Saving For My Children

Ah, kids. They are expensive BUT we love them anyway!

According to MoneySense.ca, the average cost of raising a child to 18 is an incredible $243,660. That breaks down to more than $12,000 per child, per year, or just over $1000 per month. AND.....that is before you send them off to University!
 

So, want to know how much University might cost you?
Well, the cost of a four year university degree for a child born in 2013 could rise to more than $140,000. Right now a four year university degree can cost anywhere from $40,000 to $60,000.  Frankly, that number just freaks me out. What about you? 

Well, I think I can honestly say that I am not doing enough to prepare. I have stashed some money away in a few accounts. The money there is not working very hard in all fairness. It has been mostly stashed in savings accounts or Tax Free Saving Accounts. I will admit it here that I have yet to set up an RESP. I don't really know what is holding me back. I got my girls their social insurance numbers. They have passports. I have all the identification I would need to open an RESP for them but haven't done it yet. My children are ten and eight years old. I know there is time but not a whole lot of time left to make the money necessary to send my girls off to an institute of higher learning. I think what might be holding me back might be my lack of knowledge when it comes to investing. It is a bit scary. I have never been great with math and numbers, so thinking about investing, saving and anything financial is a bit intimidating.  

Sound familiar? If you are like me it can all be a bit overwhelming. There is so many sources of information online. One great place to go for information is RBC.

As part of this Mom Central campaign I have had the opportunity to do a little reading. I have started to educate myself on what it would take to make sure that my children get the education they deserve without going deep into debt. That is the thing about an RESP really (in my opinion). I want to make sure that my children can go to college or university and not have to worry about how to pay for it or have to borrow money just to go. It just takes a little time and effort to make sure that we have the money to cover the cost of post secondary education. I think about it this way....for what it costs me to buy my favourite cup/cups of coffee a day I could be stashing that same amount of money away AUTOMATICALLY in an RESP. Over time it will add up!

You can find more great tips on saving for your child¹s education here:

Campaign page: 
Rbc.com/education 

Our product page: 
http://www.rbcroyalbank.com/resp/index.html 

RESP-matic: 
http://www.rbcroyalbank.com/resp/resp-matic.html

Disclosure: I am part of the RBC RESP blogger program with Mom Central Canada and I receive special perks as part of my affiliation with this group. The opinions on this blog are my own.

Look What is Coming.....Oct 1st

This is a family favourite. OK, I think the adults in our house might love this movie a little more than the kids. OK, I will admit it I am really talking about myself. I love this movie. It makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside when I watch it.

Now  The Little Mermaid is coming to Blu-Ray! How exciting is that!

Here are just a few exciting things about this latest Diamond Edition release from Disney:

Bonus Features: All-New Music Video; @ Disney Animation; Disney Intermission; Deleted Character; The Real Little Mermaid: Live Action Reference Model; Part of Her World: Jodi Benson’s Voyage To New Fantasyland; Howard’s Lecture; Classic DVD Bonus Features.

 The Little Mermaid is set to be released October 1st. I can't wait to get my copy. I love the chance to add another Disney movie to our Blu-Ray/DVD collection.

My Weekend Project

So, like I don't have enough on my plate most days. I am still struggling to get a good rhythm with this back to school routine and more than just a little tired most days.....

SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOoooooooooooooooo

naturally I decided to take on some serious projects around the house.

Firstly, I finally finished the painting in my children's bedrooms. I promise I will post pictures soon but you have to promise to forgive the bedroom mess. Now that my girls have their own rooms they are loving every inch of them  and so naturally that means the rooms are more than a little messy most days. I agreed to let them pick the colour and so both rooms are very bright and colourful. Bedroom one is sweetleaf green and purple and bedroom two is sweetleaf green and turquoise.

Now that that job is done it was time to move on..... painting the hall. Right now I only have the ceiling done. There is still some debate over the colour for the walls so that project is still a work in progress.

SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOooooooooooooooooooooooo,

I felt it necessary to move on to yet another project. I needed to get into my husbands office. We need to have some electrical work done and so that meant I needed to move a very overloaded shelving unit so that was the starting point for this......

 I emptied his entire office, re-painted the pink walls ( the room used to be the girl's room) white and laid this floor down! It was a solid two days!

It took a few hours to put up new chrome shelves and put everything back in. It was hard work but every time I go into the office now and stand on that pretty floor and look around it makes me happy. OH and it makes my husband happy too every time he sits down at his desk/drawing table!

Back to School... Back to Routine

School for the kids is now in full swing. We made it through the first week. I will admit it was a tough week.

And now we are entering our third week of school and I will be honest I am fading fast.  The first week of school the kids and I walked. The second week we walked a couple of days but I was forced to drive them a couple of days. Now, we started off the third week with a drive. You see I am not getting up just a few minutes later than I did the first week and that can be costly. Just think if I get up just a few minutes later every single day by the end of the week we could miss the enter school day!  Not good people.  I have a history of being late. Other parents know it, other kids know it, the school knows it, my kids know it and you know what? I know it!  

I am not sure how I am going to make it the entire school year working the shift I do, doing all the extra teaching, writing and blogging that I do. I am exhausted and it is only week three of school 

I could nap during the day but to be honest I suck at that. I always seem to find other things to do, like the laundry, dishes and painting the kids bedrooms.  Makes sense right? Ya, the tired lady working on empty would decide to paint a bedroom rather than nap? What am I nuts? (don't answer that question!)

I think it is time to come up with a plan. I need to schedule my days better than I do. I could fall over if I don't slow down this pace and gets some sleep.

How do you manage your work load, family life and all the other stuff we fill our lives with?

Help... I think I have lost my Blogging Mojo

I think I need help!!!!!!!

I think I have lost my blogging mojo.

After coming back from BlogHer13 I was feeling inspired. I came home with all sorts of ideas, inspired by all the talented bloggers that I met in Chicago. I was excited to get writing and then.......

*sigh*

And then.... well I don't really know what happened. I just ran out of steam. I am not sure why or how it happened but I just don't have the passion right now. I think about writing all the time. I think about writing blog posts, I think about writing freelance articles, I think about writing my books/manuscripts and then when I actually sit down to write .....NOTHING!

WHAT THE HECK???????????????

It doesn't really feel like writers block....exactly BUT really what else could it be?

OK, maybe the lack of sleep is a factor.

OK, maybe the crazy schedule with kids back to school, me back to teaching a college course and still working is a factor

OK, maybe getting back into a routine that is actually draining my mind of all its creative/imaginative juices is a factor.

OK, did I mention the lack of sleep???

But ... normally I can always write SOMETHING. I have tried to write several times and every time I open a blank blog post page I end up closing it with nothing written.

 Well, there is hope. I managed to get this post written. I am actually doing what I tell others to do. Write. Just write. Write anything, it really doesn't matter. Just write and keep writing and the creativity will eventually start flowing. RIGHT?


I would love to hear what you do to keep the creative juices flowing....what do you do to keep writing?