After a brief internet blowout followed by a round of non-sleeping children, I’m back on the blogwagon. During my brief sojourn I’ve been od’ing on a variety of home improvement television shows and spending every sleep interrupted moment applying my acquired wisdom on parts of our house.
I readily admit, I’m addicted to the darn shows. For a while there I lived in frustration though as all of those beautiful design ideas and chatchkas were not eligible for consideration under our restricted budgetary situation….but then (YAY) I found shows like Income Property and House Poor on HGTV.
These shows let me think of spending in a much more guilt-free way. Now I can daydream endlessly about putting in a nice chic kitchen in our big ‘ol basement (the electrical and plumbing is already roughed in) and rent the whole basement space out for $$.
Imagine all of the stylish new storage solutions I could justify buying for all of our mis-placed junk if we vacated the space ourselves in search of profit. OK – maybe I shouldn’t. Rather, I should be focusing on the income part before I go spending all of the profits…but where’s the fun in that (hopefully my husband isn’t reading this).
The kids would be sad to lose the basement space. Since we moved in it’s been designated as “the kids space” and my youngest hosts playgroup for the 1-3 year old set down there. I think they’d get over it though if it meant we could stay in the neighborhood they love and have to hear the words “we don’t have endless money you know” a little less often.
So now I’m figuring out...
1) the cost of conversion (AKA how upscale do we want to get before the costs outweigh the benefits),
2) timelines (spring appears to be the best time to attract renters),
3) a competitive rental price
4) the best rental agreement forms on-line.
It’s not a definite “yes – we’ll be renters” yet, but it’s fun to daydream the possibilities.
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Have to call in the financial pros
After our ‘burb weekend, I can safely say I am definitely a city, or maybe just a “my neighborhood” person. The lovely little towns that have grown into pretty little suburbs as Toronto has expanded have a few flaws I just can’t get past:
1) I love to walk everywhere and do most of my errands on foot or bicycle with the kids – these lovely towns don’t have all of the amenities located tidily near enough to make anything other than driving manageable
2)Strolling around the neighborhood and meeting a seemingly endless parade of friends and families out doing the same isn’t the ‘burb way – from what I’ve observed both driving around and strolling on the “one-side-of-the-street-or-not-at-all-sidewalk” neighborhoods, people must hang out in their fenced in backyards or in some secret location revealed only to those who live there
Now maybe I just haven’t found the right little town/ suburb with the perfect combination of all that I love. I’m still open to the possibility, but in light of recent activity, I’m little dubious.
So now, my hubbie and I are at an uncomfortable impasse on the moving issue. Rather than risk marital implosion, we’re calling in the big guns – an investment consultant – to help us best understand our options.
We’ve tried to do this on our own….fiddled the dollars a bit here…consolidated debts a little there…deducted a bit elsewhere…but without professional insight to really look at all of the short and long-term benefits/consequences and what we really want out of our lives.
So why have we not taken advantage of professional help before? (I just re-read that line...made me giggle) Sadly, it’s been a matter of priorities. Until now, we’ve managed to distract ourselves enough from the alarm bells sounding off regularly with the busy-ness that is our life.
So here we go...soon to be ignorant no more. Personally I’m terrified! But I’ll let you know how it goes (hopefully not a case of misery shared in the end, but wish me luck).
If you too are at an impasse, a good place to get through it is to:
1) Talk to your bank. They deal with this every day and may surprise you with how creative they can get at saving you money
2)Check out what the bread winner in your household’s workplace may offer. If could be anything from a financial consultant to a therapist able to help you sort through the stresses and find a solution that you can live with.
1) I love to walk everywhere and do most of my errands on foot or bicycle with the kids – these lovely towns don’t have all of the amenities located tidily near enough to make anything other than driving manageable
2)Strolling around the neighborhood and meeting a seemingly endless parade of friends and families out doing the same isn’t the ‘burb way – from what I’ve observed both driving around and strolling on the “one-side-of-the-street-or-not-at-all-sidewalk” neighborhoods, people must hang out in their fenced in backyards or in some secret location revealed only to those who live there
Now maybe I just haven’t found the right little town/ suburb with the perfect combination of all that I love. I’m still open to the possibility, but in light of recent activity, I’m little dubious.
