I am so sorry to hear :( Could it be something that will be easy to catch up on? I mean, they could have asked 4 questions where getting just a couple wrong brings the grade in that category way down. What did they test on? Reading and math? One of your kids is 5. Isn't "barely Kindergarten level" exactly what some 5 year olds are? Some are just starting K or not even starting at all depending on birth date. Also, I'm sorry if they were rude to you. Are you allowed to see results so you will know what they struggled with specifically? Without any context/examples, they may be blowing this way out of proportion! Edited: just saw some other comments. Okay so you do have an idea on some of the things. Has your daughter done much writing practice with numbers? My son literally would forget how to form letters but could recognize them if shown. So I wonder if that could have anything to do with it, just blanking. I have never made him do as much writing as probably the typical schools because there was so much resistance at first.

Do they already have big items like a swing, pack n play, etc? I would consider using the money toward a big item (or gift card noting it is intended to be used toward said big item). Is there a registry?

Regarding insurance, that's good that you have some. But I would still consider making a spare category for medical (maybe that's what your emergency covers but emergency could be a lot of things) to cover expenses not covered by insurance. My ds just got a tooth cleaning recently and I got a bill for a small amount. Apparently the dental office is out of network (oversight on my part) and that fee may or may not apply to all visits. Just using this as an example.

Yes, for me it makes more sense to only shop for specific people (or have a general idea of who they could go to like "ok this will work for one of two people"). I have done some Christmas shopping so far though this is probably the earliest I have ever started. Dh told me to stop thinking about Christmas already ha but one thing I already bought went back up in price (I got two for the price of one and have two recipients designated for them). We are giving ourselves a more strict budget so I figure I'm shopping smart. The past couple years proved to me that most of my deals are not Black Friday deals, anyway.

Haha I like the way you think. We set a Christmas budget and I was like, "Challenge accepted" LOL I love finding bargains. And I don't know if this helps the OP but sometimes I benefit from using apps or websites to earn gift cards (ie. Shopkick, Swagbucks). Doesn't help often, but for some things here and there it does. Knocks off $5 on an Amazon purchase, etc. Online shopping with coupon codes plus depending on your payment method possibly cash back or airline miles is nice. When possible I try to combine trips to save on gas. We usually go to the grocery store once a week so try to wait til grocery day to do more buying.

I know that sometimes it's still inconvenient to switch districts even with permission (we looked into it. I would have to provide transportation 30 min. away which is really 4 trips a day since I wouldn't be staying there with ds. Oh and I'd have to pay tuition! I don't know if that would be your case, though). Based on what I've read in other threads, I'm willing to bet paying a mother's helper or even the co-pay and possibly a sitter to get to a therapist and/or dr would be tough right now. But yes, if there's a way to make it work that sounds like a high priority. Do you have curriculum or resources already for homeschooling this coming year? Would links to free or affordable things help at all? Maybe we could at least help there. Are you still looking for a new rental? I remember another thread where the carpet/allergies was a big concern. ETA: Oh just saw your comments about prices jumping around you.

We made a small budget list recently. I'm trying to remember what we put down... and this comes to mind, which I don't see on your list. Health insurance dental ins. life ins. renter's insurance? Possibly another category like misc. (I don't know what to call it but like random stuff, back to school supplies or whatever. Maybe shopping category but not specific to clothes) Are things like toilet paper, toothpaste, etc. included in your grocery shopping (like if you buy all that stuff at one store)?

If I had to pick a new service it would be Hulu, but maybe I'm just lazy to look up stuff on Amazon. I don't like the interface very much. Hulu has a lot of newer content and at least one "only on Hulu" show I watch (the Mindy Project).

Wow! Thanks for sharing. I have canceled at least once already and they always get me back LOL. First I had a free trial. Then they gave me a credit. Then I paused the account for a few months but didn't realize it had started back up again (I guess because any email alerts went to dh not me). The other day dh came to me and said we've been charged for the past 3 months. Are you going to cancel? So I had to figure out what books to get and then I canceled and reopened with the code. I ended up getting a couple of books to listen to with ds plus one for me. I am terrible at figuring out what to get (I want to get the $15 value so I hate to pick like a $4 book!). With the $2 fee I won't be so nervous about what to pick. ETA: darn I missed the Mark Twain book. Had to do a double take at the dates on the thread. Guess that was from last month.

Thank you for the clarification! I did understand you are immigrants, but it didn't occur to me that what you described was in the norm for where you were from. I thought it was just some idea your parents came up with after they moved here. And I should have realized that the extended family dynamic was possibly different due to culture (duh on me). Food trucks sound cool. I'm pretty scared to invest in anything at this time, but I could see how that could potentially be really good in specific areas. We don't have anything like that very close to me, but I see them on TV all the time and I know they have had them at events at one of the museums here. Speaking of trucks, one time last summer we heard the ice-cream truck. We didn't make it outside in time. We never found him again!! Lol. We were quite disappointed!!

I guess I was feeling like you were saying "you just have to be hungry enough/work hard enough! and you can do xyz." Anyone who flopped must not have wanted it badly enough or applied themselves. /shrug I don't know if you realize how unique your situation sounds, not just because of investing in rental properties but because extended family was involved in the process for twelve family members. I imagine lots of people are lucky to get a birthday card from extended family let alone have money for property sent their way. The fact that the homes were rented out in what sounds like a pretty smooth cycle over the years caught me off guard. I'm probably biased here because I have seen my parents struggle to rent out property to reliable/clean tenants. They actually bought the first home dh and I lived in just so we had a place to rent when we were expecting our son and needed to move out of the tiny apartments we had. When we moved out, that home was a huge burden to occupy/sell and eventually they sold it. So I guess I'm thinking I am scared of the idea of having to ever rent property or wait for a buyer/renter. lol. I realize you are not saying this is the way for everyone and I appreciate that.

