It is time to get our paperwork in order so that if an opportunity does come up, we can jump on it. We don't have passports for the babies yet. We had started down that path once with James so that we could visit Toronto, the closest largest city near Rochester, NY, but Grandma and Grandpa ended up baby sitting for a night instead.
At that time, I attempted to take James' picture on my own. We have plain white walls in our apartment and I sat him up in a bumbo seat. I could not get the photo to regulation standards. If I could get him facing forward, there was a shadow or a bump on the wall, or he would lean toward me... The State Department also suggested putting a white sheet on the car seat, that was a disaster and full of wrinkles and shadows. So, I decided to pay for some professional help. When I called around, it turned out that very few places will do toddler and baby photos.
This morning, I brought Caterina in for her "newborn" portraits at JC Penney. They will do adult passport photos, but not little ones, as is the case for many passport photo services. When calling around, no one said they did baby photos. However, I walked into my local CVS and they did his by laying him down on tagboard. I was impressed by the woman's knowledge of regulations. I plan to take my kids back there this week so we can apply for passports this weekend.
I will try again to look for suggestions online so we can do our own, but if I fail, the following are local options according to phone calls I've made today. I would imagine it's similar nationwide, as these places are all chains:
-Walmart
-CVS
-Walgreens
-FedEx
-UPS
-http://www.epassportphoto.com/ (free online service, but not terribly different than just doing it yourself.)
Here is the passport requirements page from the US Department of state: http://travel.state.gov/passport/pptphotoreq/pptphotoreq_5333.html.
Friday, August 31, 2012
Tuesday, August 28, 2012
Storage vs. Repurchasing
I am not a hoarder. I really hate clutter, yet somehow we have so much stuff! We don't like to shop, we aren't people who have to have every new toy... but here we swim. There is no way I would consider shipping our belongings abroad for a couple of years, we'd spend 25% of the time waiting and it's just too expensive for us.
I got a bit gung ho on cleaning out, having a moving sale, craigslis-ing and then donating. I really didn't want to consider an additional fixed cost at home. A few quick online quotes showed me a storage unit would cost between $150-$200 a month for 10' storage units (said to fit about a 2 bedroom's apartment worth of stuff.)
We technically rent a two bedroom apartment now, but it has a basement and an attic. It's actually half of a sizable Victorian home. In fairness, we previously owned a small home and came with a decent amount of stuff. That being said, I could happily part ways with most of it, but when my parents sold their home a year ago, I inherited a lot of sentimental items that I would have a hard time parting with. My grandmother's kitchen table where I have some of my earliest memories, the bench my grandfather for my mother as he recovered from a stroke, and my other grandmother's China - none of these have much monetary value today, but mean a lot to me.We live far from family and friends, so we can't bug anyone to "borrow" half of their basement for a few years.
My husband is the one I have to thank for crunching some numbers. To just buy mattresses, a couch, table, and a few other necessities when we return, we will pretty much clear the cost of the rental unit the first year. Whew, so I'm off the hook for now. It pays to get the unit, store our big ticket necessities, plus I can pack in my sentimental and maybe some indulgences like framed artwork, albums, and maybe some of my favorite kitchen appliances. Yes, I do have a Belgium waffle cooker that takes up way too much space and is only used a couple of weekend a month, but it is so worth the space! Mmmm...
Luckier yet, I got quotes from companies who deliver storage units to you, like PODS, and found that they are quite comparable to the public storage options. Whoohoo! Now we don't even have to rent a uhaul, we can load it up at our leisure right outside our door!
I got a bit gung ho on cleaning out, having a moving sale, craigslis-ing and then donating. I really didn't want to consider an additional fixed cost at home. A few quick online quotes showed me a storage unit would cost between $150-$200 a month for 10' storage units (said to fit about a 2 bedroom's apartment worth of stuff.)
We technically rent a two bedroom apartment now, but it has a basement and an attic. It's actually half of a sizable Victorian home. In fairness, we previously owned a small home and came with a decent amount of stuff. That being said, I could happily part ways with most of it, but when my parents sold their home a year ago, I inherited a lot of sentimental items that I would have a hard time parting with. My grandmother's kitchen table where I have some of my earliest memories, the bench my grandfather for my mother as he recovered from a stroke, and my other grandmother's China - none of these have much monetary value today, but mean a lot to me.We live far from family and friends, so we can't bug anyone to "borrow" half of their basement for a few years.
My husband is the one I have to thank for crunching some numbers. To just buy mattresses, a couch, table, and a few other necessities when we return, we will pretty much clear the cost of the rental unit the first year. Whew, so I'm off the hook for now. It pays to get the unit, store our big ticket necessities, plus I can pack in my sentimental and maybe some indulgences like framed artwork, albums, and maybe some of my favorite kitchen appliances. Yes, I do have a Belgium waffle cooker that takes up way too much space and is only used a couple of weekend a month, but it is so worth the space! Mmmm...
Luckier yet, I got quotes from companies who deliver storage units to you, like PODS, and found that they are quite comparable to the public storage options. Whoohoo! Now we don't even have to rent a uhaul, we can load it up at our leisure right outside our door!