So now, my hubbie and I are at an uncomfortable impasse on the moving issue. Rather than risk marital implosion, we’re calling in the big guns – an investment consultant – to help us best understand our options.
We’ve tried to do this on our own….fiddled the dollars a bit here…consolidated debts a little there…deducted a bit elsewhere…but without professional insight to really look at all of the short and long-term benefits/consequences and what we really want out of our lives.
So why have we not taken advantage of professional help before? (I just re-read that line...made me giggle) Sadly, it’s been a matter of priorities. Until now, we’ve managed to distract ourselves enough from the alarm bells sounding off regularly with the busy-ness that is our life.
So here we go...soon to be ignorant no more. Personally I’m terrified! But I’ll let you know how it goes (hopefully not a case of misery shared in the end, but wish me luck).
If you too are at an impasse, a good place to get through it is to:
1) Talk to your bank. They deal with this every day and may surprise you with how creative they can get at saving you money
2)Check out what the bread winner in your household’s workplace may offer. If could be anything from a financial consultant to a therapist able to help you sort through the stresses and find a solution that you can live with.
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
A blog out for the 'burbs
After travelling many fun roads over the summer holidays with my kiddies in tow, I find reality now crowding back into my consciousness. No longer allowed the distraction of lazy hazy, I’m back on the financial-happiness-while-home-with-the-kids warpath…a path my husband is steadfastly trying to detour to the ‘burbs.
Let me start by saying that the ‘burbs are a perfectly lovely place for many people to live. I just don’t think I am among those who would remain sane in this mystical “mortage and expenses reduced” land my husband has envisioned. When I think of life out there all I can imagine is lots of time spent in the car driving kids to/fro. Then there’s the searching desperately for new friends for both myself and my 2 year old to socialize with (I cannot be trusted left to my own devices for long). And on top of that, the bulk of the ‘burb population are double income families who aren’t around so much during the days.
The kids would likely adjust fine and my husband whose office is closer to the ‘burbs would be pleased. However I selfishly can’t think of giving up the walking to everything I could possibly need. Plus the large contingent of amazing moms I can call in an instant if I have an emergency would be gone. And finally, our neighborhood just got written up in the New York Times as cool so, call me shallow, I’m finally part of the cool group and don’t want to miss out on any of the perks that may or may not entail (who am I to argue with the NYT - http://travel.nytimes.com/2009/07/05/travel/05surfacing.html).
So what do I do now? I must put on my rational face and attempt to approach our upcoming field trip to the ‘burbs with an open mind. I know what you’re thinking…sounds like I’ve already made up my mind, but I can be swayed if it is really the best thing for our family. It may take a session of flogging myself with guilt (I’m been assured I’m very good at this) over money stress, but I’ll make the effort.
After said open-minded field trip though, the spreadsheet comes out and I’m going to crunch the numbers before I give up my cool club status. So far my desperate plea to stay here has been emotional. Time to build my checklist below and add any others I can think of …
1)Real costs to sell our home > realtor, land transfer taxes, etc.
2)What our home can realistically sell for
3)Costs for any repairs or upgrades we still need to make before we could sell – including furniture we may need to exchange for staging purposes
4)What the new house costs would be > price of home, moving costs, new paint and window covering budget
5)Cost of the extra vehicle we’ll need to get around > initial and upkeep/gas
6)Cost of children’s programs for 2 year old (many of the things in our area are community supported and free)
7)Cost of gym membership with childcare so I don’t balloon to 1000 pounds when I start driving everywhere instead of the constant walking I do now.
8)What real disposable income we’ll have available after all of this to use to counter the aforementioned emotional ties I have to my current home
Let me start by saying that the ‘burbs are a perfectly lovely place for many people to live. I just don’t think I am among those who would remain sane in this mystical “mortage and expenses reduced” land my husband has envisioned. When I think of life out there all I can imagine is lots of time spent in the car driving kids to/fro. Then there’s the searching desperately for new friends for both myself and my 2 year old to socialize with (I cannot be trusted left to my own devices for long). And on top of that, the bulk of the ‘burb population are double income families who aren’t around so much during the days.
