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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Okay, well, for the rest of us [i]who are not academics or self employed and have generous leave benefits AND get our kids into a good charter school[/i], housing and child care are expensive.

BTW, we also are at a charter school and live in a cheap house, and know a few people like you. They're the ones who are always begging for an invite to our pool (which costs me $$ every time) and bringing extra kids to our birthday parties. So, yeah, I can see how that saves you money on entertainment.[/quote]
Who does no gifts anymore?  Once kids hit 3 it's a big debacle b/c some parents always bring gifts regardless and kids and parents who don't are embarrassed. Granted gifts are small, but things add up.

But PP hustles to make sure someone is around for kids, though I guess they are generally working in parallel, and has cheap housing afforded by charter (note she said it was an unpopular charter, and this shows another approach: assume your parental influence will overcome going to a struggling school and is get affordable housing).

One nit, aren't DC pools free for residents? Why would they want to free load off yours?[/quote]

DC pools are free, yes, but they are overcrowded and some can be very rough. Our community pool is super relaxed and you can grill and drink beer. We spend a ton of time at the pool each summer and the kids adore it. Too expensive for PP, though, since it runs us about $600 per season. Plus all the guest fees.  :mrgreen: [/quote]

I've been invited to your pool many times, but really have no interest in going to PG pool.  We're too busy in the summer to go to the pool often anyway, and if we do it's much more convenient to go to the DPR pool a couple of blocks from our house.

Also, no "hussling" for childcare -- we have it covered and it's easy.  And, who does no gift parties?  Pretty much everyone.  So far this year we've had only one party that was not specifically "no gifts" and I didn't see a single gift at any of the others.  Personally we have too much crap anyway (go to Goodwill about 6 x a year to off load stuff and still have a basement full of toys and other kid paraphernalia).  People are doing me a favor when they don't bring gifts.[/quote]

You had some good ideas in your original post, but now you just come off as insufferable.

[/quote]

Why? Because I'm not interested in your pool? It's nothing personal. Aside from everything else I'm not a big fan of laying by the pool, especially during a DC summer. But I do think it's funny that I'm first lauded for being one of those people who is "always trying" to get invited to your pool and then am "insufferable" because I have no interest in going.[/quote]

I was the PP but it's my first post on the thread. I don't belong to whatever pool you are talking about. I get the whole downscaled life -- I grew up that way in the 70s, and my mom was SAHM and there was never much money. Still, all our home birthday parties had gifts, we had our own swimming pool (this was Florida) and we went to Disney every year.

Most people can't just slide their schedules around the school days -- bosses don't allow that. I don't know how you didn't pay for any care when your child was an infant -- you seemed to have skipped over that part. Most people don't find jobs within 10 minutes of their home. So many things you toss off as "easy" aren't easy at all.

[/quote]

I have addressed what we did with our kids as infants.  Many bosses do allow fleXible working hours.[/quote]

You said your husband did most of the childcare when they were little, because he is self-employed. You also said you had childcare at your job (free?). While these options are not completely uncommon, it is not the norm in this area to have that level of flexibility.

I agree with some of your philosophy, but you've lost my interest because of your crap attitude. You feel superior to others because you've made different financial decisions, but it sounds to me like you're just making the best out of your mediocre salaries and slamming everyone else for being able to afford more.[/quote]

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