There was a long-running ad campaign for the Big Boy chain of restaurants with billboards declaring them The "Fresh" Choice! I believe the chain is now completely out of business and I have a few theories as to why that is. I mean how many people did this campaign copy clear to make it onto billboards!?!?! Without any of them questioning why one would advertise being fake fresh?

I cannot comment too much on the private school financial aid assessment. But we do own our home outright and that did not ding us on the FAFSA. A whole lot of other things did and we qualified for almost no aid, but that was no surprise. Luckily dc got top merit aid and other scholarships so that was moot anyway. But, to the OP, on bank accounts for aiding elders, this is tricky. If your name is on it as a joint account owner, then you have to declare it. But there is such a thing as a "POA account" in which you can be the named custodian without it being considered an asset. We did this as I too am managing finances for an elder in my life. I am still on a joint account so that they have access to every-day cash, but I keep less than $1000 in it at any given time so it does not significantly contribute to our assets. The POA account is where I keep the bulk of the cash and that is not counted. I am not a joint owner of that money. It also protects that money from anything that could happen to me, like a lawsuit or divorce proceedings.

People can obviously do what they want with their teeth and their dc's teeth, but I have found that the people I live around just assume everyone needs this done and then has it done. And even our dentist broached the subject with "most insured people have their dc's wisdom teeth out, are you interested?" He does not do the procedure himself so has no skin in the game. When I asked if he recommended dc have them out, he said no and in fact he thinks most people do not need them removed. That fits my personal experience since dh, me, and all four of our parents never had them removed. He said looking as dc's x-rays, he saw no reason to have them done at this time and that is was quite likely it would never need to be done. I get that there are horror stories about people who opted not to have them removed but my dentist said that if you are getting regular dental exams and are proactive about any changes or pain you experience, it is not likely that it will be some sort of tragic emergency. If it has to be done later in life, it may be more painful but there is also a much greater chance that it will never have to be done at all. That's not to say that nobody needs to have it done, and perhaps the OP is in that boat. I am sure there is a good subset of people that clearly would benefit from preventative removal. But I personally would not consent to such a procedure unless there was compelling evidence that it was indeed necessary. There is risk of complications at any age.

I think this is a somewhat controversial subject. My dh and I still have ours and there have been no problems. So, we opted not to have dc's removed. Our dentist seemed fine either way.

I second the folding card table and chair set! We got a set that we did not register for and it gets use on a regular basis. The components last forever (ours are 25 years and going strong) and if they are of no use to the recipient, they for sure can be passed along with no risk of ending up in a landfill or lingering on a thrift store shelf for years on end. I say this because we also got several fancy crystal serving pieces that we did not register for. We never ever used then, moved them across the country twice, and continually got annoyed at the space they were taking up in our cabinets until I finally donated them. I am sure they are sitting on the same thrift store shelf that they got put on 5 years ago! So much guilt! I am sure they were expensive but anyone who knew us had to know we are not fancy crystal people!

RKS is so good, we even went to great lengths to see them live. It was 100% worth it! Fever Pitch is a great intro song.

All Alt-J is good Alt-J! We are a huge music family that likes all genres. Here are some of our current top plays: First Aid Kit Sarah Jarosz Billy Strings Punch Brothers Greta Van Fleet Rainbow Kitten Surprise (don't judge by the name) Portugal the Man Mount Joy Anand Wilder

I too think this guy is whack. But to speak to the original question. My dc is majoring in environmental engineering and minoring in ecology as they want to move to environmental science or ecology for grad school. One would think there would be some overlap, but there is not. They came in with 26 credits of DE, only 20 of which apply to the major/minor requirements and they will graduate in 4 years assuming there are no hiccups.

I am a planner, so I know how you feel. But I would recommend just going with the flow for now. My dc homeschooled all the way through and is now in college. At 5th grade, if asked, I would have told you there was no way I was going to homeschool high school, let alone started making plans. Right up until the start of 9th grade, neither of us was 100% committed. And it still worked out just fine. On cost, which will matter whether you homeschool or not, there is a wealth of info buried in this forum. My family is very pragmatic. My dc could have gotten into and done well at a *much* "better" school than where they are attending. But we have zero college savings. We made compromises and chose a school that stacked up scholarships and merit aid to be full tuition. Dc will graduate with a respectable degree with no debt. The school is still a fine choice and challenging despite not being a tippy-top university. In your shoes, I would for sure financially plan and understand the tools available to you. It is never too soon to do that. But I am a prime example that things happen and the best laid plans can and do go awry. I do believe there is an affordable option for almost any kid as long as everyone is willing to make compromises.

