The Arguement for Student Loans

So with back to school commercials and sales in full swing, I realize that my start date is coming ever closer. So much for burying my head in the sand.

I went down to the employment office as I had heard that if you were on EI(which I am for mat leave) that you can extend your claim and/or they might provide financial assistance for tuition. Well I'm on the wrong kind of EI so it was a bust. But I did learn that if you apply for Student Aid, even if you don't take the loan, you might qualify for up to $350 a month in government grants if you have a dependent.

Well I don't know if I have the grants yet because I have to go down to school to find out for some reason, but I learned that I can get a few thousand dollars in loans. Now I have the money in the bank to actually pay for tuition and books, but taking the money would make it possible for me to not have to work part-time while I'm in school. I would basically pay myself the way I had been paid before, covering only the bare essentials, then the second I get a real job, I put anything left(I calculate at least 1/3) will go right back on the loan and I start paying it back right away instead of waiting for the 6 month grace period. I also pay back as much as I can and not the bare minimum.

When we worked out our budget, hubby would be paying for pretty much everything. Daycare, food, all the bills. I would just need to cover my car; the loan, gas and insurance. Sale of our house covered the insurance, paying it til mid June 2012. So it's the loan and gas I have to worry about. To cover it I would have to work every Saturday and Sunday, probably in retail, and probably for minimum wage.

So in addition to being a mom, a wife, a cook, a maid and a full-time student...I'd also get to be part-time employee. Lovely. I know me, it just won't work. School will suffer and I really don't want that. There is no sense in me going back to school if I am not going to apply myself and do well.

I think taking the money is a great idea, my mom thinks taking the money is a great idea, some ladies on an online forum I frequent think it's a great idea....then there is my husband. He thinks it's a terrible idea. He thinks that there is no sense me getting another student loan when I just paid one off. He thinks that he was able to work weekends while going to school so I should be able to as well. I think he is nuts. For starters, we lived literally 25 feet from school. Travel time was non existent. And second, and I think this is the kicker, WE HAD NO BABY! And I know he isn't going to be able to take over caring for the baby 100% when I'm in school. So it's a whole different monster.

Begrudgingly he signed the papers on the spouse line. I'm going down to the office today to hand in my paperwork. If I am going to do this, I'm going to do it right.

Garbage Day

Today was garbage day on my street. I take great pride in the fact that I usually have a 2-1 ratio of full recycling bins to garbage cans. Today I had two full bins and one half fun bin to a half full 121L garbage can. I felt pretty darn good. My garbage can consisted of a kitchen garbage bag, a few shopping bags that had some dog poop in them and a green garbage bag that had the contents of the diaper genie, kitchen garbage, bathroom garbage and the cat litter. Really I could have not even put the can out, if I had not already thrown out the first kitchen bag, I could have had just one large garbage bag next to my overflowing recycling bings.

So what is my point to this? There are a few decently sized families next to me. My neighbors next to me are a 5 person family including a teenage and across from me they are also a five person family. How on earth does that mean they can have like 5 bags of garbage and one lonely recycling bin? You can't possibly tell me that there is nothing in those bags that isn't actually recyclable!

A quick check of the city waste collection website shows you just how easy it actually is to recycle. They don't want you to bag or tie anything together. They don't care if the window is still in the envelope of the phone bill, you can still throw it in(something I didn't know until very recently so that's even more that I am able to recycle now) and you don't even have to sort everything. It all goes into one bin that can be bought for $5 at numerous places in town. They also don't have restrictions on what types of plastic they can take. Just as long as it has the little triangle symbol on it, not matter what number is in the centre, they want it.

So with what seem to be as very lax and easy to follow "rules" of recycling, it's unfathomable to me that people can produce an entire bag of garbage in just one week.

So why am I just noticing this now. Where we lived before, we had autobins in our backlane so nobody really knew who was throwing out how much. Actually being able to see on the front street in front of each individual house how much garbage actually gets produced? Eye opening.

So please, check out your city's waste website and find out what you can and cannot put in your blue box.

Just When You Think it's All Said and Done

It's so not. The house saga continues. I got two nasty letters from our hydro company today. First one says it's due on the 16th of August. Ok it's our final bill, but it's far more than it should be. Our lawyer paid it out. I have proof in my email account. Then I got a bill saying it's due on the 22nd of August and that it's past due. WTF! I got them on the same damn day for starters. The first due date isn't even here yet and oh ya, IT'S BEEN ALMOST PAID IN FULL! I only owe a few dollars. ARG!

I'm currently waiting for a supervisor to call me back. This is beyond ridiculous.

Party Planning Redux

I know it's early, but I'm really getting into planning my baby bunny's first birthday party. Invites are ordered and I'm just waiting on the final draft to be emailed to me for my approval and her birthday banner is on the way. I've planned out the fairly simple menu and even bought the hot dog buns today because I got a fantastic deal on them and they can live in the freezer. Her birthday dress is hanging in her closet and I made some practise cupcakes yesterday whilst waiting for hubby to finish my brakes.

I feel fairly prepared, but still feel like there is so much to do. I found a website that offers a tutorial at making poms which I am going to make into bunny tails. Hubby thinks I'm nuts, but oh well.You only turn one once, and I want this to be a very special day. But I think he has accepted that a lot of what I've done over the past 10.5 months was done for me. Just because she won't remember, I still will.

Brake Chase Redux

I'm still carless. The store gave me the wrong rear brakes and hubby couldn't put the old ones back on because they were rusted on and had to break them to get them off. Hubby has yet to call me to tell me that he has new ones and it's fixed. That worries me.


I'm rather annoyed. I had things to do today. Sure I could walk, but it's 40+ with the humidity. Sure I could take the bus, but it's a holiday today and they only come once an hour...and really who wants to drag bags of groceries on the bus? So I'm stuck.

So I'm doing some online shopping for my little girl's first birthday. At least it's not a total loss.