The kids would likely adjust fine and my husband whose office is closer to the ‘burbs would be pleased. However I selfishly can’t think of giving up the walking to everything I could possibly need. Plus the large contingent of amazing moms I can call in an instant if I have an emergency would be gone. And finally, our neighborhood just got written up in the New York Times as cool so, call me shallow, I’m finally part of the cool group and don’t want to miss out on any of the perks that may or may not entail (who am I to argue with the NYT - http://travel.nytimes.com/2009/07/05/travel/05surfacing.html).
So what do I do now? I must put on my rational face and attempt to approach our upcoming field trip to the ‘burbs with an open mind. I know what you’re thinking…sounds like I’ve already made up my mind, but I can be swayed if it is really the best thing for our family. It may take a session of flogging myself with guilt (I’m been assured I’m very good at this) over money stress, but I’ll make the effort.
After said open-minded field trip though, the spreadsheet comes out and I’m going to crunch the numbers before I give up my cool club status. So far my desperate plea to stay here has been emotional. Time to build my checklist below and add any others I can think of …
1)Real costs to sell our home > realtor, land transfer taxes, etc.
2)What our home can realistically sell for
3)Costs for any repairs or upgrades we still need to make before we could sell – including furniture we may need to exchange for staging purposes
4)What the new house costs would be > price of home, moving costs, new paint and window covering budget
5)Cost of the extra vehicle we’ll need to get around > initial and upkeep/gas
6)Cost of children’s programs for 2 year old (many of the things in our area are community supported and free)
7)Cost of gym membership with childcare so I don’t balloon to 1000 pounds when I start driving everywhere instead of the constant walking I do now.
8)What real disposable income we’ll have available after all of this to use to counter the aforementioned emotional ties I have to my current home
Monday, July 6, 2009
Mompreneur or bust
This having a germ of an idea to turn into something interesting and profitable stuff …well, it’s hard. I read the incredible success stories of women like Sandra Wilson (Robeez) and I get excited that my mompreneur friend Leslie (http://www.pixiepieces.com/) might meet with some of that same success. Or I see a documentary about the most successful woman entrepreneurs of our time and wish for women like my mompreneur neighbour Rima (http://www.undinejewellry.com/) to get her moment on Oprah for be-jewelling Hollywood’s next mini-celebs.
It seems I’m surrounded by success stories of women who’ve managed to balance family and a great idea. They all inspire me in a woman to woman way, but I worry maybe I’m lacking the gene that would bridge my desire to be like them to actually being one of them.
Despite my worries, I’ve been doing a steady inventory of my talents and skills in hopes of finding that germy idea of worth. First I thought maybe I could offer marketing consulting services…but I just don’t have enough energy at the end of the day to do that properly (that’s not to say I couldn’t still do it, but I couldn’t do it easily). Marketing has to be done well or there’s really no point.
So, I thought about my other big job – mom. What business or service would make a difference for me? Well, I spend a heck of a lot of time obsessing about food with my kids. All three of them are what you could call “picky eaters” and I’ve spent a zillion hours trying and tossing food ideas. I keep thinking that if I could just give them a buffet of choices all at once, maybe I’d have a better idea of where to focus my cuisine. That and, maybe if I’d just figured this out while they were toddlers, I wouldn’t be in such a mealtime battle.
And so “Tastings for Toddlers” became my mompreneur idea. I would invite a group of moms to come with tiny tots for a mid-morning snack-time tasting. Moms would have sparkly drinks in fancy plastic glasses and the tots would get to peruse a buffet of choices.
I polled everyone I knew for buffet and serving suggestions based on their own experience. I heard all about the children who are grief-stricken at the sight of anything larger than the smallest sample at the grocery store. I also heard about consistency, colour, shape and “what is that?” issues from one child to another. My enthusiasm was unwavering. This was an idea I could sink my teeth into (pun intended – corny I know).
It was when I put myself in the customer’s shoes that I began to see some issues with my grand mompreneur wannabe plan.
First concern – I didn’t think that if I did it out of my home moms (other than my supportive friends) would want to come and pay to participate.
Second concern- finding a location that wouldn’t want a large portion of the profits and would be willing to accommodate the food issues is tricky.
