I will say that I paid less last year than I will this year. This year I’ll be paying almost $500 for after school care for my oldest. He’ll be starting kindergarten and gets out of school at the same time I do. I can’t get to him in time to pick him up and I have to pick up his brother first, so I pay out the nose for that it seems. At least he’ll be in an exercise class after school.

I’m hopeful he’ll make a good friend in the neighborhood during the school year whose mother I trust to take him home for the thirty or forty-five minutes it takes me to get to him. It is absolutely frustrating, I will say.

this is anyone, really! Except, freelance writers I suppose are more likely to get a huge payout as opposed to smaller checks. BUT that means you can buy things like cars with cash and avoid credit fees….

Some of these posts make me panicky! $900 for childcare– are you a freelancer? $900 was typical for me too, when I worked FT, but I reduced the amount of time my children were in daycare once I started freelancing. I worked in the evenings or weekends when hubby was home, and only paid for PT childcare.

And not paying taxes on time- yikes. Don’t give the govt more than your fair share!

Every writer should read Your Money or Your Life…great advice on how to save money and retire early. And one of the secrets is — as you earn more, don’t change your budget. Bank the difference. Don’t let your lifestyle keep expanding to exceed your income. That way lies madness.

Of course, with 3 kids there’s been some lifestyle expansion I can’t do much about… But my kids have learned to be thrilled to receive used toys and clothes I buy off my neighborhood swap forum at pennies on the dollar for new. Frugality builds character. They say if G-d thought having unlimited money would be better for our character development as human beings, then we’d have it… :-)

This is why I still have a 99 Honda I bought from my brother for $550. (Unbelieveable gas mileage and runs great.) Because I learned a long time ago that I am not what I wear or what I drive.

I know people who “need” to change cars every 3-5 years, and that I just consider absurd and wasteful and in the cases of the folks I know personally who do it I also consider it kind of shallow. It’s definitely an image thing. I can’t imagine anyone caring that much about what other people think. *shrugs* Makes me smile though when they bitch they can’t go out b/c they have no spending money. And all I can think is “yeah, that’s because you’ll forever be paying a small fortune each month for car payments.” idk Just beyond my comprehension I guess. I’d rather have one that works and run it till it dies, then replace it. And use that time to save for the new car (no financing and interest) and have more money to enjoy life. But that’s just me I guess.

I agree, Jenn. I wouldn’t have bought a new car last year if my daughter hadn’t needed a reliable car for college. I sold her mine (and I still miss it), and bought a used one. It nearly killed me to part with the money – things were going great, I had a nice bank account…. all gone into payments now. I can’t wait to pay it off. It’ll be with me for a long time, I hope.