A look back...

Today my husband woke up early, showered, grabbed a few snacks and his backpack and he was gone. Off to school. Grad school. Cal State Northridge to be exact.

It has brought back so many memories of the last time he was in school. Life for our family is so much different now than it was then. So, so different.

That time in our lives was when I learned so much about saving money. Unfortunatley, it didn't happen with a lot of speed bumps along the way.

 

Here is a little comparison:

Then (1999-2002 approx)

**3 kids
**3 kids all in diapers
** Ben at school from about 8ish to 5ish
**one car (an old blue mini van) still making payments on it
**Ben had to ride the bus, so that I could have the car
** lived in a variety of housing, including: student family housing, managing an apt. complex and later we moved into a low income housing complex.
** qualified and were recieving: food stamps, WIC, the state health plan, and a stipend every month for our utility bill so that we could run the heat w/o worrying about the cost
**lived off of approx. $1000 a month


My hubby will probably kill me for this one (:

Our family then, with some help from both sets of Grandparents

in front of our low income housing






 

Ben graduated from the University of Oregon in June of 2002. We have lived in a few different places, but our life NOW looks like this...

**5 children (ages ranging from 13--->3
**1 child in diapers (although is almost completely potty trained!)
**Ben's hours have not improved much...
** 2 cars (1 SUV that we bought just 2 years ago, brand new and  a 2006 Ford Focus that is paid for)
**We made the choice to live in military housing, it was brand new and renovated, has parks, a pool, gym and we don't have to pay for utilities (other than our phone/internet/cable etc)
** Qualify for absoutely nothing
** Insurance is through the military,  as well as our life insurance.
**We have a variety of savings accounts, (long term, short term etc)
** while I am not going to share how much my husband makes, I will tell you that it is quite a bit more than $1000 a month (:

Turner family now...

 

 

While things have changed, we still try to keep our heads about us when we make choices. We are not perfect. I have been know to make frequent visits to a store that rhymes with Shmarget. I know we have come a long way and I know that we LEARNED lessons that we wouldn't have learned, had we not had to go through what we did. I like where we are at now...ecspecially not having 3 kids in diapers!