I was living & working 90 miles from home and knew I would be responsible for the car, not my husband. So I got a little, fat book and started to keep info on my car. I have a section for all expenses, mileage, gas, repairs, maintenance, etc. Each month I would average out the costs over the life of us owning the car. If the maintenace and repairs come to an average of less than $125 a month, I fix it. I could not buy another car for that low a payment. Right now my 2000 Ford Taurus Wagon in costing me an average of about $106 a month. In the next few months I will probably need a new transmission. I will get one because it is averaged out over a 6 year period and would still be less than $125. And the car has 195k miles on it now. I hope to keep it another 4-5 years.

In college, I lived on campus and took the bus or walked 2 miles to downtown. Never hurt me a bit. In fact, I did not learn to drive and get my license until I was 32. Slow learner, huh? But I had grown up in a town that had a good bus system and I had other things to waste my money on.

I solved my kids’ problems with growing up. Sent my daughter 400 miles to college. Close enough to call in an emergency and far enough to have to make most of her own decisions. Also, it was our church college and there were still a few rules she had to adhere to. My son went from high school straight into the Army for 9 years. He was responsible enough that when I lost my job for a year, he sent me $250 a month from his low stipend until I got a job.

We did buy our daughter a used car ($500 cost) when she moved south. She was working 2 full time jobs and still not able to take care of everything and afford to buy a car. I’ve never regretted that decision.

Like Trent said, try making some WordPress templates if you’ve got the talent. Sites like themeforest.net will pay put a price on your templates (usually $20-40) and you get a percentage of each purchase. The more purchases you get, the higher percentage you get to take home.

There are plenty of template sites out there. Woothemes is another one. If you’ve got the ability to make templates that can be used in a variety of ways while also filling a niche, you can really rake in some cash.

Some of my articles might be helpful to you. In particular, this one should help you find work:

Hart, G. 2006. Finding work in tough times.

As a Web designer, You should also be taking advantage of social media:

Hart, G. 2011. Taking advantage of social media. Part I: the media are the message.

Hart, G. 2011. Taking Advantage of Social Media. Part II: The Media Aren’t the Message.

You’ll still have to do a lot of work yourself, but these ideas should point you in the right direction. There’s other useful stuff on my site, but these point directly at your problem.

Rather than worrying about this specific factor, I think parents should simply plan to help their kids in some limited fashion and leave the rest to their kids.

I chose to buy a car because I chose not to live on or close to campus because I chose to go to a school close enough that I could live at home… and it was all related to my choice to take a certain job when I was in high school that I could keep while I was in college. My sisters made very different choices – and did not require cars while they were in college because of the other choices they made.

Knitting and roller derby! That sounds awesome, so many times people try to put others in boxes and make things so one dimensional. Be proud of your hobbies! If we were all alike, life would be SO boring.

I concur with other readers that you might change your tune when your children become teens. Save your $ now!

Hold your head high, Catelyn. It’s cool that you have interests–what matters is the passion, not the particulars.

If there is some particular business reason not to talk about specific hobbies, then don’t. I am a business owner, and I am not always free about roller derby with some clients, although I will mention to almost anyone that I love to skate–but with certain clients, I play it up. Know your audience! :-)

Is it ideal? No. Is it a want versus a need? Yes. Have I had to postpone some of the things I wanted to do to make it happen? Yes. Would I have done this if it would have seriously affected my retirement or other serious financial commitments? No.

It’s a decision like any other. You have to make it for yourself and your kids.

Q2 Denise : Don’t listen to your gut. I’d get the opinion of more than one mechanic. Thats better information than your stomach.

Q3 Kendra : No you should not break the law and work illegally. It doesn’t sound like California has made you happy. It also sounds like you’re not legally allowed to work here and have no means of supporting yourself. I’d go back to Canada so you can support yourself. You should really seak to address what is making you sad rather than think moving and breaking immigration law will fix it.

Q4 : As others have said bonuses are not taxed at higher amount really. The government witholds more but the end tax is the same. There is no extra tax amount for bonuses. The amount they withold is just an estimate and they pull more out of bonuses to be safe since its variable income and hard to estimate your end tax bill based on such variable amounts.

Q7 : the kids may or may not need cars. It really depends. If living in teh country really means 2-3 miles outside a city then you don’t really ‘need’ a car for that. When they go to college they may be just fine with public transportation. But maybe living in teh country means 25 miles from anything and thee college requires a commute. Theres no absolute here. It depends on the situation.