I know that quite a few of you have those sweet little munchkins running around. Mine are six and four. I also know that you’re all pretty conscious about the environment, because you’re smart people. It’s not a stretch then to assume that you might be interested in saving for college while helping the environment! I can’t promise to send your child to Harvard or close the hole in the ozone above Australia
Check out this website: http://www.savingforcollege.com/
Specifically, put your child’s age in the middle calculator and follow along. Chances are you’ve already done this at some point and know that college is going to cost you $200K +, per child, gulp!! It’s also likely that you have some kind of saving account, 529 program, or are planning a deep sea diving trip with the in-laws in 14 years J. Regardless of how you’re going to get there we’re talking about saving five to six hundred dollars a month, for 12-14 years, with an annual return of 7ish%, assuming tuition doesn’t raise more than six percent annually. That’s a lot of money, especially if you have to double or triple it.
If you know me then you know I love hanging out with my kids, care a lot about the environment, and try to be smart with our money. You also know that education is important to me, whether that’s gained through life’s experience or school. We can talk about that life experience stuff another time, but right know I’m pretty sure I have to come up with $373,864.00 in the next 12-14 years for the later.
I could approach this in lots of different ways and I’m not assuming my way of paying for my kids’ college is the right way. It’s just the way I want to do it. Feel free to have your children work their way through college, sell 1,869,320 cups of lemonade in the next decade @ .20 cents a pop, or any combination of anything else on that continuum. Bottom line is, you probably want them to have a college education or you would have stop reading after the first paragraph.
It’s possible that I have put a plan together that will enable my family and I to spend some quality time together, teach my kids some important life lesson’s, and da da daaaaa, help pay for college J, while, get this, all four of us lower our carbon footprint.
Here’s the plan. We are going to think about how our money is being spent. Cut out some items we can do without while switching some items we enjoy. Start a couple of new projects and do some activities together. All while we sit back and watch our college portfolio grow. I’m also telling my kids that they are in charge of this, with a disclaimer that mum and I will be gracious enough to help them out with the paperwork (alright, so that last part was my way of being held accountable while making sure that they don’t run off to Amsterdam after high school graduation…… although?? Na, I digressed).
The following list is made up of things that we have already done (I say we but if I were completely honest it’s actually me, given my wife is incredibly frugal anyway), or we are planning to do. It’s not a comprehensive list but it show’s how a few good life style changes, coupled with a few sacrifices can teach the young men and women in our lives some of those fundamental lessons and get us what we need / want.
Category | Used to Cost | Monthly Saving’s / money made | Yearly savings |
Items to do without! | |||
* Making coffee at home or drinking work coffee | $2.00 per day | $50.00 | $600.00 |
*Stop Smoking | $4.50 per day | $135.00 | $1629.00 |
*Taking lunch to work 4 times a week | $9.00 per day | $200.00 (still have to buy me sanrnie mate! J | $2400.00 |
*Take out or eat out less (down to twice a week vs. 4) make 3 pots of stew and freeze 2 etc. | 4 days @ $30.00 av. | $240.00 | $2880.00 |
*Get rid of land phone line | $60.00 | $720.00 | |
*Drop thermo 2/3 degrees up or down | Approx 10% off your bill | $170.00 | |
Buy store brand products | $300.00 | ||
Family Cinema Night vs. movie theatre | $60.00 per month | $50.00 | $600.00 (still need a treat now and again) |
New family Activities! | |||
*Build a vegetable / herb garden | $200.00 | $100.00 | $1200.00 (could be more if you get fancy with Bell peppers etc..) |
*Collect pop cans from house, local businesses or the ditch. Yep, with the kids | Make $10.00 at the recycle depot per bag | $120.00 | |
Coupon cutting hour – coupon book | Save 10% on grocery bill - $65.00 | $780.00 | |
*3 yard sales a year (kids love um) | $600.00 | ||
*Go to yard sales / second hand cloth stores | $40.00 | $480.00 | |
*Build a compost | $60.00 | ||
*buy recycled paper for your printer and fill up your own printer ink | $60.00 | $420.00 | |
Smart Financial Moves! | |||
Bimonthly Mortgage payment | 1000’s in interest | ||
Bimonthly Car payment | 100’s in interest | ||
Up your Insurance deductibles | $300 / $400 | ||
No fee banking, higher interest | $200 / $300 | ||
Have 3-4 credit cards with no balance. Use them 2-3 times a year and pay them off straight away. | Your credit score will be great saving % points on the last 4 items = $1000’s saved |
*Denotes action will help your carbon footprint
Excluding the last section “smart financial moves” these simple things have saved / earned us nearly $13,000.00 a year. Is this enough though?
Here are my assumptions / input data for my kids going to college.
Child 1 – 12 years until college - $8000.00 in account - $176,052.00 needed assuming 6% annual increase of tuition, 7% return on investment, assuming $20,000 per year is the current price of school = $540.00 per month for 12 years
Child 2 – 14 years until college - $5000.00 in account - $197,812.00 needed assuming 6% annual increase of tuition, 7% return on investment, assuming $20,000 per year is the current price of school = $517.00 per month for 14 years
Or: $1057.00 per month needed 12+ years
Saving $13k: $1083.00 per month
I’m $23.00 in the black. Hot Dog!! I haven't spent one single extra dime.
It’s a natural reaction to assume that we need to earn more money to reach some of our life dreams. Perhaps though, it's not about the money, and sometimes we should just do things because it's the right thing to do. In reality all we need to do is change our priorities and truely understand what is important to us. There is nothing I have given up in “my” list that I really need or can’t do, yet the benefits are enormous. I challenge you to find your own list for your own reasons.
Time to Chug!!
