I'm not surprised. It was around $1000 for some one bedrooms when I was last in Southern CA. And I'm not sure if the OP stated how many bathrooms.

I didn't see an answer to this... is it at all possible for you to drive your son to school? I guess picking up would be the problem, but I might have him take the public transit after school and do homework at the bus stop??? I know you don't qualify for section 8, but what about some type of sliding scale/low income situation? When dh and I were on harder times and our rent went up (yes, that's a very real possibility for you too which makes me think maybe keep looking) I sought out a subdivision for low-income families. We actually had a decent set up, it was just the neighborhood I wasn't so fond of. We got a 3 bd townhouse and even that felt cramped. I say please do not try the one bedroom with three people. Oh my goodness, I crashed on my sister's couch in CA after Hurricane Katrina and it was an awful arrangement. We had one bedroom and one bathroom. She stayed in her room and I stayed in the living room. Do you have one or two bathrooms?

I'd try to watch them in order/near the order they were released. I'm actually a bit behind. Basically I'd recommend seeing some of the individual character films before some of the group ones There are 3 Iron Man movies. I didn't like them all. But I'd definitely recommend the first. Love Captain America. Thor films Ant Man (love this, too. I recommend you watch this before Civil War) Spider-Man (I did not like the Amazing Spider-Man (2012 with Andrew Garfield), but I liked the first one (with Tobey Maguire 2002). I haven't seen the latest. The Avengers movies Guardians of the Galaxy movies I have not had a chance to see Wonder Woman or Black Panther but intend to see both. I passed on Dr. Strange... preview didn't look appealing to me but I might change my mind later. I will definitely see Thor: Ragnarok later this year, too. Although Superman is one of my favorite characters, I did not care for Superman films much. I would consider the show Smallville, though. I saw the entire 10 seasons. I'm really behind on the tv shows. I watched part of Arrow and The Flash. Only a couple eps of Agent Carter and SHIELD and Supergirl. I watched the limited number of eps they released on hulu of The Powerless (just a silly superhero show).

Apparently right now you can earn Michael's bucks (new thing?) http://www.michaels.com/MichaelsBucks

Must be the toddler. She told us she is the boss :laugh:

My post didn't quite make sense. I guess don't compare yourself to people doing better off. Think like Louis CK. Only look in someone else's bowl to make sure they have enough, not to see if you have as much as them.

don't compare yourself to them Sometimes I catch myself comparing myself to others and it usually isn't a happy place lol. So many people around me have young children and a support system. I do not have a relative I can ask to babysit on a whim. A number of people we know that live in faculty housing like us also own another home! Dh and I are paying on his master's degree and he's going to enroll in school 2018? for another degree. Oh well. I appreciate things more than some people. That's what I like to focus on. I get so excited over little things like scoring 50 cent crayons. There is always someone worse off. I am very blessed.

I don't know if this is what she uses, but I did buy these for scrapbooking. Personally, I do not like using them on cards because when I addressed several envelopes in green for Christmas the ink started drying up. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002GJOA2W/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I make cards sometimes. I have a number of scissors with the different edge shapes. I got a set of 4 from Amazon and then recently ran across some at Walmart that were ringing up .25 each, but I haven't seen them since. Here's the Amazon set I have: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B006L2VBHW/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1 (keep an eye on the price, it may go down) I like to make cards, but I don't get that fancy. I just print images from the internet and color them or draw my own. Sometimes I use rubber stamps. I buy them on clearance at Michael's. Like, I bought holiday ones when they were marked down. I mostly use my sharpies or other markers for decorating. Sometimes I will coordinate the card to look like the packaging if it's attached to a gift. Like, a little girl that likes leopards had a birthday. I printed a picture of a leopard and made leopard spots with my sharpie on her gift bag lol. For store cards you can usually find 50 cent ones at Family Dollar. Dollar General has cheap ones, too.

Maybe Kohl's? I laughed at the Halloween comment.

drop cloths and tea. I think my mind went in the gutter. For the shoes... if not flats maybe something like a cowboy boot or such.

My first thought was seashells, but that wouldn't be practical and probably is more beachy. I like the burlap idea and shorter length dress/no heels. I would not anticipate lugging any decorations if you're going by plane. By car, you could probably do it. For focal point I might try to do an arch. I don't know how expensive that is, though! A wooden arch with fake flowers or something wrapped around it?

My first thought was, "what shade of blue?" followed by, "what colors are in the bathroom?" lol Depending on the colors I could go either way. Cinder, we actually have a radio in our bathroom. It's on a shelf away from the shower. It was originally used in a kitchen as it was mounted under a cabinet.

Good one. Does he like Buffy? Buffy tv series with Willow on the cover :laugh: I was going to originally say leather belt. I had a lot of leather ideas (not necessarily good!) such as leather eyeglass case if he wears glasses, leather glove for golf if he plays, leather sports equipment like baseball glove... I like the idea of the personalized ceramic. That is one of my favorite hobbies, though. Painting ceramics.

