Back to School : The Hidden Costs

Some of the other bloggers over at the Irish Parenting Bloggers were talking about the hidden costs of going back to school. It turned out that between all of us over there, there was a huge difference in what we all had to pay. We have started a blog march were each day new blog post will be linked to the march.

Today it's my turn.

I wasn't sure how I would approach this. 

I mean how many times can you read about the cost of going to school.

But as I read the other ladies posts, I realise that we are all in different situations.

A lot of the Irish parenting bloggers live in Dublin or in bigger towns across Ireland.

I live in the countryside in Limerick.

The difference in what we all have to pay based on where we live was crazy.

Some of the Moms were paying a contribution of €140 per child per year.
We even have an Irish Mom in the US blogging about how the state pays for all there school books.

It made me realise that I am SO lucky with the school my daughter goes to.

There is no big payment at the start of the year. Nothing!

Here are the costs for me this year.

Photocopying : €8

That's the only thing that I will have to send in with herself on Monday.

Books : €40

I only had to buy 4 school book this year because of a book rental scheme, which made everything alot easier. This price also includes copies, project books, folders, pencils, twistables and a pencil-case.

Book rental : €10

The school are doing a book rental scheme for the English readers and one other book.

They are also offering to photocopy the first class book for one subject so we don't have to buy it.

Uniform : €30 so far

The only things I had to buy this year was a new jumper, socks and polo shirts.

Crested Jumper : €25, Shirts : €2.50 (Tesco) Socks : €2.50 (Lidl)

 The pinafore that I got last year is still perfect.

It was so big for her last year that I had to take it up 5 inches.

I'm just going to let it back down again.

Her pants are still fitting her but I will have to buy some later in the year.

I also have a winter coat and shoes that still fit her.

I'm not including these in the price for school as I would need these even of she didn't go to school.

School bag and Lunch box :€24

Total : €112

Some of the other costs through the year will be 

Art and dancing : €4 per week

School tour : €5 (last year)

Swimming: ???

I don't mind paying for these things. If I only have to pay €4 a week of these things I'm not doing too bad.

They would cost a whole lot more outside of school.

The school will have non uniform days and fundraising days through the year too.

I will happily pay for these too.
They don't set a donation price so you give what you can afford.

I love this school.

The school has been open since 1904

The past 4 generations of my family have gone to school there and I will do whatever I can to help out.

We have a newly built school with amazing facilities and teachers.

They have huge over heads and they are still doing whatever they can to keep the costs down for us.

Don't misunderstand me. I'm not well off. I will find it difficult to find money for these things around Christmas. But I will make it work. I have to. I will do it for my daughter.

I am so lucky with my school in comparison to some of the other Moms and Dads out there.
I know that there are parents out there that are wondering how they will cope.
Families on social welfare will get €100 for children of national school age.
That won't even begin to cover the costs if you're child is starting school this year.

How does your school fit in?  Do you have to pay a huge contribution?
Can our government do more to help them out?

Let me know what you think!

 Leave a comment below.

Thanks for stopping by!

Below is a list of the other Bloggers that have joined the blog march.

Be sure to go have a read of them.

Sunday, 25th August: The Clothesline – It All Adds Up

Monday, 26th August: The Mama’s Hip – Homeschooling haul and chatter

Monday, 26th August: Awfully Chipper – Back to school in America

Tuesday, 27th August: Learner Mama – Back to school – A costly business

Tuesday, 27th August: Office Mum – School Costs & The Double Income Contradicton

Tuesday, 27th August: Musings And Chatterings – Crests and costs – starting big school part 1

Wednesday, 28th August: Serious Wagon – Back to School Costs

Wednesday, 28th August: Dreaming Aloud – Changing Gear

Back to School Printable giveaway.

I've been wanting to do something like this on here for awhile.
So today is the day.
I giving away a Back to School Printable.
I've started designing printable and Nappy cakes.
I love being creative.
Today I am doing a giveaway.

With School about to start here in Ireland, I thought that a School printable was perfect.

I will print out a personalized version to suit you child's name and class.
Perfect for the first morning of school.
It will be delivered by post.

If you live too far away I will email you with the file and you can print it off at home.

What do you have to do to win this you ask?
Just use the rafflecopter below.
The winner will be announced on Wednesday Morning.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Thanks for stopping by!

Pinterest round-up : Lunch Box idea

School is nearly here again!
Woohoo!
I'm ready to get back into my normal routine.
One thing I'm really not looking forward to is Lunch.

I hate having to try and figure out what to give my daughter for lunch.
I need to give her something healthy and I want to change things up too.
I find if I give her the same thing every day
she gets bored ans doesn't eat.

So, in a attempt to be super mom I scoured pinterest for lunch box ideas.
And boy did I find the mother load of ideas.
So here you go, I give you...

Easy Lunch Box Ideas from easylunchboxes.com
Lunchbox Inspiration from lollasoy.blogspot.com
Lunchbox ideas from easylunchboxes.smugmug.com
Yummp Lunchbox Ideas from aspectacledowl.com
The first Five Lunches from paintingsunny.com
A week of Lunches form paintingsunny.com
Easy School Lunches from emmymom2.com
20 Non-sandwich School from keeleymcguire.blogspot.com
10 Non-sandwich Lunch Ideas from momables.com

There are so many amazing ideas in this bunch.
Amazing moms to have thought of them too.