Third concern – food and health safety vs. insurance is a bit of a slippery slope
If I figure out solutions for each of my concerns, maybe you’ll see me on Oprah. In the meantime, this mompreneur wannabe has some serious research to do over the summer.
It seems I’m surrounded by success stories of women who’ve managed to balance family and a great idea. They all inspire me in a woman to woman way, but I worry maybe I’m lacking the gene that would bridge my desire to be like them to actually being one of them.
Despite my worries, I’ve been doing a steady inventory of my talents and skills in hopes of finding that germy idea of worth. First I thought maybe I could offer marketing consulting services…but I just don’t have enough energy at the end of the day to do that properly (that’s not to say I couldn’t still do it, but I couldn’t do it easily). Marketing has to be done well or there’s really no point.
So, I thought about my other big job – mom. What business or service would make a difference for me? Well, I spend a heck of a lot of time obsessing about food with my kids. All three of them are what you could call “picky eaters” and I’ve spent a zillion hours trying and tossing food ideas. I keep thinking that if I could just give them a buffet of choices all at once, maybe I’d have a better idea of where to focus my cuisine. That and, maybe if I’d just figured this out while they were toddlers, I wouldn’t be in such a mealtime battle.
And so “Tastings for Toddlers” became my mompreneur idea. I would invite a group of moms to come with tiny tots for a mid-morning snack-time tasting. Moms would have sparkly drinks in fancy plastic glasses and the tots would get to peruse a buffet of choices.
I polled everyone I knew for buffet and serving suggestions based on their own experience. I heard all about the children who are grief-stricken at the sight of anything larger than the smallest sample at the grocery store. I also heard about consistency, colour, shape and “what is that?” issues from one child to another. My enthusiasm was unwavering. This was an idea I could sink my teeth into (pun intended – corny I know).
It was when I put myself in the customer’s shoes that I began to see some issues with my grand mompreneur wannabe plan.
First concern – I didn’t think that if I did it out of my home moms (other than my supportive friends) would want to come and pay to participate.
Second concern- finding a location that wouldn’t want a large portion of the profits and would be willing to accommodate the food issues is tricky.
Third concern – food and health safety vs. insurance is a bit of a slippery slope
If I figure out solutions for each of my concerns, maybe you’ll see me on Oprah. In the meantime, this mompreneur wannabe has some serious research to do over the summer.
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Surfin’ for the dream
There was a time when I fancied myself quite the poet. I pored my young heart out on paper and dreamed big dreams of writing fabulous greeting cards (yes –greeting cards, which is funny to anyone who knows me because I usually refuse to give greeting cards because I think they’re a bit of a waste of paper and usually are altogether too silly or sappy for my tastes – although I do sometimes send e-cards to my friends with big talent who write fabulous books - see http://www.savingtheworldinsensibleshoes.blogspot.com/ - but I digress). Of course, MY greeting cards would capture what people really wished to express and would grant me some high profile award someday.
So, when stymied over what to try next to help out our “single income but spending for double life” path, a friend told me about a work-from-home website that wasn’t a scam to check out (see end of email for what pathetic little I’ve learned about flexible work-from-home plans).
On http://www.homejobstop.com/ there were two greeting card companies looking for poems or similar content and paying a reasonable amount for them to boot. I was so excited! Maybe this was what was meant to happen. I would fulfill my greeting card dreams and show my kids mama has a talent of some sort aside from corralling them out the door in time for school, baking mini muffins and backyard science.
I pulled my best stuff out of storage and submitted it right away. Sadly I haven’t heard a word since. Apparently if you don’t hear back within 2 months, they don’t share your enthusiasm for your work. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a little bit crushed.
It did get me motivated though. Afterall, I do have some skills of note. I was marketing professional for close to 15 years and somebody out there was bound to need what I could offer, wouldn’t they? I started to contact recruiters who told me I was really dreaming if I wanted to find part-time, work-from-home flex-work. Personally I feel this is a terrible oversight on the part of many businesses who need the skill set, but can’t afford a full-time marketing person.
A couple of weeks later I saw as close to my dream job as I could possibly get posted on http://www.craigslist.com/. It was a part-time/flex-time marketing position for a growing company that needed the know-how to cover a variety of marketing roles 2 days a week.