Monday, August 27, 2012
The 7-Year Sabbatical Plan
We have begun floating our notion of living and working abroad to a few friends and even a few family members. The the response is overwhelmingly supportive (though most of the friends I've been talking to are expats or former expats, so the scale's weighted.) Even if the time abroad doesn't turn out to be a great money making venture, I'm already looking forward to the challenge and the exposure to language and culture for the babies. Dropping off my car for a $1,000+ repair this morning, I am looking forward to not owning a vehicle.What I really look forward to is an Ayi (housekeeper/maid.) My list is growing...
With all of these pros, an underlying factor of motivation is tied to the idea of the seven year sabbatical. I suggest watching this 20 minute Ted Talk by Stefan Sagmeister about it, but I will try to give it a just summary:
Rather than plan on a 15 year retirement, take 5 of those years and intersperse them during your working years. Of course, you have to plan and budget to do this, and certainly you cannot do this in every profession or for every employer. However, as so few of us from my generation will be working for the same employer in the same job as perhaps our parents did, we pretty much plan to job hunt every 5 to 7 years anyway. I'd like to enjoy that time not having to worry about vacation days and everything else. In addition, it gives us these perfect windows to show our children something else.
We cannot, unfortunately, afford to just take the time off and enjoy ourselves, as Stefan suggests. Like many people our age, we some fixed expenses as debts to pay. Stefan argues that the time off pays for itself when returning to work in a number of ways. I believe this, but simply am unable to budget time off not working. Rather, I think the 7-Year Sabbatical Plan can easily be adjusted for our needs. We will just have to work, but why not do it some place completely different, rent instead of buy... we can always buy that house in the next chapter of our lives.
For people in industries like my husband, he can't just take time off to learn another language and experience another culture and have that look good on his resume, but he has to stay in tune with the ever-developing solar technology industry. But who says you have to do that in the Silicone Valley? Finding him a fitting job is proving more challenging, but with some effort, we're hoping to make it work. I coin this the hunt for a good "sabbatical job."
For those who can't manage to make the leap abroad, I would think about looking at "sabbatical jobs" some place different in the same line of work. In education or medicine? Maybe look at some rural postings in Wyoming or Alaska? Or afraid of the cost of living in NYC, Boston, or DC? Just go for a year, the damage won't be so bad in the short term and you may find some employers pay just enough more to make it work. Who knows, we may end up in the same boat depending on how the hunt goes!
With all of these pros, an underlying factor of motivation is tied to the idea of the seven year sabbatical. I suggest watching this 20 minute Ted Talk by Stefan Sagmeister about it, but I will try to give it a just summary:
Rather than plan on a 15 year retirement, take 5 of those years and intersperse them during your working years. Of course, you have to plan and budget to do this, and certainly you cannot do this in every profession or for every employer. However, as so few of us from my generation will be working for the same employer in the same job as perhaps our parents did, we pretty much plan to job hunt every 5 to 7 years anyway. I'd like to enjoy that time not having to worry about vacation days and everything else. In addition, it gives us these perfect windows to show our children something else.
We cannot, unfortunately, afford to just take the time off and enjoy ourselves, as Stefan suggests. Like many people our age, we some fixed expenses as debts to pay. Stefan argues that the time off pays for itself when returning to work in a number of ways. I believe this, but simply am unable to budget time off not working. Rather, I think the 7-Year Sabbatical Plan can easily be adjusted for our needs. We will just have to work, but why not do it some place completely different, rent instead of buy... we can always buy that house in the next chapter of our lives.
For people in industries like my husband, he can't just take time off to learn another language and experience another culture and have that look good on his resume, but he has to stay in tune with the ever-developing solar technology industry. But who says you have to do that in the Silicone Valley? Finding him a fitting job is proving more challenging, but with some effort, we're hoping to make it work. I coin this the hunt for a good "sabbatical job."
For those who can't manage to make the leap abroad, I would think about looking at "sabbatical jobs" some place different in the same line of work. In education or medicine? Maybe look at some rural postings in Wyoming or Alaska? Or afraid of the cost of living in NYC, Boston, or DC? Just go for a year, the damage won't be so bad in the short term and you may find some employers pay just enough more to make it work. Who knows, we may end up in the same boat depending on how the hunt goes!
Wednesday, August 22, 2012
Au Pair
If we are not able to swing relocation abroad, this is one of the options to "globalize" our home stateside. I found it difficult to afford quality for daycare with just one child, but realize I am one of those moms who will basically go bonkers at home. Like most families, we need to find a quality childcare solution that I can cover with my salary, none of this paying to work business. Under the same J-1 visa program that handles the high school exchange programs I deal with (http://www.ciee.org/highschool/host-families/benefits.html) they also handle Au Pair visas.
An au pair is basically a foreigner, usually a young woman on a gap year these days, who comes to live with a host family and helps them domestically, mainly childcare. When I was in Europe where many people take gap year, a lot of my classmates had either done this in England or France, or were considering doing so before going to college.
