@jsnakehole Navient is literally the worst. I had about $15,000 in loans from them and about two years after graduating (once the economy recovered) I consolidated the loans from Navient with Charter One bank and it cut my interest rate in half!!
@JJMNO1616@jsnakehole Salliemae sold one of my loans to Navient and it's horrible interest. It's small so I'm just going to pay it off with our tax return I think, gotta see if DH has loans with a higher interest rate though.
@slavenski@JJMNO1616 I'm so jealous of people with small loans. All together, between private and federal I owe over $200,000. The federal loans will have a small portion forgiven if I teach for six more years, but those private loans aren't going anywhere unless I hit the lottery.
That's what I get for coming from a family with no savings and then daring to go to private universities. If I could do it again, I would have just gone to city universities. Thankfully, my husband and I will have the foresight to save for our future children. Plus they can use some of his GI Bill.
Me: 28 DH: 29 Married: 6/2016 TTC #1: 12/2016 Benched due to deployment- Off the bench 8/8/17!
@jsnakehole I am right there with you girl. I was the first person in my family to go to college and I got absolutely zero help from my parents to pay for school. I did go to state schools but I have a masters degree and decided to go to the top rated program in the country which came with a very heafty price tag. I don't know if I would have done anything differently but the loans feel so financially crippling at times.
@snakehole@JJMN01616 DH and I were just going over my student loans and mortgage a few hours ago. After 12 years, I still owe $18,000 in student loans between undergrad and my masters. I've owned my house since 2012 and have paid off like $12,000 of the principal since the scam is that most of my payments go to interest. We also have very low interest car loans, so it isn't that bad, but I will love life when we are debt free.
It's funny how it's the little things in life that mean the most...not where you live, or what you drive, or the price tag on your clothes... There's no dollar sign on a piece of mind, this I've come to know! *ZBB*
For you Man in the High Castle Fans. If you enjoy the show DO NOT read the book. It made much less sense and the story line of the show was much better.
Me 30 DH 36 Married 9/26/15 TTC 2/10/17 - BFP 5/5/17 - EDD 1/11/18
@jsnakehole: Private loans are a b****. DH had quite a bit in private loans with high interest (6.8%) and we just paid them off in November. It took us about 5 years of very aggressive payments (about 5 times the minimum) and scraping together funds wherever possible. All of our tax returns, bonuses, pay increases, etc, went to student loans.
I went to a private liberal arts school where tuition was $55,000 a year (that was 10 years ago). I was very lucky that my parents were essentially broke (family of 5 living on $45,000 a year), so I got significant financial aid and walked away with about $11,000 in debt. I also chose not to live on campus during that time and saved about $40,000 doing that.
As much as I loved my college experience, I would not pay the full price tag and I don't know if I would pay that for a child. Our income level now is much higher than my family (probably top 10%), and we know our future child would not receive any financial aid. So we have agreed to save up a set amount (probably $40-$50k) and then give it to them. We won't go into debt funding college, but we also won't leave them hanging out to dry.
@jsnakehole@JJMNO1616 My parents didn't have the means to pay for my college either but thankfully I went to a cheap state school and lived at home. My total loans aren't bad, even with my MBA but I work part time so paying it off is hard. I honestly hate interest with a fiery passion. The amount of interest I've accrued while in deferment is gross.
I made the horrible choice of spending a semester in Italy which required a 6k private loan plus whatever I got in federal loans for that semester alone and I had a horrible time there. The country itself is amazing but my program was horrible. My advisor at my university said I should take the Master's level economics classes because I was a senior economics major and they were in English. Little did I know that the economics program there was way more math based and I was so out of my league. The stress and anxiety from all the studying I had to do made it hard to even experience the country. I supposed 6k isn't bad for a semester but considering my overall debt is 50k, that's a lot of money for a horrible semester and only passing one class.