It would have required a little more rigidity of schedule than the perfect scenario, but to be able to do what I am skilled in, love to do and be paid respectably to do it without it taking over our lives…would have been so great. By the time I saw the ad and sent in my resume, there had already been over 300 responses to the ad from what the recruiter in charge said all appeared to all be qualified people. The recruiter also told me that the company had already offered the job to someone they had had recommended to them….sob.
So…this perfect scenario isn’t going to land in my lap. If I want to work in my former profession, I have a lot of pre work to do. Loads of networking, lots of checking on job sites and some way to increase my visibility will be required. That’s part of my reason to start a blog. I also hope maybe I’ll help someone else along the way….pass along a germ of an idea to start someone down the path to success? Or at least be a reasonable read.
So, here’s a few things I learned from 100’s of hours searching for a work from home opportunity that wouldn't compromise my family too much:
1) If you have to pay to sign up to receive the benefits of the service, there’s often a catch. It’s not always the case, but you really have to do your research on each service before signing up – I always do an internet search on the service name to see if any angry posts pop up from people who’ve wasted time or money on them. If no one is angry, I feel more confident proceeding
2) Recruitment offices are a reasonable place to start your search for work-from-home opportunities. If you’re skilled for simple clerical, data entry, assembly or accounting, you may find the flexible opportunity you’re looking for through them without having to worry about the scammers. One great one for marketers is http://www.marketersondemand.com/.
3) Professional opportunities from home are few and far between unless you have an already established network to offer your services to and have the opportunity to network for more. Websites like http://www.linkedin.com/ can help you find out where some of your former colleagues are now working. There are also lots of networking groups popping up. A few I’ve found through my fabulous stay-at-home friend on the west coast (see http://tjrramblings.blogspot.com/ ) include:
http://www.momcafe.net/Home
http://www.themomoirproject.com/?p=382
http://theleagueofkickassbusinesspeople.ning.com/
So, when stymied over what to try next to help out our “single income but spending for double life” path, a friend told me about a work-from-home website that wasn’t a scam to check out (see end of email for what pathetic little I’ve learned about flexible work-from-home plans).
On http://www.homejobstop.com/ there were two greeting card companies looking for poems or similar content and paying a reasonable amount for them to boot. I was so excited! Maybe this was what was meant to happen. I would fulfill my greeting card dreams and show my kids mama has a talent of some sort aside from corralling them out the door in time for school, baking mini muffins and backyard science.
I pulled my best stuff out of storage and submitted it right away. Sadly I haven’t heard a word since. Apparently if you don’t hear back within 2 months, they don’t share your enthusiasm for your work. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a little bit crushed.
It did get me motivated though. Afterall, I do have some skills of note. I was marketing professional for close to 15 years and somebody out there was bound to need what I could offer, wouldn’t they? I started to contact recruiters who told me I was really dreaming if I wanted to find part-time, work-from-home flex-work. Personally I feel this is a terrible oversight on the part of many businesses who need the skill set, but can’t afford a full-time marketing person.
A couple of weeks later I saw as close to my dream job as I could possibly get posted on http://www.craigslist.com/. It was a part-time/flex-time marketing position for a growing company that needed the know-how to cover a variety of marketing roles 2 days a week.
It would have required a little more rigidity of schedule than the perfect scenario, but to be able to do what I am skilled in, love to do and be paid respectably to do it without it taking over our lives…would have been so great. By the time I saw the ad and sent in my resume, there had already been over 300 responses to the ad from what the recruiter in charge said all appeared to all be qualified people. The recruiter also told me that the company had already offered the job to someone they had had recommended to them….sob.
So…this perfect scenario isn’t going to land in my lap. If I want to work in my former profession, I have a lot of pre work to do. Loads of networking, lots of checking on job sites and some way to increase my visibility will be required. That’s part of my reason to start a blog. I also hope maybe I’ll help someone else along the way….pass along a germ of an idea to start someone down the path to success? Or at least be a reasonable read.
