I spent the long weekend for the 4th of July  with my husband's family on the Oregon coast. The town puts on an amazing fireworks show  for the 30,000 or so spectators that flock to the beach for the holiday — it's a really professional show set to patriotic music. Good stuff.

However, there were a couple of things about holiday revelry that kind of turned me off. First, it was almost impossible to tell when the official show began due to all of the illegal fireworks being set off on the beach as sundown approached. I could not believe how many REALLY big fireworks, mortars, smoke bombs, rockets, roman candles, noisemakers, etc., people were lighting — even as the city's official show was going on! It was unbelievably distracting and very dangerous — I watched no fewer than a dozen fireworks explode on the ground. While I don't know if there were any injuries, I did hear the wail of ambulances going all night long!

Furthermore, I talked to some of the officials putting on the city's fireworks show, and they guessed that there were hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of illegal fireworks going up in smoke that night. I just can't believe that people will spend that much money just to hear something go boom. To me, it just seems like burning money.

Adding insult to injury was the mess that people left behind on the beach once they left. We spent the better part of four hours on Saturday cleaning up thousands of cardboard launch pads, bottle rocket sticks, Saturn rocket cartridges, etc. The beach was littered with trash, and the carelessness of all the people who left it really shocked me!

Now I admit that I have never been a big fan of personal fireworks, since I didn't light them as a kid (fireworks were expressly prohibited on Air Force bases  — you just didn't go there.) So maybe there's something about them that I'm missing…

What do you think of fireworks for personal use? Are they worth it?

Posted by Kathy at 10:00 AM |  Contact Kathy |  Permalink  |  Comments (6)
Found in Holidays, Paying, Wells Fargo Bank

Anyone else excited for the unofficial start of summer after yesterday's holiday?  Personally, my excitement is fueled by the return of white shoes and linen pants to my wardrobe rotation! :)

I'm only half kidding — I'm old school like that. 

Important fashion rules aside, I do welcome this seasonal change, even though I don't get the traditional "summer break" anymore. (I knew I should've gone into teaching!) To be fair, I haven't had a true summer break since high school. Summers during college were just as busy as the school year!

How are you spending your summer? Between internships and summer school, I bet you guys don't have much of a summer break either!

Speaking of spending your summer, the unofficial start of the season is a good time for a budget check. If you're living off your financial aid through summer school or during an unpaid internship, it's especially important to resist the temptation to spend on non-essentials.

Here are some suggestions for minimizing your summer spending (I plan to do all three of these):

• Cancel your gym membership and play outside — just remember to put on the sunscreen  first.

• Invite your friends over for a potluck cookout instead of paying for overpriced food and drinks at outdoor cafés.

• Find cheap entertainment: convince your father, sibling, or handy roommate to build you a cornhole  game for hours of backyard fun!

Now, if only the weather would cooperate, I could get down to business. Summer…hurry up!

Posted by Barbara at 09:26 AM |  Contact Barbara |  Permalink  |  Comments (2)
Found in Budgeting, Financial education, Holidays, Money management, Preparing, Wells Fargo Bank

My latest television obsession — the one that until this past weekend had consumed more than 20% of my DVR's capacity — is the PBS documentary "Carrier."  It's a fascinating 10-part series filmed aboard the USS Nimitz , a naval aircraft carrier, while on a six-month deployment to the Persian Gulf in 2005.

To be honest, I've never had more than a passing interest in the military, but this smart, moving series hooked me from the beginning. What really resonated with me were the individual sailors' stories of how they came to be shipmates on the Nimitz:

• Many of them had joined the U.S. Navy  right out of high school — some had enlisted even earlier and went on to pursue their GEDs .

• One young woman had gone into a recruiting office to support a friend and ended up enlisting herself!

• Several of the officers and pilots were from career military families, had attended the U.S. Naval Academy , and couldn't imagine any other lifestyle.

• More often that not, though, the sailors had turned to the military to escape something — bad neighborhoods, abusive family situations, drugs and alcohol. They couldn't afford to go to school but didn't want to end up like their parents, siblings, or friends, either. So they'd consciously chosen a different path.

Here on the Student LoanDown blog, we spend most of our time discussing how to finance education and manage debt, but we also know it's not the right course for everyone. There are other ways to pursue meaningful careers and/or funding for college, and military service is one of those options.

Even if the young men and women featured in "Carrier" choose not to use their GI Bill benefits , they've certainly received an education aboard the Nimitz. And in just 10 short hours of TV time, I did, too.

Editor's note: The Student LoanDown team is taking the next few days off to celebrate Memorial Day  weekend and honor the men and women who have died in military service to our country. We'll be back on May 27.

Posted by Staci at 03:00 PM |  Contact Staci |  Permalink  |  Comments (0)
Found in Holidays, Looking back, Television shows, Wells Fargo Bank