@sglen3 Aww, I loved the book! We don't have Amazon Prime so I've never seen the show, but I liked the book so much (and as a Philip K. Dick fan have been burned by poor adaptations of his work before) I am nervous even to try the show. I always tend to prefer the book though... @thebookisbetter knows that about me
I know we are on a website specifically tailored toward pregnant women...but does anyone ever get annoyed/frustrated/triggered etc by some of the ads that pop up in the middle of posts with women who are very, very pregnant? Or the ads with an ultrasound picture? With how advanced technology is, you would think they could tailor the algorithms to show other ads on this board and other sensitive boards (TTCAL, MC/Loss, etc). But we are the Bump....so I guess it's not surprising....
Sometimes, I see the ads and I feel like all the women are so happy/celebrating, meanwhile I am grumpy in the corner
Maybe its a sign to stick with mobile bumping....no ads.
@dragonfly87 I have noticed that. But when I'm on the desktop version at work, I have an ad blocker in chrome (suggested by someone here) and I never see any of those ads anymore!
"It's time to try defying gravity."
Me: 38 DH: 38 Married 6/11/16 TTC Since 6/2016 12/2016 RE appt; 1/2017 SA & HSG results - all normal 3/2017 Dx Hyperprolactinemia; 5/2017 Prolactin levels normal; 8/2017 Low Ovarian Reserve 8/2017 TTA for personal reasons; 10/2017 NTNP; 12/2017 Re-start TTC 7/2018 Clomid+IUI 11/2018 Letrozole+TI 12/2018 Letrozole+IUI 2/2019 NTNP 5/2019 Stopping all TTC efforts; living Childfree
@wabash15@dragonfly87 I also get annoyed that the first thing I see when I open either the web page or app is a big pregnant belly.....because that's good for the mental health of a bunch of women trying to get pregnant.....makes me feel like we're the red headed step children of TB
"It's time to try defying gravity."
Me: 38 DH: 38 Married 6/11/16 TTC Since 6/2016 12/2016 RE appt; 1/2017 SA & HSG results - all normal 3/2017 Dx Hyperprolactinemia; 5/2017 Prolactin levels normal; 8/2017 Low Ovarian Reserve 8/2017 TTA for personal reasons; 10/2017 NTNP; 12/2017 Re-start TTC 7/2018 Clomid+IUI 11/2018 Letrozole+TI 12/2018 Letrozole+IUI 2/2019 NTNP 5/2019 Stopping all TTC efforts; living Childfree
@JJMNO1616 how was Charter One for refinancing? Were they easy to work with? My husband has a loan through Apple from them, and on their website it says that they can potentially offer an even lower interest rate if someone with a Charter One account will cosign.
My loans are a huge burden. I'm almost scared to get a raise at work because then my payments might go up. I end up going through phases where I spend next to nothing past the essentials (sometimes I even go without groceries and eat whatever random canned or frozen stuff in my house just to have SOMETHING in the bank), or when I finally have a little bit of extra I have to spend it on all the the things I didn't buy during my Scrooge McDuck phase (like underwear and socks and the absolute basic makeup). Sometimes I just think of how I probably could have bought a house by now if I didn't have the loans.
It's hard because while my husband is making deployment pay, I think we should be saving more than we are. We just spent a whole bunch on our honeymoon, but that was something special. We have eight more months left and I want us to start hoarding the money, but he doesn't think we need to be as frugal as I think. He grew up in a really affluent home, so he's used to being like 'I want this, I have the funds, I'm going to get it!'. I grew up barely above the poverty line (and sometimes below it) so I'm used to being like 'Not a necessity? Don't need it. It's totally okay to walk around in clothes with holes in them- it makes them unique!'. We've found a pretty good middle ground, but now that we're TTC, I'm freaking out about finances (hence this long rant).
Me: 28 DH: 29 Married: 6/2016 TTC #1: 12/2016 Benched due to deployment- Off the bench 8/8/17!
I did 2 years of community college. I like learning, but college wasn't for me. I had the job offer, it paid enough we could get by, I quit school. But, since I did the community college route, FAFSA covered nearly everything.