So, here’s a few things I learned from 100’s of hours searching for a work from home opportunity that wouldn't compromise my family too much:
1) If you have to pay to sign up to receive the benefits of the service, there’s often a catch. It’s not always the case, but you really have to do your research on each service before signing up – I always do an internet search on the service name to see if any angry posts pop up from people who’ve wasted time or money on them. If no one is angry, I feel more confident proceeding
2) Recruitment offices are a reasonable place to start your search for work-from-home opportunities. If you’re skilled for simple clerical, data entry, assembly or accounting, you may find the flexible opportunity you’re looking for through them without having to worry about the scammers. One great one for marketers is http://www.marketersondemand.com/.
3) Professional opportunities from home are few and far between unless you have an already established network to offer your services to and have the opportunity to network for more. Websites like http://www.linkedin.com/ can help you find out where some of your former colleagues are now working. There are also lots of networking groups popping up. A few I’ve found through my fabulous stay-at-home friend on the west coast (see http://tjrramblings.blogspot.com/ ) include:
http://www.momcafe.net/Home
http://www.themomoirproject.com/?p=382
http://theleagueofkickassbusinesspeople.ning.com/
Thursday, June 18, 2009
3+3 = faulty math
Home Daycare. It all seemed ideal (yes – I begin all of my schemes with naïve optimism). My two bigger kids are in school at least part of the day, my toddler invites EVERYONE he meets to play with him, our new overlarge home has a really great playroom and quiet spare room for toddler-sized nappers…next plan to fix finances found, right?
So I relaxed, planned an action-packed summer with my kids and some preparations in the house for the toddler invasion the following school year. Then the playdate that changed everything happened.
A friend of my eldest came with her little brother and mom x 3-to-be. The 5 kids all got along beautifully. I mentioned my plan to the mom and she mentioned back that she was looking for exactly what I was offering…well almost. She would need care before and after school for her eldest (same age and class at school as my eldest), care for her toddler (3 months older than my youngest) and starting early fall, care for her soon to be born 2 days a week.
It wasn’t exactly what I had planned, but how lucky was that? I wouldn’t have to advertise and the kids all seemed to really like each other. Of course I jumped at the chance. It was perfect!
Fast forward one week when their nanny for the summer resigned and they needed my help immediately with their toddler and eldest 1-2 days a week over the summer. Not wanting to mess with the perfect plan for the fall, I said yes. Had I done the math, I might have realized that this really was a lot of work for less than the originally planned financial gain though. Also, my action-packed summer plans with my 3 not-in-school kids + 1 toddler and occasionally an extra 7 year old more was not a simple adjustment in plan.
Fast forward again to mid-fall when I had expected to have my 3 kids + their 3 kids and I didn’t get their 3rd until mid-winter. Perfect was not so perfect anymore.
If it had just been a financial blip, we might have eventually recovered. It did cause a dip in my enthusiasm though. The bigger dip came from something I hadn’t anticipated happening along the way - a complete MELTDOWN of EPIC proportions from my middle child.
She loved playing with the littler kids and helping take care of them (she’s such a little momma) and initially she also worshipped her new big girl friend. The drama to come began slowly…an extra tantrum here, running upstairs in a huff there. It escalated to scary territory though when she decided to try running away leaving me with 5 kids and no safe way to run after her (she made it to the corner when a neighbor managed to catch her for me – then we all cried). The pressure of always sharing her toys, time, attention and space with her new big girl friend 2 days a week every week did her in. I’m not sure who suffered the most. Her older brother became man-like and hid in his room to avoid the drama and her little brother permanently attached himself to me.
So, just under a year after starting down this path, I realized this was a far from perfect plan. It was ideal. I gave the 3’s family notice and time to find someone new and prayed for a nanny to appear for them quickly. When it was over, none of us looked back. Drama ended and I set my sights on a new plan.
A few things I learned that may or may not be helpful:
1) Average charge for home daycare in Toronto is $40-50/day
2) To make it work I needed space for 2 additional toddlers in my wagon (or stroller), assigned sleeping area for each child, and a big enough indoor and outdoor area for everyone to play
3) Home daycares typically provide food, but not diapers and wipes
4) 2 days a week x 2 toddlers (average $640/month) was a nice addition to our bank account without impacting my ability to maintain our home and support for my own children. Conversely 1 toddler x 2 days a week + 1 big kid before and after school ($5/hour was the going rate in our area) averaged $360/month. Doing the math and sticking with the plan that works for your family is a major contributor to success
5) Love the kids you look after, but never put their needs ahead of your own kids (I tried not to do this, but it did happen occasionally and always resulted in torment for me)
So I relaxed, planned an action-packed summer with my kids and some preparations in the house for the toddler invasion the following school year. Then the playdate that changed everything happened.