I'm so scared to get mine cut. The last few times they (different stylists) always leave me with a duck tail in the back. Like, the hair at the nap of my neck is straighter than the rest so it always sticks out further and I try to explain this problem, but it seems to only surface after I've left the salon. I got layers last time so it looks a little less obvious, but the long bits are way too long in proportion to the rest. I don't like that. The worst was when my hair dresser rushed me out and must have gone crazy with a thinning tool or something because I shed for a long time after that and some of the hair was the wrong length like she missed parts. I ended up getting almost fully refunded by the manager when I explained the situation. Haven't gone back there since.

I'm glad it all worked out and it does sound like you all worked very hard. I just wish you'd acknowledge that this isn't something physically/financially possible for everyone that busts their butt. I don't believe so, anyway. This is assuming rental properties are available in the right location, for the right price and that people qualify for a loan or whatever to front the money. I'm sure there are other factors as well.

I could see people voting either way on which is "worse." Viewing p*rn vs going to a strip club. Well, yes, one is a with a real human, but you aren't necessarily getting a lap dance or even staring at the woman the whole time you're there. I'm guessing some men might be having a drink and talking (if it's say, a business meeting or such. I have no idea the layout of the strip club and if the view is great from all tables).

I don't even know if I know what buying a house/car wholesale means. Having family nearby isn't enough (which may have been implied by the different cultures/personality comment). They have to be able-bodied, etc. If I were to live near my parents they wouldn't be able to do much for me. My in-laws could, but they don't always honor my wishes. For someone truly starting out with little, living below your means is probably a necessity, not a way to save up. BTDT.

We have Roku. I see there is a History channel, but it requires a cable/satellite subscription and based on the description I wouldn't get my hopes up about documentaries. https://channelstore.roku.com/details/35059/history#read-more I could be wrong, but I would think given your tv show preferences that you won't get everything with a streaming device. There are some Network shows I can watch, but have to wait a long time for the episodes to appear on the service or hurry up and watch before they are removed. For example, I'm in season 7 of the Vampire Diaries, but I haven't had time to watch some of the latest episodes on Hulu so now some of of the hulu episodes have vanished and I'll have to jump from say, episode 5 to 9 (I don't remember the actual episode numbers) to watch what is currently on there. But if I go to Netflix, I can't find my missing eps because they only have season 6 available. I'd have to purchase each missing ep on Amazon. For other shows, like The Walking Dead, I plan to buy the season pass on Amazon or just buy each individual episode (sometimes a season pass is a better deal).

Maybe some cute pencils? Most years we don't get anything exciting, either. Well, sometimes an educational game is kinda neat.

We had mutual friends IRL but didn't talk until I messaged him on My Space lol. I would avoid match.com (someone I know had a bad experience as they were signed up as a prank by another party and match.com allowed it. Didn't require an email verification I guess??) Maybe you could find one with a trial and then decide if it's worth paying? A long time ago I tried a trial (CatholicMatch or something like that). I had bad luck and gave up Lol.

Sorry to hear about your loss, but happy to hear he didn't seem to suffer.

I've started as well. Right now Hallmark has an Anna (from Frozen) ornament on sale.

How do you feel about the shapes defined by fruit? I think I'm pear shaped. The shape you describe is listed as apple.

Well I have another question. When you say usher, do you mean the person that takes you to a seat? Or the person that passes the collection baskets around? Or both? Because really, I hardly see anyone lead people to seats anymore. But I do see men and women pass collection baskets around the church. Sometimes even teenagers. Edited: I see where you described the passing the plate/counting the money. Since you have already done this, then it sounds like they don't care if you have women do it? I guess just double check that scheduling women regularly would not be objected.

Dh and I aren't interested in strip clubs. I wouldn't want him to go, but I don't know that he'd have a good time, anyway so that would make it less bothersome lol. I don't consider it normal behavior for married men. I would want to know about the invitation before the fact so I could have time to object. I don't think dh would tag along to that part of the bachelor party even if I said nothing. For his own bachelor party he just wanted to go to the movies. Yes, it would affect my opinion if I found out a married person in my circle of friends did that. Male or female. I might ponder if they have an open relationship or if this was done in secrecy or what. Stripper and son question. I don't know, oldest child is not that old yet. One time? I might blow it off as some peer pressure thing/curiosity. More than once? Not happy about that. Dh has already influenced ds into thinking that the premise of places like Twin Peaks is unsavory.

I would guess it could be used for a number of reasons that may make the info come up. For example, maybe some type of class would use the doll (marriage and family class? lol). I was also thinking of a doll for a child that wants to take care of it. The child may (either intentionally or accidentally) get the doll wet and maybe the parent wants to know if the doll can get wet. The second "Does the doll have a magnet?" question would not make me necessarily jump to the conclusion it was referring to lips. They didn't say lips. But where else would a magnet go? I don't know. The eyes? I don't know how those closing eyelids work. I get annoyed with Amazon when I CAN'T ask a question. Some products have no where to put a question.

"Don't work harder, work smarter" doesn't bother me in the right context. Like, finding a clever way to accomplish a task more efficiently. Perhaps finishing the job earlier or saving yourself some physical labor. We were lugging buckets into a kitchen at a church event to fill up with water for an outdoor game. I thought this is stupid and difficult and probably not as sanitary as just filling these up outdoors. Then I had some youth helpers help me locate a spicket on the side of a building near us. As I'm typing this I'm realizing some people say spigot and some say spicket. Heh.