I have looked through the topics and links on the Motherload threads, but didn't see what I was looking for. I need to sign both my boys up for College Board accounts (I believe I need to do this for them to take the PSAT in October). I know I have read various threads on here about homeschooling codes, etc. Would anyone be willing to point me in the right direction? Do I also need a parent account? I know to set up a separate email account for each of them so all the college info goes there and doesn't bog down their regular email account. Thanks so much! Any tips/advice is welcome!

Do you/your realtor know what you want to list it at with it fixed up? What would you list it at in as-is condition? I just cleared out, fixed up, and sold my dad's house. Right up there with the worst experiences on my life -- LOL. If they come in (and they seem very interested) and you get what you want for it now, that will save you the trouble of getting it sell ready. Your main stress will be packing, finding a place to move, and actually move -- but you will have to do that whenever you sell! Good luck if they come through. We live in a hot market and we were under contract for asking price on the 2nd day of it being on the market.

My library has this on ebook. I am going to listen to it. Thank you!

Thank you! I bought Epsom salts this morning, but I don’t always have time or want to soak in the tub. I have a big jacuzzi tub, which is nice, but it takes a lot of hot water and a long time to fill the tub to do every night. I am going to try this every few nights though. Heading out of town on Wednesday, but will try this when I get back. I was thinking the oil would be so easy to spray and be done. Something I could do before bed, especially on the nights I don’t do a bath or the Natural Calm. I just know I need to start taking better care of myself and better sleep would really help.

I have heard people on this board talk about the many benefits of magnesium. I have Natural Calm and sometimes take that for various reasons and it seems to work for what I need it for. But...I usually add it to cold water and don't really like the taste. I am trying to have my coffee in the morning and water through the day so I don't want to add it to other drinks. And...I am trying to lose some weight, but don't drink artificial sweetener. Anyway, I saw this when I was scrolling through one of those Amazon best products slide shows that pops up on my FB feed. Has anyone tried something like this for magnesium? https://www.amazon.com/MAGNESIUM-100-PURE-NATURAL-Minerals/dp/B00U6IEADO/ref=pd_lutyp_crtyp_simh_6_1/135-8909271-3977540?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B00U6IEADO&pd_rd_r=9ba3d4f5-623d-4fd1-a97a-0ee5713f28c5&pd_rd_w=6ml9z&pd_rd_wg=ryJna&pf_rd_p=ceeba53d-4ba4-402f-9a36-79d043c9e8f4&pf_rd_r=A0GD78G7C4X7E00Y6EHQ&refRID=A0GD78G7C4X7E00Y6EHQ&th=1 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01N0KQ9QJ/ref=psdc_3774411_t1_B00U6IEADO?th=1 What I think I would like it most to help me with (in order of importance) is sleep (I fall asleep easily, but don't stay asleep), stress and anxiety (would like to feel calmer more often), and for restless legs (mostly at night). Pros/Cons? Any brands you have tried and recommend?

So...I am new to the Better Binder club, but what I like about them is the cover is very sturdy, but more flexible than the Avery binders we always use. I love the rubberized edging around the spine and on the edges. I feel like they are less sharp and more comfortable to hold or move around in my lap, etc. I also like the little pocket attached to the inside. They ended up be a few dollars more than the Avery ones, but I feel they will last longer and my boys will likely keep them through high school and beyond.

We are fortunate that I don't need to sell the stuff for groceries. It really isn't about the money anymore, although I am struggling a little bit with donating like new stuff that I paid a bit for -- LOL. I am working on that! And...I am being VERY careful now what I buy and bring in my house. My problem is mostly with trying to find the best place for it. The guilt I feel just trashing it and wishing I hadn't bought it (or brought it home if free) in the first place -- LOL. Taking pics and posting takes time, looking to see if someone responds, getting it to the person (usually porch pick-up). This is whether free or not. I wish I had all this time and energy to do that, but realistically, I have twins starting 9th grade, swim 6 days a week, and they volunteer, etc. I have my dad to worry about as he no longer drives. I also need to start taking care of me so hopefully I am here to get the boys grown! I do have sentimental stuff that is only worth something to me. I am putting that stuff together to hopefully work through, when I can enjoy it a bit more, after all the crap is gone!