DH has several programs for loan reimbursement. Plus, his family paid for some of his college. It took some aggressive saving but we have gotten his loans paid off. It took a lot of figuring what programs he could qualify for, then how much we could squeak by with.
My loans, too, were sold to Navient. Both of them. I still owe about 5,000 after 11 years. It's insanity. My husband owes like 3,000 his went to Navient too. Ugh. We try and try and try and haven't looked into consolidation yet. Would they allow us to consolidate both of our loans together with another bank? Or is that basically getting a loan for 8,000 and giving it to Navient and then just paying bank personal loan?
Today is tuesday, my long night. It's so hard getting home at 9pm and trying to get everything and everyone situated for bed and the next day.
@jsnakehole Aside from my massive student loan balance, I can so completely sympathize with you on spendy Hs. Our relationship sounds like a carbon copy of yours in the differing socioeconomic backgrounds department.
@dragonfly87 I'm nornally always on mobile but when I do go on my computer I'm always taken back by all the adds! It's the one big advantage to mobile because otherwise mobile drives me nuts.
@jsnakehole I didn't have much of a problem consolidating with them. I believe most of the process happened online. I think the biggest hangup was actually getting them to review and approve everything. For some reason I remember that taking awhile but it got done! Also, just fyi I have been on income based repayment ever since graduating and I have been fortunate to have been given several pay raises over time. You loan payment may go up but it will never go up more then a certain percentage of your income. So if you are able to scrape by now you won't have a problem scraping by after a raise. That is unless you and your husband make "too much" money to even qyalify for IBR but that's probably quite a lot of money based on how much you have in loans.
@canonmom413 do you own a home? We talked with our financial planner last year about a home equity loan and whether we could/should use that to pay our student loans (we have like $130k combined, so just a tad more than you guys!). She says that would be something to look into once we have more equity in the house (we bought about 18 months ago). Just a thought!
Me: 31 DH: 32 Dating since: 11/17/2001 Married: 9/26/2009 TTC: June 2016
@slaven glad your pooch kept the pred down! And trazodone really helps quite a few dogs keep on the quiet side. Just FYI, while it does happen, its exceedingly rare for dogs to die now days with heartworm treatment from immiticide if you are doing the pred during/after the injections, so don't get too worried about it.
@jsnakehole I feel you on the loans. I graduated college with no loans (thanks parents!), but vet school cost me 160k, and vets make diddly shit for a salary. If it wasn't for my husband, I would be living at home with my mom eating ramen to be able to pay off my MINIMUM monthly payment of 1300. Seriously. Minimum is 1300 a month since I don't qualify for IBR. Its ridiculous.
All of you ladies juggling student loans deserve a tip of the hat! I can't even imagine how you handle it, and I'm looking into my first student loan for my MBA. I keep flip flopping on whether or not I even want to apply, because all told, my MBA would cost around $80k.
I have such a hard time justifying that kind of cost, especially when there is no guarantee that an MBA will pay off for me in the future.
I was very lucky that FAFSA paid my way through my Associates degree, and my former boss put me through undergrad for my BA, and that was around $20k! I graduated Valedictorian so it was money well invested but I doubt I will be at my current job by the time I finish my MBA, so I can't justify asking for more tuition reimbursement (not to say they would even give it to me, it's not an actual perk at my job, just something my former boss worked out specially for me).
Ughhhh students loans. I feel alllll your pain ladies. We have looked into every option (I think) for refinancing or consolidation. I have an AES loan and Navient. I despise AES, they are a**holes. Sorry if anyone works for them, I don't mean any offense! We thought for awhile I would qualify for the public service forgiveness program but I don't have the right type of loans thanks to consolidation about 10 years ago. We are actually planning to bite the bullet and pay them off using our savings (we can pay them off and still have a 3 month cushion). I am terrified but sick of seeing the money go into the interest. Plus it'd be $800 (vomit) a month back into our accounts. Students loans suck. I am so bitter about it bc my parents helped/paid for my stepbrothers and half sister due to court agreements and I got screwed somehow. My Mom feels terrible and I try not to be bitter but when I see them not working hard, living in gorgeous houses etc. (Eta: them,meaning my stepbrothers) get slightly bitter. You can judge me on that, it's cool, I judge myself.
