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Peeled the onion today

February 25th, 2016 at 02:20 am

I found out about another unbudgeted expense today - $47 each for 2 Advanced Placement tests at D's school. The money ($94) was due by March 1st. I started "peeling the onion" and realized all of the other unbudgeted expenses I have coming up related to the kids - SAT test expenses in June, sending SAT scores to colleges in September, college applications in Nov/Dec/Jan. And that's just for D. S turns 16 in November and will need driving lessons (required in NJ) to get his permit. That's another $300.

While it all added up to many hundreds of dollars, they're spread out over the year, and I feel better knowing about them and getting them on the budget spreadsheet. I have some more tweaking to do tomorrow just to smooth everything out, but at least it's accounted for. And I already added a reminder for this time next year (D will be taking 6 APs, which will be a bill of $282)!

7 Responses to “Peeled the onion today”

  1. Jenn Says:
    1456367441

    Those things snuck up on me too, along with senior pictures, graduation announcements, cap & gown purchase, and acceptance/deposit fees for the college selected. I didn't want those things mingled with my 'kids activities' budget category (for scouts, clubs, & sports) so I created a separate category for education. Hopefully I'll do better at anticipating these things with the next kid.

  2. FrugalTexan75 Says:
    1456367626

    It's amazing how many "little" expenses can add up to big amounts.

  3. mjrube94 Says:
    1456369164

    Good point Jenn! Yes, she will be graduating in 2017, so pictures, senior events, graduation, etc. all needs to be accounted for starting in September and going into next year. And I thought they were expensive when they were little, LOL!

  4. creditcardfree Says:
    1456402877

    Wow! Impressive that your daughter is taking 6 AP classes. We are about to sign up for high school junior year and I'm sure there will be at least two she will take.

    And be prepared for college too. We give our freshman daughter $100 to cover her expenses. She now has a small paying job, too.

    You have to pay to send the scores to schools? With the ACT we were able to send scores to three of our daughter's schools. It was included in the cost of the test. I guess I'm not familiar with SAT.

  5. mjrube94 Says:
    1456403723

    You can send up to 4 scores for free if you do it at the time of registration. She didn't want to go that route, because she wanted to wait and see how the scores came out, and only send the good ones Smile Unfortunately, it's pricey - $11.25/school. She plans on applying to up to 8, so it works out to be about $90.

    I'm a little concerned about the 6 APs to be honest. She's not the kind to stay up all hours and stress about it, but it's still a big workload. I think she's underestimating it, but what do I know, I'm just her mother Smile

  6. snafu Says:
    1456412545

    As a point of information, as your DDs are approximately eight months from college, I hope they will do the research and begin the research and application process for the dozens of small scholarships, bursaries, awards, grants

  7. snafu Says:
    1456412890

    sorry,MacAir is doing nasty drops in cyber space...will try to fix...

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