Beginning and Ends

 In the 21 years of having kids in school, this is what I’ve learned; the beginning and end is the hardest. 

The beginning is full of getting unlisted school supplies, parent meetings, fundraisers and just getting back into a home and school routine. It doesn’t matter if your child is in kindergarten or a senior in high school. Each year is different and the family readjusts to whatever changes lie ahead for that new school year.  Now that my last two are in high school our adjustments consist of rides and figuring out who’s going where and who can drive whom.  We have no mass transit so our high school driver takes on some of the driving Mr. Freshman duties if she’s going the same direction. We’ve also managed to find another high schooler nearby that we can pay a little cash to pick J up for the early morning football days and sometimes even bring him home. This has saved us a lot of anxiety on getting him to and from. But now that school is in session the schedule changes daily and our ritual at bedtime is to go over who’s going where with whom the next day.  

For the past week the kids have been selling their all school athlete fundraisers too. They’ve both almost met that quota so we’ll be done with that. And J already has had his first game and our senior has had a pre xc meet and next week will be her first full cross country 5k of the season. All the while she’s getting teacher references lined up for scholarships that she has both started and plans to start. 

The end of the school year is full of state exams, year end exams, more sports and just trying to finish up the school year. For us, track goes past our last day so we don’t focus too much on school being out. But it’s still a lot of prep and the end of this year will consist of another graduating kid; which means a crazy May.

If you’re just beginning this journey with young kids know that it goes very fast.  Enjoy the chaos.  I didn’t always do that. And now that I’m on my last two I wish I would have relaxed and enjoyed more on the first three. Just breath and take the busy days one week at a time. That’s what I’ve learned.

Have a great school year. 

New book

 

Just started this book “Atomic Habits”.  Only got 20 pages in and realized that already this book is spot on.  Small, consistent, steps will get you where you want to go. They’ll get you to your full potential over time. But you have to let the system work.  This could work with your job, a project, managing money. 

Boy did the managing money part hit!!  If you’re a spender and never start changing small habits you’ll always be a slender and you’ll never have money. If you’re a saver, these steps just might help you save more!!

It’s another one of those years

We have 3 21 and older now. She joined the club. Fortunately she shares the week with her grandpa so we get to see her soon. But her friends have her for the night. Happiest birthday. 

 

Another year coming down

 

My college junior. I’m looking forward to her graduating and being closer to home again. 

My high school senior. It wasn’t that long ago that she was 5 and starting kindergarten.  She’s ready for senior year. 

And the baby. My last baby. He was off to football at 530 and got through his first day of high school.  Good to have these two in the same school. 

Love all of the kids beyond measure. 

Senior year means college prep

 If your incoming senior is planning a career that requires a degree (our daughter is nursing), then you need to begin the prep NOW!  The one application and automatic scholarships at some universities require applications by December 1st.  Then, your student is in for a wait to see if they were accepted and then a furious attempt to submit the application for scholarships for each school they’re interested in. Have them do themselves a favor. Apply during the summer. They can then slowly begin the process for scholarships after their first semester of senior year without quite as much pressure. Especially if they’re taking dual credit classes and APs.  

Know what is available and what scores are needed. Missouri Department of Higher Education has Bright Flight scholarships. While they’re not as much as they used to be, money for college is so appreciated, especially in a middle class family like ours with 5 kids where only one has chosen a field that doesn’t  require a degree. We don’t have money to help all of them so we really can’t help any. The topic of them paying their way through college will have to be a topic for another post. 

Back to Bright Flight. They do allow superscores for ACT. Here’s the link if you’re interested. https://dhewd.mo.gov/ppc/grants/brightflight.php. Note that the newest high school grads to be have to scroll down to see the higher requirements. It’s a 32 super by the way 😉

Here’s the trick.  If you’re child only has a 31 composite but a 32 super MDHE will not be notified by ACT.  ACT only automatically sends your child’s composite scores.  If your child received a high enough superscore, you are responsible for paying ACT to send the superscore to MDHE.  I spoke to them myself to confirm.   

Take those ACTs kids!

Extra $5 bonus!

 

Extra $5 the first time you use it. Use linked code https://upside.app.link/XTNA6F  to sign up for Upside and get your bonus!  Easiest money you’ll make when filling up your gas tank, grocery shopping or eating at some restaurants. I love this app and we’ve made over $100 that we can trade in for gift cards.  Our driving kids have their own accounts to earn their own money. So easy and love the extra cash. 

Amazing tape!

 

My favorite tape in the world. I’ve never even tried anything else. This 3M double sided sticky tape has been used to hold all of our solar lights around the pool, some of our blink cameras and the pool pole hook. I’m stunned that not even wet or cold weather makes it detach and some items have been up for over 2 years. My favorite thing to try before screws!

Where did the summer go?????!!

 It’s already gone. Official sports practices are in motion. No more skipping a day here and there. No getting away. 

So the two high schoolers (gulp, I only have high school kids left) and I went to my work to pick some things up and then off to bowl and eat.  Anyone who knows me knows this is truly a treat.  I can’t even remember the last time I bowled. Probably for my 26 year olds 13th birthday?  But it was just the three of us. I forgot to make reservations so we just kindly asked if they had a lane and we ended up with a private room for awhile.

We had an hour time like so we got two and half games in. The last game was a lightening round meaning no prep just bowl as soon as the pins drop. That was my best game. We each won one. Then we had lunch at the alley so Chelsi could go to work. It was a really nice time.  The only pics and video were from the beginning. After that we just enjoyed. So yeah…Jae did actually start putting his fingers in the holes and bowling right. He did much better then. 

Cashback for eating out??

We’ll let me tell you. You can double up for sure. 

I hadn’t had Dominos Pizza in years but my husband really wanted it. I saw we had 20% cashback (up to $10 back) on the Upside App. Check out this free app that gets you cash back on gas and other errands! Click this link or use promo code XTNA6F to get a $5 bonus the first time you make a purchase. https://upside.app.link/XTNA6F

Well we used our credit card that gets us 3% cashback on dining and then set the payment method in Upside to that specific credit card and voila. We got 3% back from the credit card company (full disclosure; we pay our credit cards off in full monthly) and the full $10 back from Upside for our $50 order. We essentially got back $11.50 for several pizzas which means we netted paying less than $40. 

If you’re going to spend, spend wisely. Join upside for money back on gas, groceries and dining!!

#cashback #makemoneyonnecessities #bestcashback