soooo....since Ale couldn't find her colored pencils,the next case was to come out of her piggy bank...first she asked: can I take out just $1?....sure! we'll see which kind of colors you can buy with that...first she went straight to the nicer cases: $4... $3.60....ok, to the cheaper ones...$1.71.... $1.41.... $1.27 ....OK! a case for $0.99...How much will I have left? $0.01....hmmmm...just one cent??...can we find other ones??....ok, we found a case of 12/24 (12 pencils/24 colors) for $0.85 (on sale)...those ones, Mommy!....

and, yesterday morning she must have still been thinking about this because she asked: Mommy, who will buy the next case of colored pencils??...so I said to her: It depends. If these are all used up, then I have to buy them, because that is my responsibility as a parent, to provide you with the stuff you need to study, but, if you lose them, then YOU will be paying for them, because it's your responsibility to take care of the stuff that I give you....

so, I guess taking the $0.85 out of her piggy bank (she put back the change!) REALLY hurt!

so...Ale has managed to lose 2 cases of colored pencils since January 8th...when she lost the first one (Staed.ler ones!), I bought her the shortest, cheaper ones I could find...((you should have seen her face!)) ...I told her she couldn't have "nice ones" until she learned to take care of her things...I also warned her that these would be counted EVERY day...she just called me and said that her new pencils (bought last week!) had been "thrown into the garbage"...she said "the cleaning people at school threw them away"...she also said she spoke to the teacher about it...now, it is obvious to me that if the people from cleaning threw them away, they must have been on the floor or something...anyway, this weekend I'm making Ale take out money from HER piggy bank to buy new colored-pencils for school...she just HAS to learn to take better care of her things!

there was an article on school lunch boxes (or, rather, what's in them!) in the newspaper...mentioning how a lot of kids end up getting only junk food, and outlining what a nutritious snack/lunch box should be packed...they even gave a Mon-Fri example, which looked quite yummy!...I'm happy to see that the stuff I pack in Ale's is considered nutritious, perhaps a bit on the "lean" side...but, then, Ale is not a big eater, so packing more would mean waste!...today, she had some low-fat yogurt and raisins, some fruit nectar (which costs less than the sugar + coloring beverages!) and a bag of pop-corn (to share with friends. I buy her 3 bags every two weeks, so it's not a daily thing)...these were her snacks...her lunch was chicken, rice and veggies....She also takes a half-liter bottle of water every day (which she refills at school)...so, eventhough she doesn't eat much, at least what she eats is well-balanced...and, now that she's only getting $1/week to spend, she really cannot buy too much junk food with that (and, I'm happy to say, she generally picks either fruit juice, potato chips and/or brownies...rather than, say, soda, cheese puffs or candy!)

things I paid:
1 month's rent (I was behind with my payments)
personal loan
cc
nanny's Xmas bonus! (well, I haven't paid THAT yet, but I will tonight!)

We still haven't collected all the toy money, from that I will pay:

cc
Ale's bed
Xmas dinner

From the translation:
new tires for the car
infamous phone bill ($150)

From the toy supply sale:
cc
Ale's school
car maintenance (brakes and shockabsorbers)

Payment due from cousin (!)
infamous phone bill
cc
Ale's school
additional bedding set for Ale's bed

Hopefully, everything will go according to plan!

She asked me last week if she could join the "Art club" at school...I told her to find out: 1. when they meet, 2. what time they're done and 3. how much it costs....she did!...they meet on Mondays, from 3-4pm (right after school ends) and it costs $20/month....
So...I told her if she REALLY wants to join, then we would have to give up going out to "places that cost money" on the weekends...she started crying and said: but, Mom, I want the art classes AND going out to places...so, we finally reached an agreement...we will still go out, but will minimize our spending (a specific example: if we go to the movies, we WON'T buy popcorn, soda and/or candy anymore!, and we will always go to the matinee, which is cheaper)....she also agreed to having her weekly allowance reduced from $2 to $1... This will free me $5-$7/month from the enterntainment budget, and $3-$5 from the allowance budget, so I still have to find $8-$12....

I guess she REALLY wants to join the Art Club!....I need to contact the school secretary tomorrow to verify Ale's info, though!