I would encourage minimalism. This coming from the mom of a kid in a very very VERY small dorm room. We are local so I visit periodically and it hurts my head to see how packed some of the rooms are. Mine is lucky because things not in use can be stored at home and are easily accessible and the roommate also does not have much. Also, one year goes very fast! Mine will be moving into a large house with tons or space so anything we bought that was dorm-specific would be useless after what seems like a very short time. We also found that although command strips are allowed, whatever paint they use seems to be in conflict with the strips. They don't hold. Dorms are often overheated so a fan is nice to have. Eye mask and ear plugs are good for communal living.

It might be worth a call to the city to see if they have a code enforcement officer or someone else that handles the intel for rentals. It would be free to talk with someone like this and it would be a chance to gather some intel before contacting an attorney. Things I would want to know: 1. Is the property within rental compliance? As in, is it a legal rental and if so, what are the rules about rentals, occupation numbers, and parking? Our city has very detailed rules about this. You might find something that could help you. There is even a chance it is not a legal rental! 2. Ask how shared driveways are normally handled in disputes like this. Again, free "legal advice." They might not be able to solve your problem, but gathering a much info as possible will accelerate any discussion with a lawyer and possibly save you billed hours. 3. If the result of #2 is that it is actually illegal to park on the shared driveway, this might ultimately be a police issue. It might also be worth a chat with other neighbors in the neighborhood that also have shared driveways, if you know anyone. Or a realtor that is active in the area. Knowing what realtors are telling prospective buyers about shared driveway use could also clue you in to laws/ordinances that could help you.

This is our go to motel! The parking on site and low price is what draws us. And we don't mind a little gritty. Just do not leave anything valuable in your car and keep your eyes open....anywhere I'm Chicago.

I'm not arguing against that. Just pointing out that the solution is not simple and I can see why schools struggle to balance two issues.

People also have some control over how/when/where they use the bathroom, unlike a locker room in which they are required to be in a space with people they do not choose. Bullying was rampant both in the locker room and bathrooms in my schools when I was growing up. The locker rooms had no privacy but as soon as the teacher was not looking, it happened in the open. Less supervision, due to more "private" spaces, allows more opportunities for bullying. With bathrooms, I knew kids who didn't drink anything all day to avoid being in one. I knew others that made a point of asking to use the restroom during class when a bully was very unlikely to be awaiting them. Obviously, these are symptoms of bigger problems....bullying and inadequate supervision, but if I had a kid that was being bullied, I would be concerned about more unsupervised opportunities for it to occur. It would be hard for me to balance that with modesty concerns. All that to say, I don't know what the solution is short of providing secured individual spaces for each single child which is likely cost/space prohibitive for most schools.

My public school lockers rooms didn't even have stalls around the toilets! Just a line of toilets against the wall. You can bet we all made plans to take care of our business before or after gym class!

This is going to vary a LOT depending on materials. What type of siding? For cheap vinyl, that seems high. Have you looked into repairing your existing shingles rather than replace? We have cedar shingles that are at least 80 years old. They were in rough shape a few years ago, so we spot-replaced rotted shingles then repainted. It was FAR less expensive than residing completely and looks really nice. This is in general a terrible time to do repairs. Labor and materials are sky high. So, I am not at all surprised about the cost. But I would get a few quotes. We had our roof redone a few years ago and the quotes were all over the place. We got one quote that was double the actual company we went with.

We did AoPS up until dd stalled out in Intermediate Alg. halfway trough 10th grade, at which time we switched to Foerster's to finish 10th grade math. That ended up being mostly review because I did not figure out that Intro to Alg. was more than just typical Algebra I content until that point (whoops). She moved to DE math after that and completed through Calc II by the end of HS. AoPS was a real challenge for dd but I am glad we did what we did then switched when it got too consuming. Dd is strong in math (and now an engineering major) so the challenge of AoPS served her well long term. But she is also a slow worker so it got to a point where the challenge was just consuming too much time. Whatever you choose, I'd go as far in your current book this year as you can. Solid algebra skills are never a regret and will just make that material easier to digest when you get to it again.

You might have to settle for whatever you can get yours hands on. We are in a precarious car situation. We have one well-functioning car and one very high-miles, rusty car. And three drivers, one of which is living out of state for the summer. We need at least one more car and ideally a second to replace the older car. We do not buy new cars, ever, but considered it since we have been striking out on the used car front. We learned that even for a new car, our options are limited. We could either buy something off the lot that is not anywhere close to what we want or wait an unpredictable amount of time for something closer to what we want. Time is not on our side so we have continued to battle it out on the used car front. We *think* we have secured another older, high-miles, car and we are scooping it up. It is better than nothing and we can always sell if something better comes along. But we have been actively looking for 6 months and this is the first real bite we have gotten. It is also not what we would normally buy, but I'd rather spend 1/4 the money on a car if it is not indeed what we even want.