Yup, student loans blow. I still have about $15k with Navient, however I'm lucky because ND has a student loan refinance program for anyone who lives in ND for more than 6 months. They try REALLY hard to keep residents in ND, so they have lots of incentives lol. Basically you can either have a low-ish fixed rate (usually 3-4%) or a variable rate (which right now is about 1.5%), and you can switch between fixes and variable once during the life of your loan with them. I'm in the process of refinancing now because Navient can shove it.
Stupid question - there is no way to see if you've been tagged on the mobile app like you can on desktop, right? My computer just broke, so I'm gonna be mobile bumping for a while. I just want to make sure I don't miss anything.
** December BMB Siggy Challenge - Animals in Pools **
Me: 31+ H: 32 TTC Since 11/2015 #1 - MMC 6.5 weeks (2/16); #2 - MC due to cystic hygroma at 20 weeks (10/16); #3 CP (2/17); #4 - Due 12.16.17
@lund Damn that's AWESOME. I guess that's one pro for living in ND?!
We luckily don't have much in loans, only about $30k from H's grad school. I've thought about researching consolidation etc but I never get around to it!
@BertieMeetsGertie – Back from our MGM adventure! To save
some space, I’m going to put my reactions in the spoiler box below:
Parking:
It’s a nightmare. For now, it’s still free, but
they’re going to start charging very soon.
Take the very first entrance into
the garage (the rest were blocked and we had to do the loop).
It’s very hard to
navigate.
Don’t trust the “open spaces” counters.
Work your way to the other side
closest to the exit and when you’re about to leave the garage, turn left up the
hidden ramp (it took us forever to find it). Go as high as you like because the
casino is on the top floor (Bonus: the upper levels are usually deserted).
Food:
From what I saw, most (if not all) of the food is
outside of the casino area which is a bummer having to leave and go back.
If
you want to eat at one of the fancy restaurants (like the Voltaggio Brother’s) make
a reservation 3+ days in advance.
The general eating area is crowded, but it’s
possible to find a seat.
Casino Set-Up:
The ATMs/pay out machines are hard to get to
because they decided to hide them amongst the slot machines. When you walk in,
you have to maneuver around the card tables to get to them.
The slots are
arranged in tight rows which is bothersome. It’s hard to get around. There are
very few free-standing machines and small clusters. It’s mostly just really
long rows that you can’t get down if two people are back to back.
I also
disliked that they didn’t cluster machines based on minimums. There were dollar
machines next to penny machines next to quarter machines. While they tended to
get more expensive as you go back, it was frustrating not being able to jump
from seat to seat as easily as other casinos.
Misc:
The staff was very nice and on top of things. We had several
managers and servers swing by and ask if we needed anything while they were
running back and forth from things.
There was a good balance of video and
manual machines.
Machines that were out of service were clearly marked.
Most
machines had good payouts.
You could easily change the volume for each machine
which I loved because…
Holy crap was it loud. Prepare to not hear yourself
think. And just when you get used to it, you get in the elevator to leave and
remember what quiet sounds like.
Throwing this out there for the group: I was wondering if
anyone was interested in a weekly mental health thread? I know there must be a
few of us out there dealing with mental health issues, and TTGP stress can
really exasperate things. I don’t know how appropriate it is to bring up in the
WTO/TWW/IF threads, and I feel like the Weekly Randoms likes to stay more
upbeat. If I’m out of line, let me know.
@Tennis11785 Unfortunately no, there's no way to see if you've been tagged on mobile unless they do so while you are on the app. I really hope they fix that soon!
