08.02.08
Posted in Kids and Money at 10:40 am by CreditMom
I know, the summer is only half over (or half begun for the optimists) but it’s hard not to notice the ads for discount school supplies in the Sunday newspaper. My 10 year old twins received their 5th grade “suggested school supply list” on their last day of school so it makes it a bit easier to pre-plan back to school shopping for that joyous day in September.
Last night I finally decided to read the list that has been posted on the refrigerator since June. After my eyes glazed over, I decided I would share this absurdity: Read the rest of this entry »
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07.28.08
Posted in Life In General at 8:15 pm by CreditMom
Friday, the day my kids were to come home from summer camp for the weekend, I lifted a carton containing 12 bottles of club soda and injured my back. I’ve always suffered from on and off back pain but I knew this time I really pulled some muscles pretty badly.
It is now Monday and I am still in excruciating pain despite 2 trips to a massage therapist, frequent baths, ice and lots of hydrocodone, ibuprofen and muscle relaxers. So I thought I would write about all of my lost productivity since Friday, with the hopes of putting life into perspective as well as teaching myself a lesson that with 3 strong young boys in the house there is no need for me to be lifting heavy boxes!!!
Cooking - well that went out right along side my back. I know what you’re thinking and yes, my husband can cook but his pasta has dual use as plaster filler for holes in the walls. My kids have actually called me in the office begging me to not allow him to cook….ever. So, delivery it was for 3 days which cost a lot of money.
Driving - Nope, couldn’t do that either. Between the cocktail of meds I recklessly put in my body, overall discomfort and lack of quick reflexes I thought it best for my entire community that I stay off the roads. So 3 kids, one driver (that would be my husband, the cook) and lots of plans that had to be revised, adjusted and so on.
Work - not too productive here either. I typically check emails, blog and tie up open items during my limited alone time over the weekend. That didn’t happen either. First, I found it incredibly uncomfortable to sit in one position for more than a minute and second, it was a little hard to focus on anything but sleep due to the pain meds.
Fun - Was looking forward to some fun time with the kids at the pool this weekend since they go back to camp on Mondays. The fun consisted of me saying “come sit down next to Mom so we can talk.” Now that’s just the fun my 3 rambunctious boys were craving rght? Especially my 14 year old. Sure mom, there’s nothing I would rather do than sit with you in bed while you are going in and out of a coma.
Well it’s Monday and I couldn’t make it to the office which really made me very angry. I’m not the type of person that can sit still, I don’t like asking for help and I certainly don’t feel sorry for myself. But I actually slept half the day (all the meds caught up with me) and ended it on a relatively good note. I’m feeling just a spec better and I had a very productive conference call. The kicker is…I was soaking in the tub during the entire call and no one knew it (except for now I guess)! Thank goodness I didn’t have a web cam — the things you do to get by. And now I have been able to sit still long enough to write this post. It’s the little things in life that I need to stop and appreciate. Any one else have any similar stories to share?
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07.24.08
Posted in Kids and Money at 10:51 pm by CreditMom
My kids go to a midweek sleepaway camp. They get on the bus Monday morning and come home Friday night. My 14 year old has been going for 4 years and this year for the first time we sent the 10 year old twins. We decided to send the twins for only two weeks because we were a bit nervous how one of them would adjust — plus it just costs so much money!
Well, by the 2nd day the twins called home (they’re allowed daily phone calls…a curse and a blessing at the same time) and asked that we extend their stay for another 2 week session. Now remember, everything we do is double…well actually triple if you count our 14 year old. But the 14 year old was staying 5 weeks so how could we say no to 4 weeks for the twins? I mean isn’t that saying we love the 14 year old more than the twins? (At least, that’s the typical guilt trip they give us).
So my husband and I discussed it and decided to give in and extend camp another 2 weeks. Now I would love to say we did this out of our undying love for our children and enormous generosity but that would be a complete lie. We did it because it’s so darn peaceful in our house and we’ve gained back our FREEDOM! We’ve been going to the beach, dining out and just doing whatever we want when we want….imagine that concept?
During the weekend he was home, my 14 year old said, “I can’t believe you’re sending the twins another 2 weeks. How much is that costing?” So when I gave him the figure, he stared in disbelief and said, “How do you guys even make enough money for that? How do you pay for it?” At first I was taken aback but then I realized this was a good thing. After all these years he was finally developing some financial awareness.
I told him we start paying for next year’s camp the week camp ends this year. So in August 08, we will begin paying for Summer 09 and we’ll get a discount by signing up early. We pay the camp fees monthly throughout the year, just like any other expense and when one of us has extra cash we send an extra payment, just so we don’t have to go into credit card debt. It’s all a matter of budgeting and priorities.
I hope some financial awareness is beginning to settle in and they appreciate this privilege. But judging from my conversation tonight, I think the only awareness the twins have is self awareness. In fact, when asked why he didn’t call home last night one of them said, “Because I had nothing to say to you and I was surrounded by girls.” Oh my…what should we expect when they all come home????