I'm a bit confused, too. For one binder I think even the large ones are not that much normally. The most I spent on a large one was from a Staples or Office Depot? And that was probably more like $12. Since then I've stuck to cheaper ones, but I do seek out the PVC-free styles.

Is there any chance you have the ability to get a flexible spending account through an employer? We ended up opting in one this past year and didn't even realize it. Some money came out of each of dh's paychecks pre tax and we're entitled to that much back for out of pocket expenses. It includes a lot. I took receipts for eyeglasses, dental (we have dental insurance but there was a fee) and misc. doctor appointments. Dd had plagio and I looked into helmet vs. no helmet with physical therapy/re-positioning. Well it turned out that the helmet solution was non applicable to her particular head shape issue. Maybe you can either avoid the helmet or do some type of exercises or re-positioning in conjunction (you may already be doing that). Dd also had torticollis, though. I was told to position her differently for diaper changes, be mindful of how I held her during feeds, etc. Because of the tax free thing we're basically earning money back. Good luck, the driving and adjustments and all sound really challenging.

I hate staying home because the gas money thing is a big drain on our income. Like we decided it's not feasible to enroll ds in a twice a week martial arts class because of the gas (I've been taking him a few weeks as they had a free trial class for homeschoolers this summer). The actual class fee is reasonable. I've researching all these apps to save money. I guess every bit helps. So in the past week or so dh and I started using ibotta, ebates and I'm toying with the idea of signing up for others like ReceiptPal. One Walmart receipt could be scanned into Savings Catcher, ibotta, and ReceiptPal I think (have to buy qualifying items for ibotta).

Any opinions on the Cosori pressure cooker? 6q 7-in-1, but not Instant Pot name brand. Lightning deal.

Did they ever check the lenses? I know this is crazy and highly unlikely given that he had issues 3x, but one time my eye doctor's office put the left lens in the right and the right lens on the left (different prescription). I was like, "these are not helping" and they shooed me out of the store saying, "you need to adjust." I was ticked with these useless glasses for a couple weeks until I went back and the dr noticed the lenses were in the wrong sides. Now, my personal experience is very limited, but we went to two optometrists and an ophthalmologist recently for the kids. I got the optometrist's info from covd.org. I suggest you look there. Ours does vision therapy at one of her other offices which one or both my kids need. Maybe there is more going on with him than just prescription. I don't know.

I was on a waitlist for some ultra thin sharpies and I got them. It's the little things :lol:

I've been watching these Calico critters on various sites. They are cheaper on WM and Target or Toys R Us sometimes. The Lakeside Lodge is currently not on sale at Target, but it is listed as $28.49 so I am very skeptical when Amazon shows an old price with a slash through it.

With the 20% off at Toys R Us, they undercut a few of the Amazon prices. Maybe not on major products, but on the toys I got. I signed up for ebates which currently offers a $10 WM gift card or Paypal credit right now for new members once you make a qualifying purchase (I think it's $25 you have to spend). Well, TRU says you can get $5 back when you do store pick up of qualifying purchase ($29 or up). So I ordered some items there, chose store pick up, and now my Walmart $10 GC is pending. My total was slightly under $29 at first so I just added some sale Crayola items.

I noticed different prices on the townhouse. Well, Walmart had two side by side with one stating "with gift set" so it comes with extra stuff. What, I'm not sure. Good to hear. I don't even need a fan to sleep like dh likes, but I'm sick of looking at the ugly broken one LOL. We're actually going to see if we can get credited for it or not (we rent).

Only the 8qt is on sale. Last year there was a 6qt for around $70? I've been tracking that one all week. I really don't want to spend $90 on any version of the IP even though this is normally over $100.

I thought items that said price reduction showed during checkout regardless of how you pay, but maybe I'm thinking of similar deals. Dh bought the fan I posted a few posts up and the 25% price reduction wasn't reflected til further into the purchasing process. I don't know if it happened as soon as it got in the cart or later. I also noticed the TRU sale. I put a few items in my TRU cart and it automatically applied a 20% off deal. It brought the 3 bunk beds to $6.39, but I don't know if I'm going to buy them or not. We still need a house LOL. I am thinking of skipping the calico brand homes and getting this to assemble and paint myself: https://www.amazon.com/Greenleaf-Corona-Dollhouse-Kit-Orchid/dp/B000X4MQ6O/ref=sr_1_18?ie=UTF8&qid=1499756373&sr=8-18&keywords=dollhouse I've been eying the Calico cherry car that seats 5 (Target and TRU are similar in price after the TRU discount). The van is just so much money (7 seater). Ahh these items are so cute lol. I hope you figure out the discount thing. I would hope they would discount you for using the card.