@LoveInDC I know there was a mental health thread a month or two ago and there were several people who found it helpful. It was started on Monday with the other weekly threads, I would say it's safe to start one
"It's time to try defying gravity."
Me: 38 DH: 38 Married 6/11/16 TTC Since 6/2016 12/2016 RE appt; 1/2017 SA & HSG results - all normal 3/2017 Dx Hyperprolactinemia; 5/2017 Prolactin levels normal; 8/2017 Low Ovarian Reserve 8/2017 TTA for personal reasons; 10/2017 NTNP; 12/2017 Re-start TTC 7/2018 Clomid+IUI 11/2018 Letrozole+TI 12/2018 Letrozole+IUI 2/2019 NTNP 5/2019 Stopping all TTC efforts; living Childfree
@LoveinDC I did the mental health check in before my hiatus. I can start it again because lord knows I could use it!!
It's funny how it's the little things in life that mean the most...not where you live, or what you drive, or the price tag on your clothes... There's no dollar sign on a piece of mind, this I've come to know! *ZBB*
@LoveinDC - Thanks for the review. I think H and I are going to head over there this weekend to check it out. Neither of us are big gamblers, so it would be more just to see it and maybe have dinner. I tried to get reservations the week it opened and some of the restaurants were booked for like 3 weeks!! I'm glad that it's not so hard to get a reservation anymore.
** December BMB Siggy Challenge - Animals in Pools **
Me: 31+ H: 32 TTC Since 11/2015 #1 - MMC 6.5 weeks (2/16); #2 - MC due to cystic hygroma at 20 weeks (10/16); #3 CP (2/17); #4 - Due 12.16.17
@jess0211 I have loans through AES too and they are actually the lowest interest rates I have! I haven't had to interact with the coustomer service there much though so no problems on my end.
@kiwi2628 my payments are about the same! And from the lovely conversation I had with the people at FedLoan will go up because I'm married (depending on how we file our taxes this year). I've only been making interest-only payments to Navient, so I'm worried that refinancing won't even help.
I wish I could feel financially ahead for five minutes.
Me: 28 DH: 29 Married: 6/2016 TTC #1: 12/2016 Benched due to deployment- Off the bench 8/8/17!
Guys, today's drive-by sent me a message with a sincere apology. I think we may have actually convinced her to stick around for a bit
But I hope if she does stick around she'll no longer use the words "preggers" or "hubby" and will not say things like "hubby and I are pregnant" because if that's true then we better call Oprah.
Me: late 30s | H: early 30s TTC #1 since April 2015 RE Dx: Fibroids, surgery Jan 2016 IUI #1 and #2, Nov/Dec 2016, BFN IVF March 2017: ER - 5R/3M/3F, 1 PGS normal Polyp removed May 2017 FET May 2017 - BFP! Baby boy born 2/2/18
Re: Weekly Randoms - week of 1/16
TTC since August 2018
That's what I get for coming from a family with no savings and then daring to go to private universities. If I could do it again, I would have just gone to city universities. Thankfully, my husband and I will have the foresight to save for our future children. Plus they can use some of his GI Bill.
Married: 6/2016
TTC #1: 12/2016
Benched due to deployment- Off the bench 8/8/17!
TTC 9/2016 BFP 12/9/16 EDD 8/21/17 NMC 1/8/16 at 7w6d
TTC 2/2017 BFP 3/6/17 EDD 11/17/17 DS born 11/25/17 via ECS
TTC 12/2018 BFP 6/2/19 EDD 2/12/20 NMC / BO at 7 weeks, low progesterone
TTC 7/2019 BFP 8/21/19 EDD 4/22/20 CP at 5 weeks
TTC 8/19 IUI #1 w/ Clomid + Ovidrel + progesterone BFN, IUI 2 and 3 w/ Letrozole + Ovidrel + progesterone,
IUI 4 Follistim + Ovidrel + progesterone BFP 1/9/20 EDD 9/18/20
AMA, ITP in pregnancy, vWD type II - low Factor VIII, unexplained RPL and secondary infertility
Married 9/26/15
TTC 2/10/17 - BFP 5/5/17 - EDD 1/11/18
I went to a private liberal arts school where tuition was $55,000 a year (that was 10 years ago). I was very lucky that my parents were essentially broke (family of 5 living on $45,000 a year), so I got significant financial aid and walked away with about $11,000 in debt. I also chose not to live on campus during that time and saved about $40,000 doing that.
