u/Physical_Molasses815

How are we doing kid's phones when we get to the stage that several kids need a phone ( I get that "need" is subjective).

Currently my husband, oldest son and I have three lines through T-mobile at $150/month.

Our 14 and 12 year olds have a Gabb phone and watch which is $66/month. We have no land line so realistically they need a way to be able to contact us when they are home alone or at activities.

We have two more kids coming up and I feel like eventually this is going to be a ridiculous portion of our budget. Is there a better/more economical way to do this?

I'll try to make this concise:

Husband and I are in our 40s with five kids and live on one income of 100k.

Have had his student loans paid off for about 7 years, and other than that have never had consumer debt, car loans, credit cards etc.

We do own 80 acres of farmland and have always treated the whole farm operation as separate from our household budget.

I am debt adverse but the farm was purchased before our marriage. We paid off the farm last year but still owe 110k on an irrigation system. The farm was no longer cash flowing so we are renting out our land going forward.

If we put all of the rental income towards the irrigator loan we will have it paid off in 6ish years.

However, we have five growing kids and our savings is about 10k (husband has 400k in 401k through his job). Should we fully fund our emergency fund before aggressively attacking this irrigator loan? I'm worried about kids expenses as they get older and would feel a lot better with a bigger cushion in the bank.

Edit to add: interest rate on the loan is 5.5%

I've been on Prozac for 8.5 years now. I started taking it for PPOCD/Anxiety/intrusive thoughts after the birth of my last child. I had been on it before in my early twenties and it seemed to help fairly quickly and at a fairly low dose (started at 10 mg and went up to 20 mg after a few years).

Eight years is a LONG time. I would say I'm overall more chill than I was prior to Prozac, but is part of that just years of motherhood and learning not to sweat the small stuff? I still have emotions but I would safe somewhat dulled. Lately I have looked back on friendships and people I've lost touch with and wondered if being on an SSRI is part of that? Or just the passage of time/life stages?

I overall seem to care less, which can be a good and a bad thing. I think I've always had undiagnosed ADHD. I used to joke that my house/life has never quite recovered from the birth of my fifth child.....but now I'm starting to wonder if that was actually the Prozac making me care less/be less motivated.

I'm to the point that I feel like I need to try going off it unless I plan to stay on Prozac my whole life. I'm just worried about who I am without it.

I started taking Prozac for Post Partum Anxiety/0CD 8.5 years ago. It never seemed like the time to stop taking it but I'm starting to wonder about the effects of taking it for so long and if it will be hard to get off of it.

I'm on 20mg. Talked to my family practice doctor about going off it at my physical today. He said I'm at a low enough dose I could quit it cold turkey.1

I'll try to make this as concise as possible. My FIL has dementia and was being cared for at home by MIL, but my husband I had a lot of concerns and had been trying to encourage MIL to put FIL in memory care for about a year. He was frequently wandering and had become aggressive with MIL.

A month ago, FIL ran away from MIL and was missing overnight from 6 pm until 10:30 a.m. when he was found lying in their pasture by a search party. MIL did not call the authorities or let us or anyone know he was missing until 8:30 a.m. He was found very dehydrated and was hospitalized. DHS opened a case of dependent adult neglect against MIL, and basically she was given no choice but to place him in memory care for his safety. Due to state law (Iowa), she lost financial POA for FIL due to having a founded case of abuse/neglect against him. We also found out from the local sheriff that this was not the first time he had been missing overnight. She never told us because she didn't want to spend the money on nursing home care.

FIL is doing well in memory care, but now MIL is talking about taking him out overnight and eventually taking him back home to live. I talked to DHS, and apparently they have no preventative role and cannot legally prevent MIL from doing this, even with her founded case of dependent adult neglect. There has also been financial issues, with MIL using money from FIL's farm account (30k) to pay for a scam.

My husband and I are working with an attorney to go through the court process to get conservatorship and and guardianship of FIL. MIL does not have known dementia herself, and has always been a difficult person, but her recent actions have us convinced that she is unable to make the best decisions for FIL. Has anyone been through this process, particularly when the incapacitated parent does have a living spouse? I'm wondering how likely it is to go in our favor.

I'll try to make this as concise as possible. My FIL has dementia and was being cared for at home by MIL, but my husband I had a lot of concerns and had been trying to encourage MIL to put FIL in memory care for about a year. He was frequently wandering and had become aggressive with MIL.

A month ago, FIL ran away from MIL and was missing overnight from 6 pm until 10:30 a.m. when he was found lying in their pasture by a search party. MIL did not call the authorities or let us or anyone know he was missing until 8:30 a.m. He was found very dehydrated and was hospitalized. DHS opened a case of dependent adult neglect against MIL, and basically she was given no choice but to place him in memory care for his safety. Due to state law (Iowa), she lost financial POA for FIL due to having a founded case of abuse/neglect against him. We also found out from the local sheriff that this was not the first time he had been missing overnight. She never told us because she didn't want to spend the money on nursing home care.

FIL is doing well in memory care, but now MIL is talking about taking him out overnight and eventually taking him back home to live. I talked to DHS, and apparently they have no preventative role and cannot legally prevent MIL from doing this, even with her founded case of dependent adult neglect. There has also been financial issues, with MIL using money from FIL's farm account (30k) to pay for a scam.

My husband and I are working with an attorney to go through the court process to get conservatorship and and guardianship of FIL. MIL does not have known dementia herself, and has always been a difficult person, but her recent actions have us convinced that she is unable to make the best decisions for FIL. Has anyone been through this process, particularly when the incapacitated parent does have a living spouse? I'm wondering how likely it is to go in our favor.

My husband and I have been actively trying to come up with a plan for his father's care as it was clearly becoming too much his mom, even though she refused to admit it (mostly due to fears about the cost of long term care).

Almost two weeks ago , she saw him leave and climb over a fence in their pasture at about 6 pm. When he didn't return, she drove up and down the road looking for him, but eventually just went to sleep for the night, hoping he would return. She did not call my husband and I and did not report it to law enforcement. She finally reported it to the police at 8:30 am, after he had been missing over 14 hours. There was a man hunt with helicopters and drones and he was eventually found alive but very dehydrated.

DHS contacted my husband and informed him that his mom has been terminated as FIL's POA due to her having a founded case of dependent adult abuse due to this incident.

We have contacted our attorney, who is unfortunately on vacation this week. We aren't sure who if anyone now has financial POA and FIL has been in the hospital almost two weeks waiting to be placed in a nursing home. His social security check goes into their joint checking account, and we will need that to help cover nursing home costs. He will not qualify for Medicaid as he owns farmland and has too many assets.

My husband and I have been actively trying to come up with a plan for his father's care as it was clearly becoming too much his mom, even though she refused to admit it (mostly due to fears about the cost of long term care).

Over the weekend, she saw him leave and climb over a fence in their pasture at about 6 pm. When he didn't return, she drove up and down the road looking for him, but eventually just went to sleep for the night, hoping he would return. She did not call my husband and I and did not report it to law enforcement. She finally reported it to the police at 8:30 am, after he had been missing over 14 hours. There was a man hunt with helicopters and drones and he was eventually found alive but very dehydrated.

My husband and I spoke to a social worker in the ER, and DHS is involved. FIL will be in the hospital until he can be placed in a memory care unit. As upset as I am that MIL did not call us (and finding out from the sheriff that there was a similar incident three weeks prior that she didn't inform us of), I hate to think of her facing charges.

If my fine hair has never been colored and I rarely use heat, is there any reason to use bond repair treatment?