I don't know what my kids gave to me, but it is throwing me for a loop! Went into work today (only because I took off last week when DS was sick and didn't want to overdo it), but I should have stayed in bed. I don't get sick too often, but man when I do, look out!

Today was going to be my grocery shopping day, but that just isn't happening! I need to stop by the dry cleaner to pick up one jacket that's been ready for weeks ($4.50), and I spent $.74 on hot soup for lunch. That's it for today!!! I was also going to take care of my house insurance switch, and change a few appointments, but I sound like I've chain-smoked 1000 cigarettes! I have absolutely no voice left! I guess it can wait until later in the week.

Looking over the budget, I'm up to the childcare/preschool portion of the spreadsheet. This one really hurts. My son goes to a great preschool that we really love (dd went there too). He has one more year to go before Kindergarten. The cost? A whopping $635/month, for 3 full days (9:00-3:00). Pick your jaw up off the floor, you read it right...and it's going up to $655/month next year. Unbelievably, this isn't even the most expensive place around! There are less expensive places that we didn't like as much, plus, most of those places don't have the full-day option, which I need while I'm at work. Neither DH nor I want to move him, so we're going to suck it up and pay it for 10 more months until we're free!!! (and the $655 will be funneled right into their 529 accounts). In the meantime, we use the FSA account at my husband's job to get it taken out pretax, and his company kicks in 5% of the cost as a perk. I also pay DH's aunt $50/week to watch DS all day on Thursdays. That's a steal!

For my DD, I need to send her to after-school care on Thursdays when I work late. It costs $85/month for the one day a week, from 3:00-6:00. The nice thing is that if there's a half day, they take her at 1:00 for no extra charge, and if I need to send her on a different day of the week (or in the morning before school) I can just pay a daily drop-off fee. So it really gives me the flexibility I need. This is also eligible for the FSA, but frankly, my son's preschool sucks up all that money ($5000/year pretax) pretty quickly!

As for other kid-related extracurriculars, I'm one of those people who believe less is more. I sign DD up for a lot of the town-sponsored activities, which tend to be inexpensive, and include her friends from school. DS is too young for the town stuff now, so he's not currently enrolled in anything! Other than swimming lessons, which I think is a safety thing as much as a fun thing, I don't sign them up for anything else. This is in sharp contrast to other friends of ours, whose kids' schedules are so unbelievably packed that they don't have time for anything! One friend had her daughter (1st grade) in CCD (religion class) every week, Girl Scouts one day per month, Gymnastics on Wednesday, a competitive swim team (practices 2-3 days/week + meets on the weekend) and tball/soccer through the town. No wonder she's always on the go! I'm more for spontaneous play dates and parks in the nice weather. (Is that just frugal me justifying it? I don't think so, I think kids today need a bit more down time than they get).

Wow, I better get off my high horse now. I usually try not to judge other people (at least not out loud rofl) I guess this cold is making me feel worse than I thought! Have a great day...