I'm Back.....yaaaay!

We got back late Friday night.

It's Tuesday and I am still digging out!

I've spent more time in my laundry room than in any other room so far this week.
Not only do I have Hubs and my laundry from the trip but even though College Boy has been home 2+ weeks now, all his laundry is clogging up the works.  Plus all his bedding from school.
The boy couldn't find time to do his laundry but he found plenty of time to practice(which is good), have his buddies over to eat/drink a ton of my goodies/mess up my house/break shit, and sleep late.  He did also go to work so there's that to balance all the negatives.

I also think he let friends sleep over here the last 2 weeks and they dirtied every sheet and blanket in the house.  I couldn't even get INTO the laundry room on Saturday there was so much crap piled up in there! lolz

So basically I've been washing every cloth item in the house the last few days.
And unpacking.
And putting shit away.
And starting to rearrange the whole house in preparation for Daughter to move back in.
Ugh.
Can I just leave again and come stay with one of y'all?

And to top my exciting life off, I have to cook and meal plan and buy groceries again.
I tell ya, life is just so not fair.......

There are various musical instruments filling the spare room and the living room still from various jams sessions/band rehearsals......from guitars, to drum sets to a doumbek.(That's a Middle Eastern drum is you really need to know.)

The money I gave College Boy for groceries while we were gone is no more.  However, none of it was spent on groceries but on gas for the car and take-out pizza.
It's a good thing we won't be making these long trips to Louisiana in spring anymore and leaving him home alone, huh? ;-)

And to top it all off I brought home a lovely lady parts infection from Louisiana with me.
Oh joy.........pass the anti-itch cream please!!

So dealing with the house, that is a wreck and needs to be organized asap, dealing with medical stuff(more on that later) and dealing with massive amounts of money leaving the accounts(May has about done me in financially)is where my world is right now.
The yard is also a disaster but I can't even.......

I am confident that Life will all sort itself out in due time but for now, it is kicking my large pasty white ass.

I hope things are better in your world.  If not, tell us all about it and make me feel a bit better that I am not alone in the "Land of WTF?!".

Sluggy

Like Water Pouring Through Our Hands

That's what the money has been like lately.
First off, #2 Son needs a better flute.
He's at the point where he has a serious commitment to his music and plans to make a career in the music field.
He needs an upgrade in the instrument department and this is the one his teacher recommended.....ain't it purty and shiny?

There was an identical used one for $200 less but his teacher tested both and the difference was more than $200 in quality, as the used one hadn't been taken care of.  It would have cost more than $200 to get it back up to new quality, so we bit the bullet and bought the new one.
This brand is a gem among flutes, Di Zhao.  The only brand that handcuts the head joints on flutes at this level of instrument.  Hand cut parts are only seen otherwise in custom made flutes and/or the highest end pro models these days, which are out of our ballpark in price.
Professional flutes start at around $7K and go into the $20K & Up range.

The teacher says this upgraded flute should see him through his 1st two years of college, at which point his professors will start pushing him to trade up to a better instrument.  We have told him, the next upgrade is on your dime so start putting away that summer job money for when that day comes.

As with cars, luxury watches and some electronics, you don't pay the "list price" for a quality musical instrument.  There is haggling and/or discounts.  We paid $1000 out of pocket for this flute.
The cash is coming out of his college fund so I don't have to dig into our regular savings for this. 8-)
We are however paying OOP for his flute camp next month.  It's just 3 days so not that large an outlay of cash.

We may have to give our oldest child a loan later this year.  He graduated in May and is now job hunting but his SO needs to finish up 1 more year at a school in Pittsburg, so they need to locate there for at least until next May.
So they need to move and find an apt. before August & the beginning of classes for the Fall.  But it's very hard to find an apt. if you have no job in the area and aren't independently wealthy enough to afford to pay rent.  Besides, landlords run your credit score and they want an employer on your application.  And it's hard to find a job if you don't live in the area, so it's a vicious cycle.

Hubs wanted to hand the kid a check for $ to make trips down to P'burg to find a job.  I told him this won't work because the type of jobs the kid will be interviewing for will most probably be the kind where they want you to start right away, and then they'll need to logistically make the move, still need money for an apt.(1st/lasts/security + moving expenses), so why not just co-sign the lease for 1 year(or 10 months if they can get one of those)?  Then when they get on their feet, they can take over the payments and then pay us back when they are in a position to financially.
Right now they are living with the SO's grandparents but they have no family in P'burg to stay with while they get jobs/find an apt./etc.