So...I have posted a few times in the past year about having to clean out my dad's house of 50+ years. I moved my dad to an apartment in December and then it was on me (and some my DH - work permitting) getting all the stuff taken care of. So...I took a few more things to his place, I packed a few boxes of special things for me, I packed and am delivering about 10 boxes to my sister in NC on Wednesday. The rest went in an estate sale and/or was hauled away by a company we had to pay to remove stuff. I am so done with stuff!!! I am now on a mission to finally go through my house to really de-clutter. I wanted to get this done last year, before my boys started high school, but that didn't happen with needing to help my dad. I really want this done this year!!! I witnessed first hand my dad not being able to physically or mentally take care of this on his own. I saw how things that were lovely collected, and he thought would be worth something, had decreased A LOT in value over the past 10-15 years. I experienced going through all the "crap" that should never have been kept in the first place. Between taking care of him and his health, and dealing with his house, I am still a bit traumatized by it all and am just not starting to recover a little bit. That experience with his stuff made me really want to deal with mine. I have found that so much of the "stuff" really isn't that important to me as I have it hanging over my head to deal with every day. I also want to be the one to go through stuff and make the decision on what happens to it (I don't want someone else to have that much control over this down the road). And...I do not want my boys to have to deal with this later. I know they will have to do some things, but I don't want them to go through what I just went through. I also want to get my stuff done because my in-laws are 93 in September and both in their house of 50+ years. The thought of doing this all over again makes me want to cry. All that being said, I am ready to tackle my stuff! I seem to make some progress and then get stuck. For example, I just participated in my LAST multiples group yard sale (they have them twice a year). I am done with that as they are not longer worth my time to tag, set-up, take down, and work the sale. But...I got it down to a stack of clothes and some toys to sell on FB (nice stuff - jeans/pants worn once for Christmas pictures type of things). I had a stack of DVDs, LeapFrog Leapster games, puzzles, that I took to a used bookstore. I only got back $11 in cash and $6 in trade-in and they gave me back most of my stuff. So...here is my dilemma. I asked what they would do with the stuff they didn't take if I left it with them. They said it would all go in the trash :-(. I'm sure this is the case at other places too - Good Will, Salvation Army, local thrift stores. I feel so bad just trashing stuff, but it was not worth that $17 to box it up, load my car, take it into the place, come back an hour later to see what they took, and have to bring it back home. What do ya'll do with this stuff? Just drop it at Salvation Army or something and let them deal with it? I don't care that I don't get any money for it. I just feel bad if maybe someone could use it or maybe find a treasure when they are shopping. Also, I have this "little" stuff from my boys early years. Plastic rings from cupcakes, little tidbits from here and there, plastic snakes, reusable curly straws that were never used, etc. I probably should just trash them as I go, but I keep thinking maybe if I just accumulate a bag of this stuff, maybe a teacher or someone could use it. The problem is, this stuff is tucked away in various boxes, ect. around my house and it will take me awhile to go through an accumulate enough to do anything with (if anyone would even want it). I just called a local thrift shop that is popular here to see what they will take. They said NO books. among other things! She said people won't take the books for free. Is this because of Kindles, etc. taking over? I have been good about getting rid of books as my boys read them because most of the time they are read once and done. But...I have some recent ones that not even homeschoolers will buy at our local curriculum sale. So...that is my dilemma and I feel like I am never going to get done if I worry about all this little stuff. I am being very, very careful what I bring into my house now, but I need to get rid of the stuff I accumulated before. Do I just box everything up I'm unsure of and take it to the Salvation Army for them to go through and toss or keep?!?! Or just start tossing myself? Sorry this got long! It was VERY eye opening going through my dad's house. After having to deal with it ALL, I really just want to purge so I can enjoy my house and not having this hanging over my head anymore. I'm not getting any younger !!! ETA: This was noted on the local thrift shop's website (the one that I called) and I guess where some of my trouble is coming from, "Items that are unsellable end up in the trash and too frequent trash pickups takes away money for the food pantry. If you wouldn't buy it, help us help others by throwing it away in your home trash pickup."

We use our frixion pens all the time. I tried getting the ink to disappear by leaving some stuff in my very hot car. Nothing happened -- LOL. I did manage to go buy myself a 1.5 inch better binder for my 9th grade admin/course description/transcript stuff! Since I am surrounded by boys/men, and my boys chose the blue and red better binders, I bought myself a pretty teal so it will stand out on my desk AND make me smile !