As much as I loved my college experience, I would not pay the full price tag and I don't know if I would pay that for a child. Our income level now is much higher than my family (probably top 10%), and we know our future child would not receive any financial aid. So we have agreed to save up a set amount (probably $40-$50k) and then give it to them. We won't go into debt funding college, but we also won't leave them hanging out to dry.
I made the horrible choice of spending a semester in Italy which required a 6k private loan plus whatever I got in federal loans for that semester alone and I had a horrible time there. The country itself is amazing but my program was horrible. My advisor at my university said I should take the Master's level economics classes because I was a senior economics major and they were in English. Little did I know that the economics program there was way more math based and I was so out of my league. The stress and anxiety from all the studying I had to do made it hard to even experience the country. I supposed 6k isn't bad for a semester but considering my overall debt is 50k, that's a lot of money for a horrible semester and only passing one class.
TTC since August 2018
I know we are on a website specifically tailored toward pregnant women...but does anyone ever get annoyed/frustrated/triggered etc by some of the ads that pop up in the middle of posts with women who are very, very pregnant? Or the ads with an ultrasound picture? With how advanced technology is, you would think they could tailor the algorithms to show other ads on this board and other sensitive boards (TTCAL, MC/Loss, etc). But we are the Bump....so I guess it's not surprising....
Sometimes, I see the ads and I feel like all the women are so happy/celebrating, meanwhile I am grumpy in the corner
Maybe its a sign to stick with mobile bumping....no ads.
"It's time to try defying gravity."
Married 6/11/16
TTC Since 6/2016
12/2016 RE appt; 1/2017 SA & HSG results - all normal
3/2017 Dx Hyperprolactinemia; 5/2017 Prolactin levels normal; 8/2017 Low Ovarian Reserve
8/2017 TTA for personal reasons; 10/2017 NTNP; 12/2017 Re-start TTC
7/2018 Clomid+IUI
11/2018 Letrozole+TI
12/2018 Letrozole+IUI
2/2019 NTNP
5/2019 Stopping all TTC efforts; living Childfree
Diagnosed : unexplained infertility
6 rounds of IUI and a MC 2/2014, rainbow twins 4/2015
TTC #3 5/2016
Restarted Fertility tx
IUI 2 rounds, baby girl 12/17
"It's time to try defying gravity."
Married 6/11/16
TTC Since 6/2016
12/2016 RE appt; 1/2017 SA & HSG results - all normal
3/2017 Dx Hyperprolactinemia; 5/2017 Prolactin levels normal; 8/2017 Low Ovarian Reserve
8/2017 TTA for personal reasons; 10/2017 NTNP; 12/2017 Re-start TTC
7/2018 Clomid+IUI
11/2018 Letrozole+TI
12/2018 Letrozole+IUI
2/2019 NTNP
5/2019 Stopping all TTC efforts; living Childfree
My loans are a huge burden. I'm almost scared to get a raise at work because then my payments might go up. I end up going through phases where I spend next to nothing past the essentials (sometimes I even go without groceries and eat whatever random canned or frozen stuff in my house just to have SOMETHING in the bank), or when I finally have a little bit of extra I have to spend it on all the the things I didn't buy during my Scrooge McDuck phase (like underwear and socks and the absolute basic makeup). Sometimes I just think of how I probably could have bought a house by now if I didn't have the loans.
