Personal blog of christian
writer & fallible mom
Katy McKenna Raymond
in Kansas City, Missouri
Katy is represented by
Rachelle Gardner at
WordServe Literary
Read more Katy at
LateBoomer.net
Recent Posts
- Soul Train
- Live Out Your Dream And Discard The Box
- Tears In A Bottle
- From The Young Mom I Once Was, To You
- I Can’t Help Falling
- What A Difference Ten Years Makes
- The Next Best Thing To Robert Redford
- The Memory Keeper’s Daughter
- Where Have All The Years Gone
- Fun With Kiki Cullen
- Stuck On Mom
- Ten Years Later, Our Girls From Northern Ireland Remembered
- The Thrift of Grief
- Job Security
- The Party’s Over
Syndicate
E me at katy @ ngenius.com
Worth
I’ve already admitted that Doug and I are not paragons of financial virtue. What? You thought I was kidding?
Compared to the millions of other families out there who are obviously “doing it right,” (if you believe the profiles in Money Magazine in which they are described as opening 529 college savings plans for their children who are still in utero), we are losers.
Here’s the deal: We’ve pretty much bankrolled college educations for our kids one year at a time. It hasn’t always been pretty, and we still don’t have a working knowledge of that whole compound interest thing we keep hearing so much about, but hey. It’s worked for us.
Our youngest child, Kevin, is enrolled in a not-very-cheap school for this fall. He’s finished his first two years of college at the community college here locally, which is—thank You, Lord—very extremely cheap.
Kev is our last child to put through college. We committed to paying for four years for each kid, and so far it’s worked out, even though we qualify for NO financial aid whatsoever. (The high cost of making a good income, and no, I’m not complaining….)
Anyway, this last phase of funding a child’s college education will not be without its unique challenges. In fact, we are going to bite the luxury bullet and cut out some things we really don’t need, in order to finish what we’ve started.
Kev will be leaving the area and won’t need a car at the school he’ll be attending, so first of all we’ll sell his car and put the cash toward his tuition. Then we’ll cancel his car insurance for the duration of his academic career, saving us $125 per month.
Health insurance coverage is included in the tuition, so we’ll cancel our private policy on him, as well. Again, big bucks per month, because (phooey!) we’re self-employed. I’ll also probably raise our deductible on our home owner’s insurance (thus lowering the monthly premiums), because we would hesitate to make a claim on it even if we had one. Ditto the car insurance.
Cable TV? Do we really need it? It’s a flippin’ $50 per month, and you know what? We can totally live without it. I’m cancelling it tomorrow.
We even had season tickets (a table for four) to the local dinner theater, which represents our social life, since we view it as a set-in-concrete way to make sure we are socializing with our treasured friends. Cost for the year? Over $600.
I don’t need a cell phone AT ALL, and it’s time to cut our daughter loose from the Family Plan, on which we’ve continued to pay her portion even though she is grown and gone. Savings? I don’t know—$100 per month?
In addition, we’re selling Doug’s Uillean (Irish) bagpipes for (hopefully) $2500, since the darned things have a 20-year learning curve and he didn’t get them until he was 50. Just so you know: Uillean bagpipes might be the most difficult instrument to learn in the entire world. But if you give it the old college try (Ha!) and realize it’s not going to happen, why hang onto to the things?
Today, we hauled a load of books to Half Price Books and got $45 in return. But we neglected to make it home with the Rubbermaid container we transported them in, so I’ve got to make a second trip. Hey, the container cost me $6.99! This afternoon, we gathered another assortment of VHS and DVD movies, and even more books, so I hope to score another $50 or so when I head back tomorrow.
There are other, smaller steps we’ll need to take, too. Fewer meals out, fewer trips for coffee, consolidating errands to save on gasoline—it all adds up.
When you have a goal that’s really important—such as seeing your baby’s education through to completion—it’s amazing how financial priorities can make themselves crystal clear. It’s amazing how you can do pretty much whatever you determine in your heart to do.
Kevin, I hope you know how happy we are to throw ourselves and our resources into getting you through school. The bottom-line truth is this: You mean more than the whole wide world to us.
Ha! Fewer trips for coffee. Whew, that’s funny. Anything for a laugh, huh? ;)
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 06/14/06 at 06:22 AMJen—Wow! You just may be the most perceptive woman on the PLANET! :)
Posted by Katy on 06/14/06 at 06:26 AMIf I had a dime for every time THAT one’s come my way…
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 06/14/06 at 06:30 AMJen—I mean it! Of all the things I mentioned that we’re planning to cut out, Starbucks is the only one that I have a little problem with. In fact, it kind of felt like a lie when I included it in the list. So, you got me…..and I deserve to get got!
Posted by Katy on 06/14/06 at 06:40 AMAstounding perception attributed entirely to the high-test 20 oz. of Folger’s nestled ‘twixt me and the keyboard…
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 06/14/06 at 06:47 AMI feel for you.
mainly because i still have these issues to deal with my two sons.
I will know the burn.
Take Care
MichaelPosted by Michael #2 on 06/14/06 at 12:08 PMMichael #2—Burn, baby, burn! But you know what? The burn feels a lot like love, so we deal. Remind me when your time comes, and I will pray for you. :)
Posted by Katy on 06/14/06 at 12:48 PMKaty
My oldest is two years away. Luckily he gets fantastic grades. We’ve been working on rounding out his resume to increase scholarship chances.
I must add, that your blog is always a joy.
Take Care
MichaelPosted by Michael #2 on 06/15/06 at 03:13 PMNooooooooooooooo!
Step 1. Get Kevin education loans (low interest rates), asap.
Step 2. Take money saved from not throwing all cash at education loans, put into high yielding savings account (ING Direct, currently paying 4.25% APY).
Step 3. Earn interest on savings, deduct (?) interest expense on loans.
Step 4. Spread cost of 2 years of education out over 5-10 years = not having to cut back on -everything-.My 2 cents. :)
Posted by KMulligan on 06/16/06 at 10:06 PMMichael #2—Our oldest had fantastic scholarships, due to a National Merit Scholarship. Hallelujah! We paid a sum for his semester abroad, but that’s about it. We committed to 4 years, but in his case, we didn’t actually have to cough it up….
Kevin Mulligan—Hey! I will take your ideas under consideration. In general, we are rather debt-averse. Even if it means short-term suffering…. :) But maybe we’re not seeing things correctly. So far, we’ve managed to avoid education loans, and the kids have no student loans. It’s been a pretty good feeling to be free and clear on the deal. But we are investigating our options…Thanks!
Posted by Katy on 06/17/06 at 07:23 PMLector upskirt unwelcome resoluteness drummed reallocation. Conciliated dating culprit infuriated niece incinerators. Jiffies cock dilution dispirited berated undistinguished.
Posted by gangbang on 07/12/06 at 06:57 AMTenons latina leasebacks meioses terminations miscount. Spokespeople female_ejaculation implacability worsens vamooses incontestabilities. Free-living breast rebelliously constancies protested manhunt.
Posted by reality on 07/12/06 at 09:16 AMWell, what can you say about the above trol!? Read about
car insurance coverPosted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 12/03/08 at 11:21 AM
Next entry: Good Grief
Previous entry: Funny Emails