Thank you!!! Yes, they will be doing DE next year or 11th grade for sure. Thanks for thinking of this!!! I was planning to setup a new gmail account for their College Board accounts (got to get that set up this weekend)!!! I get so many wonderful tips from this board and have heard that you start getting a ton of college information when you create their College Board account and start taking tests.

After hearing about Better Binders for years, I finally bought 4 for this school year. These are for my guys 2 outsourced classes. I love them! I am going to replace more of my Avery binders with Better Binders next summer!!!

Thanks Lanny. The one I saw there is a download for 1 year only.

I am not opposed to this. It would be $150 each because I'm not buying a new PC at the same time, but still not too bad. I was just seeing if someone knew of a student deal I wasn't seeing anywhere. I probably won't have luck with this, but I've contacted Microsoft to ask if there is an option for homeschoolers to partake of the free Office 365 software. Never hurts to ask ! I am going to look at LibreOffice and OpenOffice. I have Microsoft Office on my Windows 7 computer! I am old school and I am sad they aren't supporting Windows 7 when this year is over. I don't like Windows 10 ! With LibreOffice, would we be able to work on documents back and forth between our computers easily -- Word or Excel vs. LibreOffice? I will be looking at their writing for LA and History on my computer and sending back to them (at least this is my plan). They have 2 outsourced classes this year (both local). One is using Google Classroom and one is using Canvas. They will be doing a lot of uploading of documents throughout the year. This will all be new to them. They are familiar with Word, Excel, and Powerpoint from my computer.

We are continuing to homeschool. They would have access to the free subscription if they were in public school.

I don't like it!!!! 😁

Both of my boys have desktops with Windows 10, but it didn't come with Microsoft Office. As they are entering high shool, and their workload is increasing, I would prefer them working on their own computers and not my computer 😆. I don't want the subscription service. Any advice/information on the best place to get a version that will be ours to keep? I will need to buy 2 copies. Maybe somewhere that would have a student discount?

This has been recommended on the WTM board quite a bit https://thevirtualinstructor.com/ You can buy some of the individual classes inexpensively https://www.udemy.com/courses/search/?src=ukw&q=matthew fussel

Thank you for the responses!!! I think I am going to put this on hold until next semester (to maybe do next semester or in the summer) and do some more research on the various options you've provided!!!

I'm not sure I'm gonna survive ! Add in my 84 year old dad too! He still lives independently 10 minutes from me, but as of last September, he no longer drives. So...for now, it is on me to get him out of the apartment to get groceries and to appointments. We have hired a cleaning person so I don't have to do that part for him!!!

I sure hope so ! They are going from 1 hr/3 days a week to this! The good news is with their heavier high school workload and swimming, they will have less time for video games!!!!!

We do love the Frixion Clicker Pens here! Are the highlighters refillable?

I used to love shopping for and organizing my school supplies every year when I was growing up. To my dismay, my boys could NOT care less ! They will give an opinion on binder color, but the rest...

I just posted my 9th grade plan for opinions a few hours ago -- LOL. I forgot to ask about formal logic! My boys have been through Fallacy Detective and Thinking Toolbox. At the curriculum fair we went to in June, I saw and liked the Memoria Press Traditional Logic 1 and 2 books. They are very similar to the study guides the boys did with the Tiner science series. I have also read about here and did some research on: Art of Argument Discovery of Deduction Nance's Intro and Inter Logic. Someone on here said, "Nance's Intermediate Logic is symbolic logic, i.e. mathematics-based, modern logic. If your son is going into a STEM field, then this is recommended." I have one that is interested in computers/programming. Also, if we just stick to Memoria Press Traditional Logic, would each book count as .5 credit? It looks there are 13 chapters in I and 14 chapters in II. Any opinions, advice, recommendations?

So very sorry you all had such a rough year : ( !!! Not nearly the same thing, but my elderly dad called me the day after Labor Day (our first day of 8th grad) last year needing help and the rest of our year went down the drain! Getting his medical stuff taken care of, him moved, and his house cleaned out, packed up, and sold really put a crimp in what got done!!! My guys managed to plug away and keep going (with much less involvement from me than they were used to), but I didn't have to do official high school transcripts etc. I don't ever wish a repeat of this past year. I can only image what ya'll have been through! I have twin 14 year olds and I am 52 ! Fun times here too!!!

Do you mind sharing what you did for personal finance or any opinions on my plan?