It's hard because while my husband is making deployment pay, I think we should be saving more than we are. We just spent a whole bunch on our honeymoon, but that was something special. We have eight more months left and I want us to start hoarding the money, but he doesn't think we need to be as frugal as I think. He grew up in a really affluent home, so he's used to being like 'I want this, I have the funds, I'm going to get it!'. I grew up barely above the poverty line (and sometimes below it) so I'm used to being like 'Not a necessity? Don't need it. It's totally okay to walk around in clothes with holes in them- it makes them unique!'. We've found a pretty good middle ground, but now that we're TTC, I'm freaking out about finances (hence this long rant).
Married: 6/2016
TTC #1: 12/2016
Benched due to deployment- Off the bench 8/8/17!
DH has several programs for loan reimbursement. Plus, his family paid for some of his college. It took some aggressive saving but we have gotten his loans paid off. It took a lot of figuring what programs he could qualify for, then how much we could squeak by with.
Today is tuesday, my long night. It's so hard getting home at 9pm and trying to get everything and everyone situated for bed and the next day.
Oct. '17 June S.C. "You Had 1 Job"
@jsnakehole I didn't have much of a problem consolidating with them. I believe most of the process happened online. I think the biggest hangup was actually getting them to review and approve everything. For some reason I remember that taking awhile but it got done! Also, just fyi I have been on income based repayment ever since graduating and I have been fortunate to have been given several pay raises over time. You loan payment may go up but it will never go up more then a certain percentage of your income. So if you are able to scrape by now you won't have a problem scraping by after a raise. That is unless you and your husband make "too much" money to even qyalify for IBR but that's probably quite a lot of money based on how much you have in loans.
Dating since: 11/17/2001
Married: 9/26/2009
TTC: June 2016
EDD: 5/14/2018
@jsnakehole I feel you on the loans. I graduated college with no loans (thanks parents!), but vet school cost me 160k, and vets make diddly shit for a salary. If it wasn't for my husband, I would be living at home with my mom eating ramen to be able to pay off my MINIMUM monthly payment of 1300. Seriously. Minimum is 1300 a month since I don't qualify for IBR. Its ridiculous.
I have such a hard time justifying that kind of cost, especially when there is no guarantee that an MBA will pay off for me in the future.
I was very lucky that FAFSA paid my way through my Associates degree, and my former boss put me through undergrad for my BA, and that was around $20k! I graduated Valedictorian so it was money well invested but I doubt I will be at my current job by the time I finish my MBA, so I can't justify asking for more tuition reimbursement (not to say they would even give it to me, it's not an actual perk at my job, just something my former boss worked out specially for me).
DD born: 3/31/19
** December BMB Siggy Challenge - Animals in Pools **
Me: 31+ H: 32
TTC Since 11/2015
#1 - MMC 6.5 weeks (2/16); #2 - MC due to cystic hygroma at 20 weeks (10/16); #3 CP (2/17); #4 - Due 12.16.17
We luckily don't have much in loans, only about $30k from H's grad school. I've thought about researching consolidation etc but I never get around to it!
@BertieMeetsGertie – Back from our MGM adventure! To save some space, I’m going to put my reactions in the spoiler box below:
- It’s a nightmare. For now, it’s still free, but
they’re going to start charging very soon.
- Take the very first entrance into
the garage (the rest were blocked and we had to do the loop).
- It’s very hard to
navigate.
- Don’t trust the “open spaces” counters.
- Work your way to the other side
closest to the exit and when you’re about to leave the garage, turn left up the
hidden ramp (it took us forever to find it). Go as high as you like because the
casino is on the top floor (Bonus: the upper levels are usually deserted).
Food:- From what I saw, most (if not all) of the food is
outside of the casino area which is a bummer having to leave and go back.
- If
you want to eat at one of the fancy restaurants (like the Voltaggio Brother’s) make
a reservation 3+ days in advance.
- The general eating area is crowded, but it’s
possible to find a seat.
Casino Set-Up:- The ATMs/pay out machines are hard to get to
because they decided to hide them amongst the slot machines. When you walk in,
you have to maneuver around the card tables to get to them.
