The expense of being the parent of a teen

With the wind down of school, sports seasons and extra curricular activities there has been a flurry of extra parent commitments in the form of banquets, recognition events and my personal favorite - NOT - check writing.

*Note To Self: add $300 to the spring budget for banquets fees & gifts

Also, there was a little event called prom.  Well... maybe not so little.

*Note To Self: add $1,000,000 to the spring budget for prom

Actually, done right, Prom does not have to cost a million dollars, but it isn't the kind of thing that you're going to get away cheap on either.  But, with a little good sense it certainly doesn't have to cost you a million dollars... or even a thousand as this story reported from the Star Tribune.

Source: startribune.com via Cursing on Pinterest

In our situation we had a couple things going for us and against us.  The Princess is only a sophomore so chances are this would probably not be her only prom experience; but, her boyfriend is a senior so we needed to keep that in mind as well. 

Here is approximately how our costs shook out...

Dress - bought at a reputable national retailer (with a $10 off all dresses coupon) $110.00

*Note - some retailers charge A LOT (we're talking wedding budget) for dresses with the "guarantee" that nobody else will be wearing the same dress at your prom.  1) if you wear it really well who cares if someone else has the same dress 2) there is no real guarantee because I know of people who lied about what school they go to and one who wore her dress at 2 different proms but only reported 1 of the schools 3) Despite being a beautiful dress at a wildly reasonable price point for prom (if I know you IRL I will show you a photo) nobody else was wearing the same dress at a very well attended prom so it just wouldn't have mattered.

Shoes - purchased at DSW in a style and color that will easily be worn again but because they weren't "prom" shoes they didn't have a crazy price attached to them  $45

Purse - also purchased at DSW to match the shoes $25

Jewelry - used mostly what I already owned, earrings $7 at Target

Hair accessories and Garter - $35 Michaels Crafts

Mani/Pedi - $40 (includes tip)

Waxing & shaping of the brow - $25  (not technically needed but it made her day easier to not have to pluck)

Haircut and Updo - $120

What is suspiciously missing from my dollar cost is a boutineer for TheBoyfriend; they went to the florist and chose them together and his parents paid for them.  There was no limo (Mom's car did the trick) tickets to the prom were very reasonable and although they did enjoy a fancy dinner before hand it came after weeks of not doing any dinner or movie dates.

There was no post prom hotel room rented and no bail money needed from a crazy house party either.  Instead a responsible adult took charge of a pretty big group of them and the parents & kids offered snacks to share.

All in all our out of pocket was less than $425.  A lot of money  to be certain, but there are things we could have skimped on and brought it down even lower (hair, mani/pedi, waxing of the brow, using an existing purse, earrings and hair accessories - a savings near $235).

This week ThePrincess will be receiving her first "Letter"... I forgot to budget for the jacket she wants it to go on...  and she'll be driving this summer too...

Think I'm going to need a new budget.

Messy Kids?? Me Too! (the Messy Part)

I'm supposed to be answering a BlogHer Life Well Lived question here this week.... but I'm struggling with it and I don't really know exactly how to answer it. 

What are your best tips for keeping the clutter at bay with kids in the house? How do you help your kids develop good organizing skills?

I have no idea how to keep the clutter at bay for real, I feel like I fight it every single day.  

In fact, I know I fight it every single day and I am losing the battle. 

I ridiculously thought that once my kids were teens I would no longer have to pick up after them, but their stuff is still everywhere... and with a zoo load (3) of pets I still find myself picking up toys every single day. Heck, my clutter is probably the worst of all.

Buy a bigger house so it is spread out more? Throw or donate everything that isn't glued down? Buy big (and I mean giant) decor friendly bins for each member of the family, put their names on them (embroidery, fancy paint?) and call them the "clutter bins" and if you find someones crap laying around toss it in their clutter bin?

So, I ask you - Kids or not, what do you do to keep clutter at bay?  Clearly pinning organizational solutions that cost a lot of money or will take a lot of time isn't going to get me more organized, I need real life easy to put in place easy to keep in place solutions.

For more ideas on how to get your kids (or self) visit the Blogher.com website and while you are there remember to enter the newest sweepstakes "Share a Moment" and Enter to Win an ipod touch that you can fill with apps to organize something I'm sure.... or play Angry Birds.