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07.21.08
Posted in Kids and Money at 11:22 pm by CreditMom
We’re all huge Batman fans in my family so Friday morning I purchased 5 tickets from moviefone.com for the evening show of the Dark Knight. It cost us $100.50 for a 2 1/2 hour movie. Don’t get me wrong, the movie was awesome. We all loved it, in fact we all would actually see it again…well, if we didn’t have to pay for it!
So here is the cost breakdown of our little family Friday night treat:
Movie tickets (2 adults, 3 children, $1 ea online surcharge): $50.50
4 Popcorns $24.00
1 Candy $ 4.50
5 Sodas $17.50
Parking $ 4.00
GRAND TOTAL $100.50
Gone are the days of the drive in movie when your parents used to pack you into the car in pajamas and make you hide under the blanket in the back seat so they wouldn’t have to pay for you. Gone are the prices too! At today’s prices you have to be really selective in the movies you choose. How does any one afford to take their family to the movies these days?
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07.20.08
Posted in Kid's Responsibilities at 9:26 pm by CreditMom
I’ve been posting about my children’s quest to earn moneyto replace their broken RockBand drums. It’s been a bit tough for them since they have been away at camp but this weekend they decided they were going to tackle the issue head on….through allowance. In other words through our money.
So I decided to hear them out. The first twin said he would pick up the dog poop from the yard if I would buy him a pooper scooper. So I said to him, if you behave today, I’ll buy you a pooper scooper (yes I actually did hear those words come out of my mouth and yes there is something wrong with this picture!) But he did behave and off we went to Petco to invest in a $20 extra large sized pooper scooper which believe it or not excited him to no end.
What excited me was his attitude about working and his self motivation. He took it upon himself to wake up early and start his yard chore without any prompting from me. He was so excited that he wanted to show me how much he cleaned up but I passed on that one. I decided to give him allowance every time he does his chores as opposed to once a week so of course he got his allowance today.
The second twin didn’t like my suggestions of setting the table, emptying the dishwasher every night or kitchen clean up (who would like those suggestions? I can’t stand them myself!). So we settled on laundry. This could end up costing more than the allowance in the long run but I decided to take a chance by making sure his first load of laundry consisted of only swim suits and beach towels - can’t do too much damage with that. I posted instructions on the wall and to his credit he followed them precisely. In addition, he had to deliver each basket of laundry into the proper rooms. He also did a great job and got his allowance today as well.
I must say having my twins ask me to buy them things isn’t so bad because every time they ask I just say you can buy it with your own money. When they say they don’t have enough money, I just say work harder…not a bad lesson to learn early on right?
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07.15.08
Posted in Internet Safety at 10:49 am by CreditMom
Yesterday I posted on teenagers and buying cars. I thought this was a pretty innocent subject.
When I checked my analytics tool I found a few visitors reached my blog by searching with some very skeptical key word phrases such as “preteen honey”, “preteen model galleries”, etc. Of course I am jumping to the conclusion that whomever entered those key words has some major issues. I could be wrong but sorry, that’s my initial gut instinct.
In fact, when I applied the Google key word search tool to my post yesterday, I entered the word, “teenager” and I was absolutely amazed and disgusted when I saw the popular search phrases on that word, such as “teenage sex” and much worse. These were not terms with just a few searches, rather there were thousands of searches.
I’m not naiive to think there aren’t a lot of very sick people out there but I guess this hit pretty close to home. As a parent, I try to do the best I can to educate my kids about Internet safety and monitor their actions. Most parents can just about turn on a computer and type an email. They have a very limited understanding of the Internet and find the whole online experience intimidating. Shouldn’t they take a concerted effort to educate themselves?
And as for Google and the major search engines that enable these searches, shouldn’t they have some responsibility here?
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07.14.08
Posted in Kids and Money at 12:13 pm by CreditMom
My 14 year old teenager loves checking out “hot” cars. For some reason he has this idea that when he turns 16 we’ll be buying him a new car. I’m not sure where or why he would get that idea other than the fact we live in an affluent neighborhood where many people go into credit card debt to pay for cars, weddings, Bar Mitzvahs and communions.
So yesterday we were driving in my Nissan Murano and I noted the car would come off of lease in 2 years, perfect timing for when he turns16, so perhaps we buy it and he make the car payments (from the job he will be getting!). This way we wouldn’t have to buy a used car from a dealer or someone we don’t know. Plus the car is very well made, reliable and sturdy…a perfect car for a teenage boy.
Well - You would have thought I was offering him a 1975 Dodge Dart (actually that might have been better than my prized Murano). He said, “sorry, Mom but I really don’t want this car. It’s not my type, especially the color (silver). I mean can’t I just get a small Lexus like Jennifer? Come on, I’m not asking for a Rolls!” And then he had the nerve to say, “ok, maybe I’ll just get a motorcycle.”