A friend of my eldest came with her little brother and mom x 3-to-be. The 5 kids all got along beautifully. I mentioned my plan to the mom and she mentioned back that she was looking for exactly what I was offering…well almost. She would need care before and after school for her eldest (same age and class at school as my eldest), care for her toddler (3 months older than my youngest) and starting early fall, care for her soon to be born 2 days a week.
It wasn’t exactly what I had planned, but how lucky was that? I wouldn’t have to advertise and the kids all seemed to really like each other. Of course I jumped at the chance. It was perfect!
Fast forward one week when their nanny for the summer resigned and they needed my help immediately with their toddler and eldest 1-2 days a week over the summer. Not wanting to mess with the perfect plan for the fall, I said yes. Had I done the math, I might have realized that this really was a lot of work for less than the originally planned financial gain though. Also, my action-packed summer plans with my 3 not-in-school kids + 1 toddler and occasionally an extra 7 year old more was not a simple adjustment in plan.
Fast forward again to mid-fall when I had expected to have my 3 kids + their 3 kids and I didn’t get their 3rd until mid-winter. Perfect was not so perfect anymore.
If it had just been a financial blip, we might have eventually recovered. It did cause a dip in my enthusiasm though. The bigger dip came from something I hadn’t anticipated happening along the way - a complete MELTDOWN of EPIC proportions from my middle child.
She loved playing with the littler kids and helping take care of them (she’s such a little momma) and initially she also worshipped her new big girl friend. The drama to come began slowly…an extra tantrum here, running upstairs in a huff there. It escalated to scary territory though when she decided to try running away leaving me with 5 kids and no safe way to run after her (she made it to the corner when a neighbor managed to catch her for me – then we all cried). The pressure of always sharing her toys, time, attention and space with her new big girl friend 2 days a week every week did her in. I’m not sure who suffered the most. Her older brother became man-like and hid in his room to avoid the drama and her little brother permanently attached himself to me.
So, just under a year after starting down this path, I realized this was a far from perfect plan. It was ideal. I gave the 3’s family notice and time to find someone new and prayed for a nanny to appear for them quickly. When it was over, none of us looked back. Drama ended and I set my sights on a new plan.
A few things I learned that may or may not be helpful:
1) Average charge for home daycare in Toronto is $40-50/day
2) To make it work I needed space for 2 additional toddlers in my wagon (or stroller), assigned sleeping area for each child, and a big enough indoor and outdoor area for everyone to play
3) Home daycares typically provide food, but not diapers and wipes
4) 2 days a week x 2 toddlers (average $640/month) was a nice addition to our bank account without impacting my ability to maintain our home and support for my own children. Conversely 1 toddler x 2 days a week + 1 big kid before and after school ($5/hour was the going rate in our area) averaged $360/month. Doing the math and sticking with the plan that works for your family is a major contributor to success
5) Love the kids you look after, but never put their needs ahead of your own kids (I tried not to do this, but it did happen occasionally and always resulted in torment for me)
Friday, June 12, 2009
"Hola!" - single meets double
Welcome back! Today we’ll be travelling to new countries, exposing our children to new cultures and helping pay the mortgage in this new abode for the mini people (a.k.a. our kids and this new over-large house of ours).
So FUN! We would let out the rooms we have in the bright and sunny basement of our new behemoth of a house to foreign students. We have friends who have done it and managed to put a dent in their financial woes. Their kids loved their new friends from abroad and the students were all pleasant meal-time conversationalists. FUN!
We interrogated our friends first to learn how to get started. They were very helpful (see “getting started” list below). There are loads of ESL schools on-line, so it was easy to figure out who to call/email or fill out the on-line form for offering our rooms….problem was we’d missed one important detail – TIMING.
As it turns out, the schools only add new people to their roster in early Spring (because the largest influx of students are over the summer months) and we’d missed the deadline. Sigh. Our first “get debt free” plan was off to a less than ideal start.
