cought up on most everything. I will be looking forward to you box in the near future.
My oldest daughter has a cell phone and only uses it when she is away from home and needs to get in touch with me. Not to gab on it with her friends.

Char