You know those moments when you say, “where did I go wrong?” Well I had one of those. So bascially I told him what we’re going to do. Since we can’t do anything right now, we’ll wait 2 years. Then you figure out how much of YOUR money you can spend on a car including gas and insurance and we’ll see if miraculously that Murano becomes just your “type”….and by the way, if through working you have enough saved for a Lexus…go for it.
It’s not easy living in a neighborhood of entitlement, actually it’s a battle every day. Do any of you face similar issues? How do you handle them?
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07.10.08
Posted in Kids and Money at 10:00 pm by CreditMom
Gone are the days when summer camp was a luxury. In my mind, it’s now a necessity. Why? With so many dual income/working homes there aren’t that many options to keep your child busy and out of trouble over the summer, especially when a parent isn’t there to supervise.
It will cost thousands of dollars over the next 8 weeks to keep my three children socialized, exercised, safe and away from the computers and video games. WOW!!!!! So how much money does it take to send your kid to camp? Since we live in a major metropolitan area on the east coast the fees are exorbitant. The average summer day camp is between $300 and $600 a week. The average summer sleepaway camp is between $700 to $1000 per week. The more specialized the camp (i.e. baseball, music, computer science) the higher the fee.
Why do we choose to spend so much money? Well, we really don’t have that much of a choice since my husband and I both work full time. Sure we could probably hire a nanny to watch our 3 children for less money but unless she can come up with 2 months of stimulating FREE activities that cater to each of their age groups, it wouldn’t be much of a savings option.
So for 8 weeks our little bundles of mischief and joy get to romp and play in the outdoors, swim, eat tons of ice cream, socialize and make those lovely rope bracelets they insist you wear “all for free” (as my kids say) just so we have peace of mind they are off the streets and challenged by something other than electronic equipment.
When you look at the weekly cost, it’s pretty hard to justify but do we have a choice? Schools aren’t in session 12 months a year and both of us need to work. The best thing for us is we know our kids are safe and supervised. The best thing for them is they are stimulated, well rounded and building life long friendships and memories….so isn’t that worth it?
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07.07.08
Posted in Children's ID Theft at 10:30 pm by CreditMom
This week there has been much in the press about Facebook applications potentially leading to identity theft. Any one that has a Facebook account has seen the countless applications that are extremely popular with kids and adults alike. There’s movie compatability quizzes, brain games, send a friend a cupcake and many many more. I know my 14 year old can rattle off much more than I can and it seems every day he has loaded a new application (I know this because yes, I do openly monitor his Facebook).
Today I read this article from http://wbaltv.com regarding a game called “Mob Wars” that is an application on Facebook. You need to be 18 to play but of course any kid knows it’s pretty simple to lie about their age. Basically the player is a mob member and commits a variety of crimes. In order to get points the player clicks on a Godfather icon that leads him/her to a series of sketchy advertisements ranging from drug offers, adult magazines and credit applications that require a social security number. Many kids don’t know any better and input their social security number, subjecting them to ID theft.
The games are 3rd party web sites and not associated with Facebook but does the average kid know that and if so, would he/she even care? I feel Facebook does have responsibility to screen these applications since a major portion of their members are minors. In fact according to comScore Media Metrix the number of Facebook members between age 12 and 17 increased by 149% in 2007 vs. 2006. This age group is the largest growing segment and it does not include the amount of kids that lie about their age to place them in the 18+ bucket.
Do you feel Facebook should have stricter screening policies, is it the parent’s role or both? Would love to hear your thoughts.
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07.03.08
Posted in Kid's Responsibilities at 9:05 pm by CreditMom
Monday I posted about my twins’ quest to earn money to replace the RockBand drums they broke. They have $36 between them and need roughly $35 more. So, they decided to sell DVDs, video games and CD’s to earn the balance needed. I decided I was not going to remind them about their money making adventure and sit back and see just how motivated they are.
Well, surprise, surprise. Today on their own with no prompting from me, they gathered their items, asked me to make a sign (which I willingly did) and set up a table displaying their items outside our driveway. Since it’s a long holiday weekend I told them it probably wasn’t the best day to sell goods as many people were away and not strolling by as usual. But nevertheless they were determined to get out and sell.
Unfortunately I was correct. The streets were empty and no one stopped by but I told them not to get discouraged, they would have better luck on a non holiday weekend and they should just pack it in for tonight. I worried the lack of business would upset them but in no time they were back to their mischief, as I overheard one of them say in the kitchen, “hey, wanna play catch with this watermelon?”
Well my little bundles of mischief and menace are going to be away in camp for the next couple of weeks but when they return I’m sure they’ll be back out there again and hopefully they’ll have better results. And NO I did not allow them to play catch with a 15 lb watermelon in my kitchen. But I will continue to keep you posted on their countdown to $35.
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