Life on a Budget
When we toured our house, we were given the tour by the actual owners. They were selling their house themselves. We love 90% of the house. We went up to the FROG (family room over garage) and it was huge. There was also another bedroom attached to the family room. Then we noticed “the door”
There’s an exterior door in the family room. We realized it doesn’t really go anyway. It faces a neighboring house that I like to call “the bad juju house” because the owners told us 3 people have died in that house next door. It’s been abandoned since the last owner’s, untimely death.
We can see straight to the bad juju house. There was absolutely nothing out there. Except an overgrown staghorn sumac tree grove. Which, by the way, if anyone has a good way to get rid of sumac trees, like a lot of them, please let me know. They keep sprouting up and spreading like weeds! But literally nothing else. No deck, no sidewalk, no garden, no play area. To be fair, it’s on a hill so it’s gonna take some serious leveling.
What I’m thinking is putting up some privacy hedges along the property line so we don’t have to stare at the bad juju house. We’re talking about putting in a deck. We want a fairly big deck that we can have cookouts or parties on. We also want to put a hot tub out there eventually. Oddly this entire side of the house, which is a pretty broad side, has no outdoor electric outlets or water outlets. We finally installed a water spout last summer because I put a vegetable garden out there. We were actually carrying buckets and watering cans of water up to the garden via either the front door and climbing the hill or carrying them through the house to the FROG and out the door to nowhere to water the garden. Severa trips! It was too much!
Here’s the things we’re not sure about.
I’d love to hear your ideas. When we decide to pull the trigger on this project we want to do it right. I’m open for any other suggestions you have. And, again please, if you know how to get rid of spreading sumac trees I’d love to hear that too.
This post is sponsored by Diamond Bloggers. Any opinions expressed are my own.
This information is brought to you by Teach My Learning Kits. All opinions are my own. #homeschool #remotelearning #distancedlearning
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I want to start this off by saying I’m not judging anyone for giving or not giving a cell phone at any particular age. This post is strictly the reasons I decided to and my tips, as a mom of 4, who has given their children cell phones with another one coming up here in a few months.
Initially, I had it in my head that my kids weren’t getting cell phones until they were in high school. I figured they’d be more responsible, they’d need it when they started driving, for work, etc, etc. Little did I know how fast my mind would change with 1 incident in middle school.
My oldest son was in 6th grade so, he was about 11 years old. We found out when we moved to our new house that he would have to walk to the middle school which was 1.8 miles away. I worried about that, especially with these Pennsylvania winters. BUT, it was a straight shot on a main road in town. Other kids would be walking too. He would find friends to walk with, I was sure of it. I even walked it with him over the summer before classes started to see how long it would take. On a nice summer day with no heavy backpack it took us 20 minutes! 20 minutes! I worried about what it would be like when he had to trudge through unshoveled snow covered side walks with ice on the ground.
I worried about him a lot. I took him to school sometimes but I was working full-time at the time so it wasn’t always possible. Then my son found a walking buddy and I felt a little better about it.
Then my son starts telling me about these high school kids that would harass him and his friend on the way home. They would call them names, and even threw rocks at them. One day my son and his friend burst through our front door, eyes wide as saucers and out of breath. I knew something was wrong. It turns out, the high school kids that had been harassing them on the way home most of the year surrounded them and pulled a knife on them. They were able to get away but had to run nearly a mile home to get help. There are no pay phones anymore and people just aren’t as open to opening their doors to high school kids. I called the school immediately and we went through a process there.
Well that’s the day I decided my son needed a cell phone. Through trial and error I’ve learned these tips with giving kids cell phones. I also realized how much they’d be staying after school in middle school for sports practices, clubs, or just to hang out with friends.
Another thing I’ll add is to shop around for cell phone providers. Not all of them are created equal when you have family plans. We suffered with AT&T for too long. I had the mentality that I was with them for 16 years and never had an issue so why change (other than the exorbitant amount of money we were paying). We finally switched to Consumer Cellular and our bill was literally cut in half. I wish we wouldn’t have waited so long.
I know buying those things for your kids phone seem “extra” but trust me when I say a $15 phone case and $8 screen protector can save you a lot of money in the long run!
I’ve also found more benefits to them having a cell phone over the years. It makes it easier for them to check in with me and for me to check on them. They can get updates from the school’s automated announcements for school closings, delays, etc. When they started driving I’d have them call me when they got to their destination. There’s also tracking apps so I can see where they ACTUALLY are.
This post is sponsored by Diamond Bloggers. Any opinions expressed are my own. This post does contain affiliate links. I will earn a small commission from sales made through my links.
I work in a hospital in small city. It’s not a particularly dangerous city. But areas very near to wear employees have to park are known to have their share of problems. I was driving to work one day and saw a SWAT team outside of a run down apartment building. That was about half a mile from where I park.
The hospital provides shuttle service from the parking lots during the day because parking is anywhere from 1 -3 blocks away depending on which lot you park in. Obviously the closer ones fill up first. But shuttle service is not available after 6 pm. And let’s face it, hospitals don’t close at 6 pm and there’s staff coming in at all hours.
I often choose to walk up to work to help get my steps in. Plus I tend to walk faster than the shuttle can get me there because of the stops and route it has to take. One day though, I was walking under the railroad trestle and a man jumped down from the trestle right in front of me. I’m not even afraid to admit that he scared the daylights out of me. He started laughing and rather mockingly said “Did I scare you?” and walked away laughing. Not long after I found out that that railroad trestle is a popular place for the homeless population to travel and hang out.
I had my phone in my purse. I have a tendency to put my hand to my heart when startled. I realize had he not just walked away and would have tried to take my purse or worse that I would not have had access to my phone. That’s where Invisawear comes into play.
Invisawear is a discreet safety device disguised as jewelry. With options that include: necklaces, bracelets, key chains, and scrunchies. I think the scrunchy idea is great for everyday wear, outdoor running, walking, biking, or going to the gym. I personally love the necklaces because I feel like my reflex reaction to cover my heart would be easy and unassuming access to my necklace if I was in trouble.
You device/jewelry is able to notify pre-selected people of your choice of your location even if you’re not sure where you are. It also has the optional feature to contact 911. You can also choose to have it share personal information for 911 dispatchers so they can better help you.
Right now Invisawear is having a Valentine Sale:
Get 20% off plus 2 Day Free Shipping I’m excited to have the chance to review a piece of Invisawear jewelry. I’m choosing the necklace. I’m planning on doing an unboxing and review post so watch for that on my social media channels. I can think of so many occasions it would be a blessing to have piece of mind like this. Girls nights, 2nd and 3rd shift workers, travel (especially alone), home health workers, subway travel, runners and joggers, any place you’re not familiar with or has a less-than-positive reputation, etc. This would make an amazing gift that definitely shows you care. This post does contain affiliate links. I will earn a small commission from sales made through my links.