- The slots are
arranged in tight rows which is bothersome. It’s hard to get around. There are
very few free-standing machines and small clusters. It’s mostly just really
long rows that you can’t get down if two people are back to back.
- I also
disliked that they didn’t cluster machines based on minimums. There were dollar
machines next to penny machines next to quarter machines. While they tended to
get more expensive as you go back, it was frustrating not being able to jump
from seat to seat as easily as other casinos.
Misc:Throwing this out there for the group: I was wondering if anyone was interested in a weekly mental health thread? I know there must be a few of us out there dealing with mental health issues, and TTGP stress can really exasperate things. I don’t know how appropriate it is to bring up in the WTO/TWW/IF threads, and I feel like the Weekly Randoms likes to stay more upbeat. If I’m out of line, let me know.
@LoveInDC I know there was a mental health thread a month or two ago and there were several people who found it helpful. It was started on Monday with the other weekly threads, I would say it's safe to start one
"It's time to try defying gravity."
Married 6/11/16
TTC Since 6/2016
12/2016 RE appt; 1/2017 SA & HSG results - all normal
3/2017 Dx Hyperprolactinemia; 5/2017 Prolactin levels normal; 8/2017 Low Ovarian Reserve
8/2017 TTA for personal reasons; 10/2017 NTNP; 12/2017 Re-start TTC
7/2018 Clomid+IUI
11/2018 Letrozole+TI
12/2018 Letrozole+IUI
2/2019 NTNP
5/2019 Stopping all TTC efforts; living Childfree
TTC 9/2016 BFP 12/9/16 EDD 8/21/17 NMC 1/8/16 at 7w6d
TTC 2/2017 BFP 3/6/17 EDD 11/17/17 DS born 11/25/17 via ECS
TTC 12/2018 BFP 6/2/19 EDD 2/12/20 NMC / BO at 7 weeks, low progesterone
TTC 7/2019 BFP 8/21/19 EDD 4/22/20 CP at 5 weeks
TTC 8/19 IUI #1 w/ Clomid + Ovidrel + progesterone BFN, IUI 2 and 3 w/ Letrozole + Ovidrel + progesterone,
IUI 4 Follistim + Ovidrel + progesterone BFP 1/9/20 EDD 9/18/20
AMA, ITP in pregnancy, vWD type II - low Factor VIII, unexplained RPL and secondary infertility
** December BMB Siggy Challenge - Animals in Pools **
Me: 31+ H: 32
TTC Since 11/2015
#1 - MMC 6.5 weeks (2/16); #2 - MC due to cystic hygroma at 20 weeks (10/16); #3 CP (2/17); #4 - Due 12.16.17
@Tennis11785 - It's definitely easier to get a reservation now, but with it being inauguration weekend, I'd grab one soon! Have fun
@hartmich - I am!
I wish I could feel financially ahead for five minutes.
Married: 6/2016
TTC #1: 12/2016
Benched due to deployment- Off the bench 8/8/17!
"It's time to try defying gravity."
Married 6/11/16
TTC Since 6/2016
12/2016 RE appt; 1/2017 SA & HSG results - all normal
3/2017 Dx Hyperprolactinemia; 5/2017 Prolactin levels normal; 8/2017 Low Ovarian Reserve
8/2017 TTA for personal reasons; 10/2017 NTNP; 12/2017 Re-start TTC
7/2018 Clomid+IUI
11/2018 Letrozole+TI
12/2018 Letrozole+IUI
2/2019 NTNP
5/2019 Stopping all TTC efforts; living Childfree
I wish all drive-bys would follow suit!
*ETA words are hard today
TTC #1 since April 2015
RE Dx: Fibroids, surgery Jan 2016
IUI #1 and #2, Nov/Dec 2016, BFN
IVF March 2017: ER - 5R/3M/3F, 1 PGS normal
Polyp removed May 2017
FET May 2017 - BFP!
Baby boy born 2/2/18