We never had assumptions about this and often our employment decisions are not planned. We are newly empty-nested and while I called myself a SAHM, I did work part-time through it all. I am now full time and I carry the benefits while dh stepped into a lower-pressure, lower-pay job after a Covid-complicated period of unemployment. It could have gone either way, really. I just happened to be the one to land the main breadwinning job this time. That was also true before we became parents. We are nowhere near retirement age and there is a good chance we will never truly retire. Our finances are such that we both have to (had to) work as much as we reasonably could at any given time so there was no expectation that dh or I would retire once the nest emptied. I know literally no one my age that is not working, male or female, nest full or empty, so there is no real "socially acceptable expectation" other than to work.

I work at and my dd attends a tech school and they too have a similar option and has for at least the lat 20 years.

I started a thread on this very thing on the College board several weeks ago. There is a lot of good info there.

Am I the only one who never knew those mints were made with cream cheese!?!? Mind blown. And I have eaten more than my fair share in church basements.

I have hydrangeas in my yard! At least I think I do....they are currently under two feet of snow yet.... But, I never knew why they changed colors. I didn't plant them, they were here when we moved in 20 years ago. As far as I can tell, they are pretty impossible to neglect. I have never pruned mine and they get pummeled every year with snow falling off the roof, yet they come back every year. Mine start white then go to pink, then blue. However, I will not be seeing those flowers for a few months yet.

My child at age 10 after newly joining a sport that required being outside in very cold temperatures. DC: My coach said to smear gasoline on my face to protect against frostbite. Me: That can't be right. DC: Yes it is, I saw the other kids doing it. Where can I get some? Me (after panic call to coach): Vaseline, dc, vaseline. Big difference.

I didn't respond directly to the post you quoted because I think I had addressed most of the questions in other posts, but this is correct. It was not stressful or "suffering." We had plenty to eat and probably enjoyed our lives as much as we would have had we decided to spend extra on non-essentials, lengthening the time of our debt repayment. It was a calculated decision because we wanted to be able to purchase a house and was largely shut out of that possibility due to our debt load. We figured getting out from under that debt was a freedom. It happened that our careers and life paths look many unexpected detours and freedom from that debt gave us much more flexibility. So given that, yes, I would wish that for others if there is indeed no way to do college without acquiring any debt to begin with. I do have a maybe-irrational concern that having no financial skin in the game will make it harder for students to value their educational opportunities. (I say maybe-irrational because I think that could be another boot-strappy myth I need to shake.....) We also had the benefit of graduating with degrees in good paying and stable professions. I am sure I made financial missteps. Probably a lot, actually. But I am now seeing that those missteps could have landed me in need of debt forgiveness if my income potential and stability was less forgiving. That career choice was also a compromise. I chose it largely because I knew it was going to be a stable career option. I did not go into my first choice of study because it was not. My parents advised me as to debt vs. earning potential and I was mature enough at 18 to believe them rather than ignore their advice. That does not mean it was the "right" thing to do. Maybe I would be much happier and personally fulfilled had I followed my dream? Or maybe I would be on this thread sharing my personal experiences of debt that I cannot shake. We are facing that with my dd. She is currently studying for a degree that is not her first choice because we have been very open about the realities of needing to make adequate income to cover needs and debts. In her case, largely because of immense privilege, specifically lots of very educated and connected people to advise her, she has the resources to make the degree lead to her career path of first choice. A happy compromise, I hope. But who knows? I have come to learn, largely based on people sharing in this thread, that the resentment I was discussing in my OP was a bit misplaced. I do actually know real live people who are carrying student loan debt 20+ years after graduation who very well could have paid that debt off well before now. And done so easily. They made choices to spend on non-essentials, even luxury goods, instead. Not because they weren't savvy. Not because they had no access to good financial education/tools. Simply because they lacked the will-power to delay gratification. The refrain I heard from some of my peers during the years I was driving an ancient car with no AC was "I worked hard in college for the last 4, 6, etc... years and I deserve nice things!" Having their debt erased now seems like rewarding irresponsible behavior. And because that is the most common situation I see with my own experiences, I had projected that onto the idea that debt forgiveness would be largely benefitting these people rather than the many other situations I have learned about from others on this thread. If there is no way to tease out the people who could have paid or still could pay their debts without hardship, that is a collateral damage we may have to accept in order to help the people who are truly unable to get a handle on their debt. Just as we do for people who take advantage of other social programs.