The Drain

I never expected raising children to be cheap. But, I must admit that there are certain expenses that I didn't factor into our family planning. As the girls get older, there seem to be miscellaneous costs that come up on a fairly regular basis. Most of these items are things that we could do without but are a "must have" at the moment. School pictures fall into this bin of random unnecessary expenses - and it drives me crazy.

Tomorrow is picture day thus I am just sitting down to blog after over an hour of hair straightening for my oldest princess. Please don't mind any typos - they most certainly can be attributed to the blisters on my fingers from touching hot hair (note, if your children have straight locks you will never know this pain). But the discomfort has only just begun. Right after blogging I will fill out the dreaded picture order form and the checks for no less than $26.30 - that is $13.15 per kid for the lowest package offered. If I go with this option I'll receive a total of 12 pictures. Not exactly a blockbuster value!

Now I realize I am sounding like a real cheapskate. Allow me to break this down. If I spend $13.15 per year for 12 years that will cost me $157.89. Multiply this cost by 3 and I'll spend a staggering $473.67 in my lifetime on school portraits. Mind you, I use the term portraits loosely. Let's just face it, most years the photos are a flop. Inevitably the girls are scheduled for photos immediately after gym class. So much for all of that hair prep!

I thought about digging out past years school photos and tossing the extras (because we never end up ordering the smallest package) but then I realized that they fell victim to one of my pre-downsizing challenge purges. Instead, tonight I emptied a milk jug full of "Fish Water" (the slightly chlorinated water that we used in our former fish bowl - last used about 3 years ago) down the drain. I am hopeful that it will flush out the dollars that I am tossing down the drain by ordering the ceremonial school pictures. I'm recycling the empty jug - as I'm sure to do with the extra copies of sub-par portraits that are headed my way.