Got paid another $100! woo-hoo!...
sadly, this will not go towards debt, but rather into Ale's school...foolish spending + unexpected expenses (going to the all-inclusive place + changing the lock to our main entrance!) really took a toll! ...oh, well, the "old me" would have charged it! (or, even worse, taken a cash advance from the cc to pay for the school! )

the nanny washed Ale's white tennis shoes yesterday, and set them to dry on top of one of the beams in the laundry room...Needless to say, today I almost went crazy looking for the shoes (she is not allowed to come to school unless in "full" uniform, these are the only white tennis shoes she has...so, it was either find the shoes or stay home for her!)...I turned the house upside down and, in the process, saw A LOT of opportunity for decluttering - a bunch of size 11 and 12 shoes, for example, when Ale is already wearing shoes 2 sizes bigger than that!....so, this coming weekend (long weekend due Independence day!) Ale and I are going to try to declutter the house a bit!

(oh, and the shoes were still WET! I had to put them in the OVEN!!! -- we don't have a dryer...)

...it's September, this month we commemorate our independence from Spain (Central America on the 15th, Mexico on the 16th)...so, today, the K4, K5 and Prepa students are having a "typical breakfast" at school...I was asked to bring fried platains (thank God! this is inexpensive!...12 platains/ $1!)...other parents are bringing other stuff...AND, on Monday, they are having their Independence pageant, so Ale has to wear a traditional costume (either volcaneña - more colorful, less expensive if done in shiny fabric than if done in "manta"... or Izalqueña - I like this one better, seems more "traditional"...the other one really is from after the "Conquistadores" ...but, it's waaay more expensive...so volcaneña, I guess...) Her old one no longer fits!...so I need to buy her one and the leather sandals, too...these get worn 2x a year in ES, as you also wear them also for Oct 12 (which is Dia de la Raza in Latin America, as opposed to Columbus Day! ...and, yes, we get protests, too!)...oh, and on December 12 if you are a Catholic, in commemoration of the appearance of the Virgin Mary of Guadalupe to Saint Juan Diego (he was sainted last year!)...this is part of the Salvadoran school reality: you HAVE to have a traditional costume!...I got lucky the first few years, as a friend from work gave us some of her daughter's (who was 2 years older than Ale...) but, we have since lost contact...and we don't have my niece's from so far back (only from about 2 years ago...we are saving those!)...
so, off to the market I go!

LOL! she forgot her money today!...for about 2 seconds I considered loaning her the $0.30 from my money, but, then I decided that wouldn't be right. If she fortgets her money at home, she has to make do without...it won't kill her (she has a lunch box and enough food, anyway) and, next time, I bet she will remember! -- I already told her the $0.30 will go to her piggy bank this afternoon!

I asked the receptionist at work whether I could pay the Technokids fee for the whole year ($54 total) and, she told me that this year, eventhough they are going to have the sessions, this year the price has already been included in the monthly fees! YAY!!... another $54 saved!!

today was Ale's first day of school...I dropped her off half an hour early (LOL!, we weren't sure how long it was going to take to get to the school at that time!)...she was nervous, but seemed positive about the whole thing...
her cousin Clau "ironed" her hair flat yesterday night (Ale's hair is curly!) and helped her choose her First Day of School Clothes (they are allowed to wear "normal" clothes today and tomorrow, they have to wear their uniforms as of Monday)...I gave her $1 (since this week only has 2 school days, it seemed logical not to give her $2)...

Oh, and, I spoke to the lady with the transport service yesterday night, she likes to receive her money between the 1st and the 3rd of the month, so, I only have to pay for 15 days on Monday and, pay for Sept at the beginning of the month...Also, she found another little girl with the same route, so instead of $40, she'll charge me $30...that's a "savings" of $10 a month!!

I'll let you know what she thought of her first day!

************ UPDATE
she enjoyed it and, I met her Spanish teacher (they have a Spanish and an English teacher, I had met the English teacher when she went for testing)...she told me Ale is extraordinarily well adjusted, has already made friends (all the while we were talking, Ale was hugging her, so I guess they like each other already!)...the kids were asked to draw a picture of their family... Ale is just as tall as the rest of us in the picture, so I imagine that means her self-esteem is good...

On more mundane issues, she spent $0.70 on a brownie and an apple juice (good choice of beverage!)...so she's got $0.30 left for tomorrow! ...I'm happy, she didn't lose the money!!

Here it is! The plastic wrap ....

...and my masterpiece: the bound notebook! :P

#1. My boss sent the chart for our loan, and he is not asking 12%, since he considers me low risk, he's only asking for 5% annual interest! woo-hoo!

#2. My niece's aunt (whom I know and trust) has a school transport van...she has agreed to take Ale from the new school to her old preschool (to do her homework)...that means that Ale gets the help she needs and, I get the peace of mind that she's with someone I KNOW will deliver her unharmed! (of course, this is what she does for a living, so I have to pay for it, but, I would have had to pay for SOMEONE else, too...only with her, I know Ale is safe!)

