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Home > Random Thoughts - Camp, YNAB, Dishwasher, Cleaning the House

Random Thoughts - Camp, YNAB, Dishwasher, Cleaning the House

April 26th, 2019 at 07:56 pm

Friday night... I am pretty tired from the week, and need to go to bed early to be up at 5 so I can get my daughter to school at 5:45 to catch the bus to a track meet.

I have been pretty successfully working with my 4 day work week (plus 5th day housecleaning/grocery shopping) so that I can have an actual weekend. I work super hard those 4 days. Today wasn't as successful; I managed to clean the kitchen and dining room and go to one store. So after I drop off F tomorrow for track, I'll do the rest of the house, and then we'll drive down to the meet to watch her (1600m and 400m relay).

I got frustrated with YNAB and decided to just track on a spread sheet. It's a pretty complicated spreadsheet, and it seems to do what I need it to do. I also added expenses v. income. It works pretty much like YNAB on a summary page, and I can easily keep track of what is in my categories.

So I can see we have $1866 in the household repairs category which is good because we need a new dishwasher. I've been researching, and it looks like our price range is about $700, but it seems like all of the dishwashers have problems. The Bosch that looked promising has a SMELL and I am super sensitive to smells. It doesn't fully dry the dishes either. Our current dishwasher stops mid-cycle so you have to be there to turn the dial or it just keeps running. Not great. That and the dishes are often not clean. You have to clean them before you put them in.

We have $1874 in the Camp category, which is a lot because F did just one camp last year. I've put down a deposit for karate camp already. Her friend is doing a creative writing camp in CA, and I thought we could stay with my brother and it would be perfect (F looooooves writing) but the mom said "Oh, and it's reasonable, too - just $2500" and I felt like I was having a tiny heart attack. Was she serious? The camps F has done are $250/week at the most!

If anyone has any camp ideas for teenagers, I am open to them!

Once she's in 11th she can get an internship where my husband works (they even pay!) and it's a very, very cool place. But right now she's at that in-between age (just before 9th grade). She's not a counselor, but too old for most of the camps near us. We aren't near a university.

Those are all my wandering thoughts... I am off to bed so I can get up early!

5 Responses to “Random Thoughts - Camp, YNAB, Dishwasher, Cleaning the House”

  1. veronak Says:

    For some reason I do not like those budgeting apps, MSMoney and spread sheets do the job. Good luck to your little one today.

  2. CB in the City Says:

    My grandsons go to a Y camp every summer, and it's $1700 for a week -- for each of them! I was shocked to learn that.

  3. creditcardfree Says:

    Camps are so expensive. As a stay at home parent, we usually one did one or two week long ones in the summer for the low end price you mentioned. I really wonder if most people are putting these costs on a credit card, or if they really can afford them. Are there any volunteer opportunities? This seems like a good age that an organization could bring together to do service projects in the community. Any churches that might offer something like this in your area?

  4. Jenn Says:

    We've done camps of varying price ranges: $500 for YMCA, $350 for Boy Scouts, and $1700 for tennis camp. The tennis camp was on a college campus and included instruction from about a dozen college coaches. Our kid is a high level player so the steep price was worth it. But to CCF's point, the cost only stayed on the CC until the bill arrived!

  5. rob62521 Says:

    I'm with you...I like having the weekend as a weekend too.

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