My kids play club soccer (U16 and U14). Their current club is reasonable -- it's about $400 total for the full year (fall season, winter season, spring season). My oldest is looking at new (more serious) clubs and they run closer to $2000-3000 for the season, which seems like WAAAAAYYY too much. They both need a new pair of cleats every year, which run about $100-150.
The 2-3k range is what it is here in FL for a 10 month season. That may or may not include tournament fees, depending on your club. And the uniforms are quite expensive also and can add on many many hundreds. So many hidden costs, which don’t even touch on your travel costs.
The hidden costs of kid activities is what really gets me.
My 8 year old does wrestling and it's about $140/month.
Regular season (folkstyle) is August - February and costs $900.
Off season (freestyle/greco Roman) is March-May and costs $400.
He attends about 6 meets per season and those cost about $20 to compete + $10 for a parent to attend so about $360 in competition fees.
ETA - if he goes to any non local meets then that's more $ for a hotel/travel food. We haven't done that yet but will see what his coaches want him to do next year. This also doesn't include privates/semi privates over the summer but I haven't decided if we are doing that.
I will second the pp who mentioned exparel. I think that really helped! I had an AM surgery and stayed for 16 hours post op (my surgery took 8 hours). Well worth the cost IMO !
I had a TT with muscle repair, flank lipo and breast reduction. Here is what I've told others about my recovery process:
1 week of absolute complete care. 2nd week you can start to care for yourself but not kids. 3rd week you be a contributing member of the house but still need to sit and rest A LOT 5th week - could stand fully straight and could watch the kids for like 2 hours at a time max and then I needed a good rest. 6th week - could resume housework
I had a 7yo, 5yo and 1yo at the time of surgery. We hired a nanny for a month since it was over the summer.
For some reason I expected MOTN levels of dark so when it was lighter than I expected I was a little disappointed but combined with the temp drop it was a really cool experience.
The kids had eclipse parties at school and we have video of them running around/shouting during totality. Definitely a core memory!
As amazing as it was I still don't think I would have driven hours to see it.
We will experience totality and the whole city is freaking out. They are recommending people treat it like an inclement weather day....Except schools are in session....
Big guys will go to school since they have a whole fun day planned but I'm keeping DS3 home.
We got Penny at 4 months old and it took a couple of months for her to be fully house trained. Even then she still peed a little (if she got excited) for another year.
I had done traditional talk therapy for 5 years before and while that helped, EMDR changed my life . The sessions were exhausting so I just planned quiet time for the afternoon after a session and made sure I didn't have to do anything (like chores, kid pick up, make dinner, etc).
I have it but its part of my autoimmune arthritis diagnosis. I have noticed that since I started new medication it has been a lot better most days unless I've overdone it.
We are staying at The Lodge at The Presidio for a wedding in October. It's $$$ but we can get 1 room for all 5 of us & can walk everywhere we need to go. It includes breakfast too.
Following this because we are debating if there is anything we want to see besides Golden Gate Bridge (we can see it from the hotel), things in The Presidio & Muir Woods Monument.
I didn’t use anything, but mine was laparoscopic morcellation in a bag and she did it through my belly button and along the abdominal scar line from my mastectomy reconstruction.
It's for my friend and she will likely have a scar similar to a c-section scar due to the size and amount of her fibroids.
I have a similar scar from my diastasi repair. If she hasn't rented or bought one, a power lift recliner was a life saver for me. I slept in that thing for months! This was 2020 but I bought it for $300 on Amazon.
A grabber stick and zip up nightgowns are similarly helpful smaller items.
I saw a med student post a chipotle hack where they got a bowl with no rice and extra free toppings . Then they split the bowl into 3 servings and added their own rice. Idk why I never thought of that!
We have done French fry Friday for years and at this point it's $15 for a few large fries and small sodas from fast food places ! It used to be a $5 treat only 5 years ago ....
We've almost completely cut out fast food because of the price. I have started keeping the "fancy" frozen pizzas in the freezer for nights we don't have time/desire to cook because, at $8, it is still way cheaper than getting 2-3 meals at a drive thru.
We are planning a road trip though the western US this summer and paying for that with a Canadian budget which is $$$. I am already planning all of the shelf stable snacks I can pack plus taking a cooler for the portion we're in Yellowstone with limited food options. There are a few restaurants we are planning nice meals at along the way, but a lot of this trip will be old school pb&j while sitting on the back bumper of the car.
FYI the loves app is good for discounts on food/drinks/gas (it's a US truck stop if you didn't know).
We have done French fry Friday for years and at this point it's $15 for a few large fries and small sodas from fast food places ! It used to be a $5 treat only 5 years ago ....
Thank you. She is extremely fortunate in that she has stage 1A, which almost never happens with pancreatic. She has 6 months of chemo starting in April. It’s a brutal disease.
It is incredible they caught it that early! I'm not going to say she's lucky but that's a good break to catch with the hand she's been dealt.
Right namasteak, but wasn’t Kate’s surgery months ago? Even for people that need six-eight weeks of recovery to feel relatively normal again, there’d have to be some major complications for her still to be out of the public eye following a tummy tuck.
That's why I think they are hiding something!
I had a major gap (10cm) so I was still wearing binders at that point but even if Kate was that easily could have been hidden with a coat.
That said, I definitely was not up for anything longer than an hour or extended walking at 2 months. It was worth it but a really rough recovery.
A tummy tuck with muscle repair can take several months to recover, and more if there are complications. I'm just assuming she's recovering from a medical procedure. Which is what they said. Guess I'm not a very good conspiracy theorist.
Except that's not something where you are hospitalized after for 2 weeks, it's generally outpatient.
If I had the means to stay inpatient for a couple of weeks after my muscle repair/tummy tuck/breast reduction I 100% would have done that so a 2 week stay for a wealthy person doesn't shock me. So then I remembered how I couldn't stand straight for about a month and maybe that's why we haven't seen her but we are long past that now too....
Team "the firm is hiding something" and letting Kate take the fall over here.
Spring break starts tomorrow and I have no plans for the kids. We were going to FL to see family but my aunt needs surgery so that got cancelled. I've got medieval times and a trip to the ren faire but need to come up with some other ideas so it's not 9 days of screens 😂
We have used cozi for years and about 6 months ago got a skylight to use as well. I love that everyone is color coded which makes it easier for the kids to manage their schedules and the chore list function.
We haven't seen it yet since the kids are meh about the commercials. Our Targets have had a bunch of wish merchandise on clearance for awhile so I think it's not doing as well as they expected.
I'm glad you got answers and hope that helps. I was diagnosed with fibromyalgia until I finally got an MRI that showed I needed a spinal fusion and that was the reason for my numbness and pain
So glad you have answers too! I know MRIs are expensive but I'm surprised drs don't offer them more often because they really do help diagnosis things!
namasteak , I can't remember the exact name, but I believe I have some sort of spinal issue which causes chronic back pain (lower back & hips). A chiropractor diagnosed it (I went to a chiro as I was having chronic back pain in my 20s), and he refers to it as "spondy." Usually it's not too bad, but some movements/activities cause me to have pain/discomfort. I go to a chiro once a month now for adjustments/maintenance.
Spondtkoisthesis?
What I have is an autoimmune disease - basically my immune system attacks the spine causing inflammation & is a degenerative joint disease.
I will talk to my rheumatologist about a chiro though - I saw one during all my pregnancies and she was very helpful!