u/Pure_Resort9840

How difficult is it to book at the Grand Californian at exactly the 7 month mark specifically for the 2 bedroom villas? I know the studios are very challenging, but I am wondering if the 2 bedroom units are easier. The DVC field guide shows the majority of 2 bedrooms are available at the 7 month mark, even for holidays. I just want to confirm that has been what people have experienced.

I am flexible with dates and the type of person who sets an alarm to wake up early to book right when something opens up.

I know the prevailing advice is to buy where you want to stay, but if I can pay half price and still stay at GC (even with a few hurdles), it is worth it to me.

I have 4 kids age 4 and under, and we love Hawaii. With the big family, I feel like a timeshare is a great way to afford a comfortable room that fits us all. What I am stuck on is whether I should do Aulani or another Hawaii Timeshare. Either option would be purchased resale.

What I like about Aulani:

+Love the 2 bedroom layout

+Free kids club

+Characters

+Occasionally use points for WDW

+Excellent resale value

+Excellent rental market if we can't use the points

My concerns about Aulani:

+Will resale tank as we get closer to contract expiration?

+Lots of complaints about lines for everything instead of relaxing experience

+Paying for a Disney premium that my kids will age out of

+I prefer Maui to Oahu

I am seriously looking at Westin Kaanapali in Maui as an alternative, but I am not sure yet. For additional context, we are also seriously considering buying points at Grand Californian, so theoretically, we could exchange into Aulani if we wanted and have a "non Disney" Hawaii Timeshare for most years.

Today, my son asked what all the kids in Disneyland will do while the characters are at WDW. How do you explain this to a kid without ruining the magic?

I have 2 older kids and baby twins who will be 1 soon. I like to buy 1 bigger (not necessarily about size) present for birthdays that will get lots of use for years (think nugget or yoto) instead of multiple smaller gifts. But I feel like we already have all the cool, big presents that babies would use for the next few years. Plus, we have too much stuff as is. We get free tickets for local activities through the library (zoo, aquarium, children's museum, etc). I'm not sure what to get? I honestly feel like they won't know the difference, but I don't want to send the message to my older kids that we should treat the babies differently because they don't understand yet. Any ideas?

My 4 year old son was pointing at a globe and asking the names of the places. When I told him he was pointing at Alaska, he said, "Oh! Where airplanes were invented!"

Our brand loyalty is having some funny side effects.

What would you consider the break even point for the number of years worked post FSA to justify the work to attain FSA (assuming you already have ASA and a family)?

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I realize I could calculate investment returns if you billed those hours instead of studying. However, there are other costs that are more challenging to monetize, like lost time with family and additional stress. For you personally, how many years as an FSA make it worthwhile compared to the effort?

EDIT: If I continue investing at my current rate, next year I could never invest in retirement again and have enough to retire comfortably in about 10 years. Idk if it makes sense to spend the effort over the next 3 years (or so) to be an FSA for 7ish years when I could spend that time with my family instead. I am not actually proposing replacing the study time with billable hours. That is just a metric I can use to value my time. I would spend the time with my family.

My husband and I (30 somethings) will be able to coastFIRE in a year or two. We are actuaries, and I also have experience in education. We are considering pivoting in our careers to jobs with unique benefits. For example, if one of us becomes a financial analyst for an airline, we could get free flights for the family. We believe our analytical skills should be pretty transferable to most industries.

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Any suggestions for careers with unique benefits?

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Another consideration is how much utilization of a benefit would be necessary to make up the difference in wages. For the airline example, if we took the difference in pay from our current jobs and a job at the airline and invested it, would we have unlimited flights (that aren't standby)? Would we be disciplined enough to actually save the difference?

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Any thoughts would be appreciated.

I am considering secular homeschooling my kids in Seattle. My kids are 4 and under, so I have a bit of time to decide. My motivation is more play time, less screens, individualized instruction, more time with my kids, less wasted time, and more flexibility. I am a former school teacher.

For those that have homeschooled here, how has it gone for you? What are your favorite resources, groups, activities, etc? If you had to do it over again, would you change anything about where or how you homeschooled?

Context: I have 4 year old boy/girl twins and 9 month old boy/girl twins. We live in a suburb an hour outside of a large city. My husband and I previously rented in the city and enjoyed it greatly, but moved so we could buy a house with a big yard. We have struggled to build community since moving. Local homeschool groups and coops are exclusively religious and we are very not religious. I am an avid gardener and have chickens. We LOVE the outdoor space at our current home. We live about 30 minutes from a plethora of hiking and other outdoor adventurous activities that we enjoyed pre kids and would like to do with the kids more as they get more capable.

With our babies, we are realizing we need more space inside for our kids to play. Square footage wise, we are probably ok, it is more about how it is allocated. We plan to buy a new home in about a year, and we are trying to decide where to live. A major consideration is what lifestyle works best for homeschooling. Here are our three main options including pros/cons:

1. Look where we currently live:

Pros:

- affordable

- could get a couple acres

- close to outdoor activities

- know the area

- 5 minutes from standard suburban shopping

Cons:

- limited home school options

- 2 hours away from mom, 1 hour from sister

- limited community

- long way to cultural opportunities, zoo, aquarium, beach

2. Move to a rural-ish area

Pros:

- 1 hour from mom

- could get a couple acres

- close to outdoor activities

- large homeschool population

- Would live within 20 minutes of a decent sized town

Cons:

- More expensive than current area

- Don't know anyone

- Far from culture, zoo, aquarium, beach

- 1 hour from sister

3. Move back to the city

Pros:

- Lots of culture, zoo, aquarium and other activities

- Lots of parks (we would make it a priority to live near one)

- Some forested and beach areas in the city, but more crowded

- 20 minutes from sister

- Good public transit

- Large homeschool community

- We know lots of people, but most are in a different phase of life than we are

Cons:

- We would be house poor for a few years at least

- 1.5 hours from my mom

- Much less personal outdoor space

- 1 hour from majority of outdoor adventure activities

What choice would you make? Have you moved from suburbs to city while homeschooling? Suburbs to rural area? Vice versa? How do they compare? Is having better personal property better for homeschooling or better opportunities outside of the home?

My extended family owns a beach house through an LLC in Washington state. My grandparents had 8 kids, and those 8 kids are the owners. They are all in their 60s/70s now. That generation is almost all decently well off. The less prosperous aunt has no children and one other aunt has no children. Another aunt (with 2 kids), walked away from her share due to geographic distance.

My generation has 17 grandkids in it. We have a variety of financial situations.

The LLC has nothing codified in terms of bylaws. The house is in serious disrepair. It likely needs a new foundation, among many other issues. I don't want to have my small children crawling around the house because of rodent problems so we almost never go there. My 3 uncles all but live there in the summer, and their cleanliness standards are not great. Their own children hardly go because of the condition of the house.

The home currently has an open door policy. Anyone in the family can use it, even if that means people are camping outside while others are in the house. Any maintenance that actually happens is usually performed by the uncles that spend the most time there. The uncles also feel the most emotionally attached to leaving the property mostly as is. They view updates as sacrilegious or something.

Everyone LOVES this property. There is no way my mom's or my generation would ever agree to sell. However, it is basically becoming a ruin and tax liability instead of a place for cherished family time.

My question is, how can we fix this? How can we realistically save the house from ruin and keep it as a special place for our family moving forward? Has anyone successfully navigated a shared family property with so many stakeholders across generations?