Ale's school stuff, that is...I really don't understand this...mainly because our school was subsidized, so what we bought was minimal (think pens, pencils and notebooks)...books had a stamp inside where you wrote your name and grade and, where to be bound in clear plastic if new when they were given to you (on loan)...

So, yesterday I stayed up until 11:00pm labeling stuff (didn't finish, though!)...I just have to say: I'm happy we have computers and can print the same label 11,000 in 10 different sizes if needed, without having to type it more than once! (or I'd be even crazier!!)

my goal this week is to finish labeling EVERYTHING and, put everything in its plastic box as required by the school, then put it in the highest tier of my closet where Ale cannot get to it! -- that way I'll be ready for my next challenge: binding books in clear plastic! (books haven't arrived yet...have I mentioned I was so spoiled that my nanny would bind my books/notebooks for me when I was at school??...it's difficult to do it right!...I guess I have to learn now...better late than never!)

Today I received Ale's latest (and last!) progress report from the pre-school...she's doing excellent in math and reading (not only does she read well, she UNDERSTANDS what she reads and, does not forget what she read 2 or 3 lines above!)... the writing is still her weak spot!...so much so that the teacher asked me what grade I had enrolled her at (we had spoken about enrolling Ale in 1st grade), when I told her I had Ale enrolled in Preparatoria (basically repeating the grade she just finished), her face lit up...she said that was exactly what she was going to recommend, because 1st grade would be too tough for Ale at this point...I was happy, too, since it took me a long time to decide that this was the best option for Ale...her performance has been so up and down the last year, that I didn't want to risk having her repeat 1st grade...right now, there is no sense of loss or inability if I make her repeat prepa because she's starting in a new school with new classmates, but, if she had to repeat 1st while her classmates go on...(not that repeating a grade ever killed anyone, but...)...so, Ale "repeats" prepa at the new school (she'll be ahead in some things, but that will free her some time for catching up with others!)...her teacher even told me I could bring Ale to the preschool after school (for free!) to do her homework there, and she will help her! ...this is a wonderful offer and, I'm definetely going to take advantage of it!...Ale is truly a blessed child!

I can send Ale in with her Air France 2006 agenda! The school ok'd it!...so...officially, I'm only missing the books (arriving at the school in the first week of August) and, the labeling of all her stuff!

I feel sooooo liberated!

ok, The List, at retail prices, would be $52.34...at cost, with some items at retail prices would be $43.12 and, "out of pocket" to me is $20.61! (this is estimating the stupid planner at $9.00 for the wholesale/retail lists....a friend just gave me a very nice agenda, so I'm not adding that to "my" total...the plan is to use that, unless the school specifically prohibits it!...if they don't I'd have to add whatever it costs to find/make one!)

Princess Perky,
I found an even easier alternative! I found some very nice hard-bound notebooks which I could have used! (or, will use, if the school doesn't like the agenda idea!)

I can't find one!!!...the "normal" school year here is Jan- Nov....so, most companies don't bother with the few bilingual schools and don't stock up for the middle of the year...
And the school is requesting a school planner ... :0
What is there to do??...I'll keep calling the stores to see what I can find...

Stuff that was pending:

School supplies --nearly done!

sweat pants for gym class (2) - navy blue... found them downtown, $6 each!...very nice quality, too!

Book bag - need to check if the school has restrictions on these (can they have characters or do they need to be solid colors only?...) Size will depend on school supply list!...we also have some left over from the sale...

We're almost done!

I'm missing 5 items, which we didn't have in stock...

All I need is to label everyting!

Will do the numbers once I have everything and, will post about it!

1st price vs shop around

notebook (blank, no lines, 200 pages)
$0.60 vs $0.50

plastic placemat
$1.25 vs 3X $0.99

toothbrush & toothpaste **she has to stay until 3pm and has lunch there**
$3.00 vs $1.94 (buy a children's toothpaste, get the toothbrush free package)

Wetwipes
$1.80/ 80 wipes vs $1.00/ 100 wipes

So far, so good! I've lowered the estimate from $38 to $36!...I've also decided to calculate what it would cost to buy everything retail (based on the prices we gave the parents back in January, which were average market prices...just to see the difference!)

just for the fun of it (and to see how much I'll be saving) I plugged in the numbers of the COST (at cost, wholesale prices) of buying everything on the list... some of the stuff we don't have (those 9 items) I really don't know how much they would be, so I just guessed at normal retail supermarket prices and, the list would be about $38!!...I estimate I will end up paying less than $15 for the items that I DO need to get, but,we'll see...

This will also help me estimate how much I will spend next year (taking into account materials for Preparatoria are usually more expensive than those for 1st grade!)

