My family debt/money history part one

I was thinking today about..  Where would I have ever learn good money values? Not at home. My parents are wonderful people. My father is the 2nd boy in a family of 4 children where his Mother was a single welfare mom. His alcoholic father had walked out on them when my dad was very young. My mother is the 2nd oldest girl in a good catholic family with 12 children. They both grew up with so very little. Neither of them grew up with any money sense at all.  If there were book out there on how to really screw up all money situations,kill the golden goose and spend down all principle and have very little to show for it at the end of the day this book would be written by my parents. They followed in their parents foots steps on having more children then they could afford, although there are only 3 of us. My Mother is a very smart woman that has a college degree that she chose to never use. My father dropped out of school in 8th grade to take care of said alcoholic father, joined the air force at an early age and did 3 tours of duty. They married and settled in my hometown where my father took night classes. My father got a job at a big company that he stayed with until he retired this past summer. This is a post in itself and is in our blog future. My mom worked at a night shift job that was not good. She was an anonymous whistle blower on the owner and the situation ended badly. She got a lesson in how money does prevail even when someone does the wrong thing. She left the job and was not able to find a job that would use her degree. She went to work in an all night coffee shop in a hotel.   My Dad is good natured a hard worker and very intelligent. He rose fairly quickly in his company and became somewhat of an expert. That is something one could do in the 70′s ever without a college degree. My mom is an ideological gal with socialist tendency, not so good natured, some what opinionated with crazy problems with authority <yes she was a flower child of the 60′s so I get that she comes by it honestly>.  The fact that she never used her degree is the reason I don’t have one. The martyr card she played so often in my childhood resounded in me that my Dad with his 8th grade education but good worth ethic trumpted my Mother with her college degree and refusal to ‘work for the man’.  They bought a cheaply made old tiny house that was way out of their league to maintant and/or fix up. They never had savings ever. They lived paycheck to paycheck. My father has a 3 pack of cigaretts a day habit. I cannot imagine what he has spend on that gross habit. My Dad is fond of saying that I had the worst time ever when it came to asking for things. I always asked when they were broke. My older brother knew exactly when Dad got paid so he learn to get what he wanted. My other brother was born years later so I was not even in the house for most of his kidhood but he was fairly spoiled and still is to a degree that I believe to be unhealthy.  My parent do not run a household of fairness. It has always been whoever had the greatest need got the money. It is still this way to this day. My brother’s and I are all married. I know both of my brothers have asked for and recieved substantial sums of money from my parents in the past couple years. I asked them what they could afford to contribute to my wedding 5 years ago but other then that I have not taken any money from them since I was 20.

Wonderboy how much is too much…

So preschool started again and this year we are doing 5 mornings a week. Wonderboy is at a school he loves with teachers that are crazy about him. I am shocked at the cost though… $570 a month for five mornings a week… from 9 to 11:30.. so around 12 dollars an hour… it is actually a little more when you factor in the vacations days/weeks every month. The school is excellent. The teaching style really is the best for Wonderboy.. He is truly learning a lot and even the project he brought home today was really great. Since he is in class 5 days a week and other kids are in class t/th or m/w so I think there must have a lot of repetition.  Which for my style of learning is wonderful. I think that type of learning makes my Honey a bit crazy. The thing is my Honey is a very quick study and he grew up in a small town where he was bored in school.  I had learning disabilities so I had a much harder time in school. They teachers and the staff at this preschool are more physical<hugs ect> that the other schools I checked out for Wonderboy. Wonderboy really does respond to that well.  The boutique-y other things that this school offers really jive well with me.. Small class sizes… cultural field trips… organic snack times..  This is a Zen Spend.

Tomorrow night Wonderboy has swim lessons its 15 weeks of lessons for $259.00. I think every child needs to be able to swim. If this school helps him get more confident in the water it will be a great value. My Honey swam in college. We both have done triathlons. Plus as you will hear me post health is a big part of our lives so giving someone the gift of a lifelong exercise ability is important. Wonderboy has had swim classes since he was 6 months old. Until now they have been ‘with parent classes’ and we have never like the teachers. We asked around and everyone who has gone to the new school RAVES about it. So that expense is a Zen Spend.

We are a hockey family so I am also looking at a Saturday morning skating class at well for around $90.  Wonderboy has been watching Hockey since he was born.. Pro games <we used to have season ticket, College <we still share season tickets> and going to My Honeys adult hockey games. This expense is a Zen Spend.

 

Wonderboy talks about Karate <2 of his friends go to a class> and Gymnastics <my Honey watched the Olympics with Wonderboy> We have room for those activities in our schedule however I think…yikes! The cost is crazy. I am not sure what I will do this this. On one hand I want Wonderboy to get a taste of everything this world has to offer. On the other I think it is a lot.