I like to try make my little girls lunch special too and this is a favourite of hers.
So simple too.
I write little "I love you" notes on it or make smiley faces.
The other kids in her class love it too.
Makes her feel special.

source

This blew my mind.
I can't wait to try it.
I hate giving apples because they turn brown.
But this solves the problem.

I'm not as worried about running out of ideas not that I have found these.
I hope that you all find them useful.

10 more days!

Thanks for stopping by!

How to create a blog signature

Have you seen those lovely signatures that all the top blogs have?

Did you ever wonder how they got them?

I have.

I wanted one with a long time.

I figured out how to this a long time time ago.

Today I'm sharing my "how to" with you.

And how did this" not so tech savvy" lady get it.... Google of course. :)

I goggled "How to create a blog signature" and clicked on the first site that came up.

Simple as that.

  My live signature is a free blog signature generator.

It has easy to follow instructions and a tonne of choices.

You can type in anything and make it a signature.

Prefect even if you blog anonymously .

When I was finished, I wanted to save the signature to my computer.

All you have to do is right click and save it as an image in your files.

I love how it turned out.

I love even more that I can go back and change it if I get bored.

I hope you find it as easy as I have.

Thanks for stopping by

Things I'm lovin...

I love sharing things with you guys.

I love sharing interesting things.

Things that I love.

And this my friends I LOVE!

I case you are wondering, they are singing in Irish.

They sound fantastic.

This group did an amazing job.

I love it even more than the original.

I hated Irish in school.

The teachers made it feel like a punishment.

I really wish that I could speak Irish better than what I do.

These young people are an inspiration.

I really hope that they inspire more young Irish kids to embrace the Irish language and speak it more.

The other thing I loving right now is that the school holidays are nearly over.

I'm ready to get back to my normal routine.

I'm also finding it hard to keep up with my little blog.

I need those hour during the day to get everything done.

My little girl needs to get back into her school routine too.

There is such a change in her ( not a good one either) since school finished.

I guess she's bored.

Treat bag toppers that I made. I'm going to put Smarties in a ziplock bag and staple these to the top.

But I'm going to make back to school a fun time here with cupcakes, back to school printables and some new school stuff for her.

And the last thing that I am really loving is that my little blog has been nominated in 4 categories in the Irish Blog Awards.

Best Craft Blog

Best Personal Blog

Best Newcomer Blog

Best Health and Wellbeing Blog.

I am just over the moon to be on the long list.

I would love to make the short lists but even to be nominated is just amazing.

Thank you all for reading my crazy ramblings.

Thanks for stopping by.

Health and Fitness Friday

I having a hard time getting back on track with this fitness thing.

I started the year out on a high.

Get fit! Get in shape!

And I was doing great.

But I've hit a wall.

I have no desire to go running.

I haven't run in 3 weeks.

I know. I know!

That is just pitiful.

I want to do something but I just can't find the time.

It's not that I don't have the time cos I do.

I just don't want to make the time.

I have been busy starting my own little business.

I trying to make something work and it takes up alot of my energy.

But I need to change this and get out and do something.

So My plan is to go cycling.

I need to change it up and this seems perfect.

I'll let you know how it goes.

The one thing I have been rocking is early mornings.

I am proud to say I have joined the Morning Person club.

I've set my alarm for 5am every morning for the past too week and got up.

I'm blogging, designing printables and reading all those amazing blogs that I missed out on before.

And it's getting easier to get up too.

I still need to work on going to bed a little earlier but I'll figure it out.

So, how was your week?

Did you run? Cycle? 

What do you do in the mornings?

Let me know.

Leave a comment and link to your blog.

I'd love to see what you get up to.

Linking up with Jen.

Thanks for stopping by.

My Favourite Free Fonts

I've been a busy little bee this past week.

Putting together printables and making nappy cakes.

I have found some amazing free fonts that I just have to share with you.

Source

source

source

source

I was going to include my favourite Christmas fonts but that would just be crazy, right?

I'll share those beauties later on in the year.

I hope you find these fonts as useful as I do.

They're great for writing notes or making little printables for the kids.

Thanks for stopping by.

My New Venture : Crafty Creations by Caroline

So I was missing last week.

Something very exciting has been happening in the E house.

I have been thinking about this for the last 12 months.

Will I? Won't I?

I finally decided to take the plunge and see where this takes me.

What is she talking about, you ask?

I starting a "table top" business.

(I guess that's what you call them)

Crafty Creations By Caroline

Baby gifts with a little twist.

Nappy Cakes, Hampers & Party Printables.

I have been making these cakes for friends for a while now.
They kept telling me that I should try sell them.
After a year of thinking and trying to decide if I have to time to put into this...
I'm doing it.

I had my first craft fair last Sunday.
I was busy all week printing, and making these beautiful cakes.
I was so nervous about putting myself out there.
Will it work? Will It be successful?
I don't know.
But I'm going to work my ass off the make sure it does it best.
I still working out the finer details and getting photo's for my Facebook page.

So this is what I'll be doing if I'm not hanging out in Blogland.
I love my blog and the people I'm found through it so I'm not going anywhere.

Thanks for stopping by.