I will publish a separate comparison of the nitty gritty financials, but we've found the total cost of an Au Pair comes in lower than a M-F daycare for 2+ kids. For those with larger families, Au Pairs are especially nice on the pocket book, there aren't extra fees for additional kids. In general, there is a fee for the program who sponsors the Au Pairs visas and monitors them while they are here, recruits them, finds families, etc, and the family is also responsible for room and board, a weekly stipend, an educational stipend, and any extra expenses to make them feel like part of the family (i.e. don't all go out to dinner/movie then make them cover their own meal and ticket.)
So financially, it adds up to look a bit insane. However, so did daycare! Welcome to parenthood, I guess. And we live in just a medium city with very reasonable rates. Oh, how I envy those with grandma and grandpa down the road who are more than happy to watch the kids for free...
It goes without saying that the benefits of Au Pairs are not only financial, but you and your kids get to learn a lot about another corner of the world. We know how fast little ones pick things up, so I would love to find the right person through the right program.
This is the link to the designated Au Pair sponsors:
http://j1visa.state.gov/participants/how-to-apply/sponsor-search/?program=Au%20Pair&state=any
Here is a template of an inquiry like the one I sent. (Phone numbers and websites are also provided.)
The following were my top picks and I likely be choosing one of these organizations should we end up staying in the US:
What is an Au Pair?
An au pair is basically a foreigner, usually a young woman on a gap year these days, who comes to live with a host family and helps them domestically, mainly childcare. When I was in Europe where many people take gap year, a lot of my classmates had either done this in England or France, or were considering doing so before going to college.
I will publish a separate comparison of the nitty gritty financials, but we've found the total cost of an Au Pair comes in lower than a M-F daycare for 2+ kids. For those with larger families, Au Pairs are especially nice on the pocket book, there aren't extra fees for additional kids. In general, there is a fee for the program who sponsors the Au Pairs visas and monitors them while they are here, recruits them, finds families, etc, and the family is also responsible for room and board, a weekly stipend, an educational stipend, and any extra expenses to make them feel like part of the family (i.e. don't all go out to dinner/movie then make them cover their own meal and ticket.)
So financially, it adds up to look a bit insane. However, so did daycare! Welcome to parenthood, I guess. And we live in just a medium city with very reasonable rates. Oh, how I envy those with grandma and grandpa down the road who are more than happy to watch the kids for free...
It goes without saying that the benefits of Au Pairs are not only financial, but you and your kids get to learn a lot about another corner of the world. We know how fast little ones pick things up, so I would love to find the right person through the right program.
How to find the right program?
The US Department of State currently recognizes 14 programs who sponsor Au Pair visas in the US. I simply went to the website and contacted all 14 of them. The feedback was very insightful. I gave the same information to each company and got many different responses. Some agencies only operate in certain parts of the country. Others were willing to operate here, but needed to find/train local representatives to have two supervisors nearby, which is very doable, just like high school exchanges.This is the link to the designated Au Pair sponsors:
http://j1visa.state.gov/participants/how-to-apply/sponsor-search/?program=Au%20Pair&state=any
Here is a template of an inquiry like the one I sent. (Phone numbers and websites are also provided.)
***
Subject: Potential New Family
Hello,
I
am looking into hosting an Au Pair and found your organization listed
on the State Department website. I'm looking for basic information such
as costs and what services your organization provides. I've looked over your website for general information, but would like to get specifics and meet with someone from your organization before moving forward.
We would be interested in hosting later this winter when our children will be 2 years and 6 months.
Thanks for your time and help,
Jamie
(Full Address)
***
Some organizations didn't respond at all, some sent materials that made it clear they hadn't ready my two short paragraphs, and some were wonderful, personal responses which indicate to me that they are doing their jobs well.
Prompt, personal feedback is important. This organization will be responsible for screening your family as well as the person who will be helping watch after your children. They will provide support (logistics like arrival and departures, training) but very importantly will be your support if there are issues throughout the year.
- What if you and your au pair just aren't a good match?
- What if your au pair has a travel question and wants to know about his/her visa rules?
- What if there are some cultural issues you want to know how to approach?
Tuesday, August 21, 2012
Hiatus to have a Baby
China is looking most appealing to us for many reasons including the economy, politics, and the payback time invested there could payback not only into our careers, but for our children. With the money our government owes theirs, our thinking is that China probably will not be obsolete in their lifetimes.
I studied abroad in Kunming, China in 2004 and would be interested in returning to the Yunnan Province if not only because of the nature it offers. Among many of our concerns about living in China with small children relate to the pollution and health. Beijing, though it may make sense to live there if we wish to return to DC in the future, disgusted me in 2004 due to the smog and China hasn't stopped growing since.
Our next step is to ask friends and acquaintances who have had recent experience there for thoughts and tips as we weigh this option. I will also be crunching numbers to figure out what our salary would have to be to make it feasible. Will we store our belongings here for a while? Just a few, or a house full? What to do with our lease? Once I have a fairly accurate figure, we can see if there are jobs available that cover our fixed expenses at home and expenses we'll incur living abroad.
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