Paying for private school in the DMV area

Tips and tricks for sending your child to private school for Washingtonians

Tag: social activisim

The Money Space Time Continuum

The Money Space Time Continuum

There is a mathematical model that joins space and time into a continuum. The physical manifestation of this truth is the rate of time  observed depends on an objects velocity relative to the observer[1].

By NASA/Crew of Expedition 22 –  Public Domain, Link

This theorem is also the basis for the original planet of the apes movies (must see!) where Charles Heston and his costars were flying really fast for a bit and when they return home, planet Earth had experience thousands of years where they experience only a few. And during that time difference the Apes took over. Not intuitive but that is how space-time works.

The Money Space Time Continuum is the similar and indicates that the lowest cost route is often also the fastest route to accomplish something. Cheapest should be slowest, and it often is, but not as often as one would expect.

Shoes In Space

Here is an example; I trod around the carpeted office  space in dress shoes. I eventually found out that I was replacing low cost shoes every six months. So a switched to higher up front cost Allen Edmonds  which are not only the greatest shoes in the world they also have a lower cost per use.

Being clever (or so I thought) I picked up a pair of factory seconds Road Warriors for a fraction of the cost of regular new shoes. Usually a factory second has some minor unbelievable small defect – like a small nick or tiny

caption

discoloration that only an expert can see.

Not in this case. These factory seconds squeaked. And I mean duck—honking-loud-all-day-long. I figured they just needed to break in. Weeks later I realized this problem was here to stay and it was starting to raise eye brows as work.

No problem – factory seconds don’t quite meet the high standard of the fine Allen Edmonds Shoe Company.  They are low cost and usually still better than regular dress shoes but occasionally you will get a dud. Time to watch for a sale and drive to a shop to replace them. Their stores are really far from me so it was going to be an all-day affair that I was dreading.

Double Spend Problem Avoided

And then I remembered the Money Time Space Continuum. This theorem that I just made up (but others have observed and reported on) states that the lower cost solution is often faster. And the low cost option is to repair stuff.  I rushed online to see if anyone else in the world ever had squeaky shoes and if so, did they invent a way to fix them? I am not the first and apparently the solution was to add baby, talcum or baking powder under the insert and where the leather touches. This does two things – absorb any moisture and lowers the coefficient of friction between contact points resulting in noise free movement. Being the proud owner of talcum powder I distributed it liberally in the all the hidden squeak zones. The next day I walked the halls of my office complex in Ninja like silence.

I save the trek to the store and the after tax hours of labor to pay for a new pair of shoes. Hours, stress and the environment impact saved by remembering the Money Time Space Continuum.

Before you have to take a bunch of time to spend a bunch of money – stop and consider alternatives. Often you will end up with time saving alternatives that keeps more cash in your pocket.

 

[1] “Space-time.” Wikipedia. October 05, 2017. Accessed October 09, 2017. https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space-time.

If you take the advice in this post your tuition will be both easy to pay and a joy

We often talk about education choice and the financial aspect of paying for tuition year after year. What underlies this – and is critical to understand – is the mind set behind it all. Without you will be in a constant struggle and live a life of deprivation. With it an easy path of increasing quality of life and financial security awaits.

 

Confessions of a Former Purse Addict

FireCracker is Canada’s youngest retiree shared a perspective on consumption versus building that absolutely nails the mind set you need to both be happy *and*  free up cash for other purposes. Ours is tuition and her is early retirement.  Read her Confessions of a Former Purse Addict and prepare to change your mind and your future.

Control your dope..

In it you will find a detailed biological description of the addiction of consumption and the alternative cure. Read what she says about Dopamine. And then read it twice. And then read it again.

Understanding and breaking this  cycle is the the equivalent of winning the lottery. And unlike lottery winners you will actually be happy and the pay outs never stop.

Join Us

You are now a member of those that produce and make. Welcome to the club. I can’t wait to see what you create, make, do and become.

“…consuming gives you easy highs, but creating gives you BETTER highs. Highs that last forever. – Firecracker, September, 2017

Why not improve your local school instead of sending your children to private school?

In an article over at LearnVest a parent graciously describes the details  and sacrifices of why they send their children to private school  to help educate us and share their story.

The comments in response to the article were filled with criticisms.

One comment stood out;

“I love the “we had no choice” but to put our kid in private [school] argument.  Why not put your kid in the public school and spend some energy improving the school? “

I honor and respect those who sacrifice by staying in a difficult environment to make things better.  They reject better choices for their family for the good of the community.

So lets extend this persons line of thinking to explore the principal behind it. Couldn’t the family take public transportation every where and become vocal advocates? Or move to a food desert and use their earning power and ability to problem solve to help the entire community have access to fruit and vegetables?

What I don’t understand is the willingness to put someone else (in this case, their children) in an environment that needs improvement on multiple levels that are unlikely to be solved in the time they are there.

Another alternative is to send your child to a private school that teaches social activism and key life skills. Thinking longer term, an adult who  will spend a life time thinking about how to help others and will have the tools and financial means to do is another valid way to help both the family and the broader community.