So, it took a couple of months longer than we’d hoped, but a lovely man from Mexico eventually did move in. My kids loved him on sight (big sigh of relief). When he moved in they entertained him with impromptu cooking shows and the occasional tea party and he regaled them with tales about life in Mexico.
The kids learned to tiptoe through the room situated directly over his in the early morning so he wouldn’t be disturbed and to never to go in his room. My husband and I tiptoed too and did our best to be perfect parents all the time (with 3 wee kids – easy as pie right?).
Our new friend went back to Mexico after 4 months when we'd just started seeing the rewards of this endeavor. The thought of starting the process again was daunting.
Plus, as much as we liked to have him around most of the time, it was the all-of-the time that got to my husband. Turns out, no matter how nice the person was, my chatty and super-social hubby still didn’t want to have a stranger around when he got home from a long day at work.
I think I was the most disappointed. This was a bit of a detour on our simple “get debt free” plan, but I was game to get creative… next week you can hear about my adventures in babysitting (let’s just say 3+3=a whole lotta kids)
AS PROMISED - GETTING STARTED
If you think having students might work for your family, here are the basic things you need to consider when getting started:
So FUN! We would let out the rooms we have in the bright and sunny basement of our new behemoth of a house to foreign students. We have friends who have done it and managed to put a dent in their financial woes. Their kids loved their new friends from abroad and the students were all pleasant meal-time conversationalists. FUN!
We interrogated our friends first to learn how to get started. They were very helpful (see “getting started” list below). There are loads of ESL schools on-line, so it was easy to figure out who to call/email or fill out the on-line form for offering our rooms….problem was we’d missed one important detail – TIMING.
As it turns out, the schools only add new people to their roster in early Spring (because the largest influx of students are over the summer months) and we’d missed the deadline. Sigh. Our first “get debt free” plan was off to a less than ideal start.
So, it took a couple of months longer than we’d hoped, but a lovely man from Mexico eventually did move in. My kids loved him on sight (big sigh of relief). When he moved in they entertained him with impromptu cooking shows and the occasional tea party and he regaled them with tales about life in Mexico.
The kids learned to tiptoe through the room situated directly over his in the early morning so he wouldn’t be disturbed and to never to go in his room. My husband and I tiptoed too and did our best to be perfect parents all the time (with 3 wee kids – easy as pie right?).
Our new friend went back to Mexico after 4 months when we'd just started seeing the rewards of this endeavor. The thought of starting the process again was daunting.
Plus, as much as we liked to have him around most of the time, it was the all-of-the time that got to my husband. Turns out, no matter how nice the person was, my chatty and super-social hubby still didn’t want to have a stranger around when he got home from a long day at work.
I think I was the most disappointed. This was a bit of a detour on our simple “get debt free” plan, but I was game to get creative… next week you can hear about my adventures in babysitting (let’s just say 3+3=a whole lotta kids)
AS PROMISED - GETTING STARTED
If you think having students might work for your family, here are the basic things you need to consider when getting started:
- Talk through the impact this will have on each of your family members. You will need to consider how comfortable everyone is with having a female or male student (you can specify), the impact on each persons privacy (you will need to spend time each day talking with the student to help them improve their English), impact to meal planning (you can provide 2 meals a day or none, but if you don’t provide meals they need to be able to use your kitchen), impact to laundry facility access, etc.
- Put together a list of ESL schools in your area or a local website where you can advertise yourself as a Homestay provider. The internet and yellow pages will have a listing
- Ensure you have a clean room with a bed, storage for student clothing, lamp and desk with access to laundry and cooking facilities as well. Most schools want these to be already in place when you call as they will want to book a time to come out and inspect the premises as soon as possible.
- Confirm that there is transportation available for the student to be able to get to and from school
- Time your request to the ESL schools for early spring to have the best opportunity to fill your rooms in the coming months (for the schools summer is a busy time and the already existing homes aren’t enough to meet demand). If you aren’t able to meet this timeline, you may have better success with the Homestay websites where you can advertise your availability to students
- Be patient. It may still take a little while for your home to be needed. The students will also come and go. The length of a students stay can be anywhere from a couple of weeks to years (very rare).
- Put together a list of ESL schools in your area or a local website where you can advertise yourself as a Homestay provider. The internet and yellow pages will have a listing
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