So we will be loaning them a heap of money(around $10K all totaled if a job never materializes there).  Knowing this kid, there is no way in hell(short of death)that he will NOT repay it....it just might take awhile.  We have the money to lend and it won't leave us short.  I also told the kid that if he doesn't repay us, his little brother can't go to college(not really). ;-)  The guilt of THAT will eat at him.....lol

I made the mistake of mentioning to the Hubs after this conversation that if we had NOT had 3 kids, he'd probably be retired by now and we'd be swimming in cash.
Kids are damned expensive to raise to adulthood, even if you are frugal and careful with the money, ya know?   They are a pricey hobby......

Just for fun, I went HERE and used their child cost calculator to figure what our youngest will cost to get to adulthood.  He is 17 now.
The answer was $518,000.
Gulp.
Really??  It's that much?!

Figuring his 2 siblings were about that(maybe a little less due to inflation and they are older), it means we'll have shelled out $1,500,000.00 in child related costs.
Woweeeee!
I've seen a figure to raise a child to 18 as low as $235,000(not including college).  Under $7000,000 total for 3 kids sounds a mite better......say $800,000 better. lol

I'd say including college, our 3 might be at a total of approx. $900,000 with college.

Hey, no wonder the couple across the street(who are about our age)who have no children and live in a house identical to ours, seem to take a lot of trips and have a fancy pants sports car for a third vehicle.  lol 

C'est la vie......

Then we got the credit card bill yesterday in the mail.
$2,800+ statement for June.
$658.70 in charges related solely to the kids.
See what I just said?!

Have I mentioned how expensive kids are?? ;-)

Ok....to be fair there were $1000+ in charges for NON-Needs from Hubs and I.
* A new desk, a new computer chair & a DNA test kit for me.
* A new computer and a yr. of internet chess club for Hubs.
Hubs was MORE expensive than me though in June.
That's my story and I'ma stickin' to it!



Sluggy


 

How Did It Get to Be June Already?

Well goodbye May!
I read pretty near everyone in the blogosphere lambasting May for being a really sucky month this year.
Sucky as in sucking all the money out of their pockets!
Lot of unexpected and planned spending was had in May for many folks.
Everyone is glad to see May go.

Me?
I don't rightly remember much of May what with all the stuff going on here, I haven't had much time to notice how monetarily sucky the month was for us.  I do recall many hands being stuck into my face, palms up, waiting for dollars to be deposited onto said hands over the course of May but the exact dates and amounts escape me.

And I was bad too in May since I spent money on some clothes and shoes.  Granted I got everything for great sales prices but it's nothing I needed really.  Who needs purple clogs, right?!
And then I bought a new bathing suit for myself.  Maybe that WAS a need though since all my old suits all have dry rot from all the chlorine over the past 5 years.  So a new one was in order and I did get it on sale.  But even so.....fat ladies swimsuits on sale are STILL outrageously expensive!

I guess when I sit down later today to do my "Savings Challenge" accounting I'll see the bottom line on the spending won't I?
If you hear a sonic boom later today, that will be me reacting to the bare walls in our money vault.
And believe me, the money vault is pretty bare(for us)as we leave May.

This morning, I found a post in my Drafts that I never completed and posted in May.  It was a Quarterly Updated on how the Yearly Goals were going.
Did anyone notice a post on my blog about a Goals update in May?
Nope, didn't happen, did it?

The kids came home mid month in May and it's been a blur since then. ;-)
Let me go and take a peek at my blog so I can recall what went on.....brb.....

Man!  I was a whole lot of BORING in May, wasn't I?
Food shopping, Meal Plans, a Giveaway and a whole LOT of Video/Music Clips.
1 Savings Challenge Report for April and 1 Decluttering Session.

Makes me wonder why anyone even reads this!

Here's a run down of what's ahead for June at Chez Sluggy.

Moving and cleaning stuff.
Surgery for one of our dogs.
Hemming Daughter's work pants for her new job.
#2 Son finishing out the school year and the wailing and gnashed of teeth that goes with that!
Graduation for the Nephew.
Hub's siblings descending on us for the event noted above....oh, now THAT will be fun!
Packing and getting #2 Son ready for camp training.
Taking #2 Son to camp.
Taking a small vacation.
More Decluttering.
Working on my Genealogy.
Working on Scanning Photos.
And dare I mention it....finally maybe doing some sewing.

Yeah, I didn't think anybody would actually BELIEVE that last one.....

So, let's all take a deep breath before we launch into June. 
And let's hope it's a sunnier month for all!

So did your May suck all the cash outta your pockets?
Or did you survive high and dry, sitting on your pile of cash?

Sluggy