I'll keep you posted, this is an interesting exercise!

I finally have the school supply list!
Out of 35 items, I need to find 11! (and they are not expensive/difficult to find, either!)
I need a construction (cover) paper and a luster paper booklet...I'm drowing in plies of it, so I'll just have it cut down to Legal size and use fasteners (of which I ALSO have tons!) to make the booklets...that will leave me with a total of 9 items to get...of which at least 4 are Dollar store items! -- woo-hoo!!
I'll post total paid for all these once I have the stuff!

And I had other --more URGENT things to do -- so I couldn't go get mine! ...and they don't have a fax, so they cannot fax it to me...(and, once they told me they don't have a fax, I didn't dare ask if they could e-mail it!)...
That's ok, they are open from 8am through 4pm tomorrow...I'll go at noon, during my lunch hour (it's about 5 minutes away!)...But, I would have LOVED to start working on it today...

Ok, since the DETAILED results are just too embarrassing, I'll just confess to this:

the only categories where I was at or below budget were:
CAR
SCHOOL
CELL PHONE

That leaves me overbudget in
GROCERIES (ALMOST made it!)
ENTERTAINMENT (the trip killed me!!)
LUNCH (no excuse, I just didn't pack enough lunches this month!)
CLOTHES (again, no real excuse, just: the deals at Ross were too good to pass up!)
EVENTS (Ale's b-day distorted this one...my b-day is in July, so we'll see how this goes!)
OTHER (no excuses, just plain stupidity!)

so, for June, the result is 3/9

Hopefully, on 060801, the news to report will be better!

((remember this covers variable expenses only))

for the loan that my boss gave me...he never gave me an amount, but we had spoken of $75-$100, for 12-18 months...but, he said he'd have to make an excel spreadsheet to track it...he never got back to me, so I deposited $75 in his account (I have the numbers for all their accounts, as I gave them to payroll/accounting for deposits of salaries and reimbursements)...I didn't want to risk applying that money to something else and then being left without money to pay HIM!

the people from the coop discounted $65 from my pay again, so now Ale's school fund stands now at $402.11 (they should be discounting $32.50 each pay period!)...well, again, will try to live without it and send them ANOTHER message to try to correct it!...worst-case scenario, I'll have to withdraw $32.50 from that account!...
best-case I won't have to and can pay 3 months in advance at the beginning of the year!!

no school supply list yet...I have all that stuff in stock, so I don't have to worry, but, if I didn't have it, that would mean reduced time to look for good prices on the stuff...which is difficult anyway, as most schools in ES follow a Jan-Oct schedule, so the "good" time of the year to shop is actually Nov-Dec!!...
Maybe they figure if you have enough money to send your kid to a bilingual school you don't care about costs?? (WRONG! I know a lot of people in my same situation....trying to give our children an education that is as close as possible to the one we received on limited income!)

I guess I have to focus on getting those navy sweatpants in the meantime!

it just occurred to me today, as I was having breakfast, that, instead of buying clothes that Ale didn't really NEED, I might have bought 2 more pairs of shoes for school, only 1 size bigger than the ones I got...I'd be covered for school shoes for the whole year!! ...


OH, well, not much I can do about it NOW!

Things I got during the trip to Vegas (Ross' Dress for Less!):
shoes (2 pairs)- 1 black school shoes and 1 white tennis shoes...found white Skechers at $11.99 + tax (12.95) and black Stride Rites at $12.99 + tax ($14.03), so I spent $26.98 -- woohoo!! (original prices were $36 and $42, respectively!!) that leaves $12.16...AND, I found alight sweater - navy, at $10.99 ($11.87 tax included) ....that leaves $0.29 from the money that was given to me...from now on, everything comes out of MY pocket!

Stuff I still need to get:

School supplies (need list, have stuff in stock -leftover from sale last year)

sweat pants for gym class (2) - navy blue... available at many stores, checking prices at the moment

Book bag - need to check if the school has restrictions on these (can they have characters or do they need to be solid colors only?...) Size will depend on school supply list!...we also have some left over from the sale...


Stuff I'd like to get

coin bag - for Ale to bring her allowance to school...might knit THAT one! -- Ale had a wonderful idea...her pink tennis shoes (Converse-look-alikes) had small bags attached to the sides...we took them off because we knew she might lose them, she suggested she might use one of those as a coin purse!!

So...that officially closes the "like to get" list for Ale's school stuff!

******
Forgot to add that I also bought 3 X 3-packs of socks for Ale at $0.99 + tax ($1.07) each, so $3.21 total...$2.92 coming out of MY pocket...so, the total I've personally spent is now $103.42