College and the cost some times do not pay for themselves. A local community college offered and career program called Licensed Mental Health Technician. I was to be more educated than an LPN with nursing skills and have ample mental health training to be able to work in a psychiatric hospital. This was to be a glorified mental health nurse and the future of mental health jobs.
I spent $15,000 and for a few years was able to pass medication but it limited me to only working in State hospitals in Kansas. Unknown to me the State of Kansas changed the rules and my license was no longer worth anything. I started out making $5.50 an hour which was not expected after spending time and money going to college.
I then decided to go for an AAS in Communication Design. Now the price tag of my education was $25,000. After graduating I could not find a job in design unless I went on to get a BA. Instead I returned to mental health and before I knew it I was 45 years of age and not richer from all the schooling I had. I am still trying to pay the college loans off.
In this economy I am back to making $10 an hour and my dreams of higher education and more money were crushed along the way. I returned to school to get a Substance Abuse Counselor license and before I finished the rules of the State had changed and I was the poorer for it and deeper in debt.
Be careful before getting a college education and really explore the degree or type of program. Make sure it will surpass time as now I am in debt and have no way to live and pay the student loans. I still have my dreams but I now realize that spending all the money to get an education has really not paid well and put me deeper into debt.
Colleges will tell you anything to get you to pay the high tuition cost but do your own research. Now they say I need to get a BA or MBA. At age 50 I am not even able to pay what I owe for loans anyway so why would I take this chance now. All the time and money spent plus a bad economy equals and the belief that more education means more money. Don't believe it! I know many people that make more money than me and have only a high school education.
They do not work with people and this field really pays very little. This is sad but true about our society as we care more about things then we do people. A lot of it is who you know and not what you can do. It's a hard time to live in right now so be careful on what area of higher education you decide to pursue and do not believe all you hear. This American Dream has changed a lot since the economy is bad.
Showing posts with label how to save money. Show all posts
Showing posts with label how to save money. Show all posts
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
Tuesday, November 1, 2011
Building a home and saving money
We married at age 16 and 17 and have been happily married for 35 years. Working hard all of our lives we could not wait until we could build a
new home of our own, After 30 years we finally had the opportunity to
build a home on 2 acres of land that we inherited from my husbands parents. In
2007, life had finally given us the break we needed to complete our
American Dream, a new home.
The bills were paid off and our credit was great. We both had jobs and my husbands company went from hardly getting by to making a good living. We would do the work of a contractor to save money allowing us to get the extra things we wanted for our new home. Here is the beginning of our story and all the good and bad times that occurred when building our own home. We saved money and I hope to detour you from making the same mistakes we did.
We decided to buy a modular home then add on a room to make it unique. The difference between a manufactured home and a modular home is like the difference between a trailer and a stick built home. The walls of our home were not put together with staples but had sheet rock walls with nails. After several months of looking we finally found the layout we liked and we were ready to move forward. A big difference between a modular home and a manufactured one is we can get refinanced and manufactured homes cannot.
Our land was 20 minutes from the suburbs of Kansas City. We lived in a rural area and it being only 20 minutes to the city we could enjoy the best of both worlds. Being a artist and having the ability to draw out the scaled plans would allow us to save money on an architect. We were off and going and the first goal was to get a permit from the county. This was the beginning of learning the hard lessons of rules and regulations that made having a home seem miles away in the beginning.
Kelly Says, "Stay tuned for the rest of the story of building a home in 2008. I will tell you all the trials and tribulations we experienced as we made the effort to make our American Dream of owning our own home a reality.
The bills were paid off and our credit was great. We both had jobs and my husbands company went from hardly getting by to making a good living. We would do the work of a contractor to save money allowing us to get the extra things we wanted for our new home. Here is the beginning of our story and all the good and bad times that occurred when building our own home. We saved money and I hope to detour you from making the same mistakes we did.
We decided to buy a modular home then add on a room to make it unique. The difference between a manufactured home and a modular home is like the difference between a trailer and a stick built home. The walls of our home were not put together with staples but had sheet rock walls with nails. After several months of looking we finally found the layout we liked and we were ready to move forward. A big difference between a modular home and a manufactured one is we can get refinanced and manufactured homes cannot.
Our land was 20 minutes from the suburbs of Kansas City. We lived in a rural area and it being only 20 minutes to the city we could enjoy the best of both worlds. Being a artist and having the ability to draw out the scaled plans would allow us to save money on an architect. We were off and going and the first goal was to get a permit from the county. This was the beginning of learning the hard lessons of rules and regulations that made having a home seem miles away in the beginning.
Kelly Says, "Stay tuned for the rest of the story of building a home in 2008. I will tell you all the trials and tribulations we experienced as we made the effort to make our American Dream of owning our own home a reality.
Monday, October 10, 2011
Save on water and electricity
Opening my monthly water bill about made me have a heart attack last month. A month of water usually runs two people about $28 dollars. This particular water bill was $103 and it was all due to a small leak or should I say large leak around the rubber stopper of the stool. It is hard to believe that we used 25,000 gallons of water that month. Make sure to fix any leaks even if it is just a drip.
We work too hard for our money to give it away to the water company. Also turn off and unplug any items you can. When a can opener or anything is plugged in even when not running it draws some electricity. After we did this for one month we notice a big savings in the electricity and water bill. Try it and you will see a difference.
We work too hard for our money to give it away to the water company. Also turn off and unplug any items you can. When a can opener or anything is plugged in even when not running it draws some electricity. After we did this for one month we notice a big savings in the electricity and water bill. Try it and you will see a difference.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)