WACO, Texas — With Spring Break coming up, students will be more expensive this week than most. Waco ISD teacher Mia Guillen shared tips on how she budgets her money and plans ahead for big vacations and experiences.
BROADCAST SCRIPT:
Fifth grade teacher Mia Guillen is a busy, working mom with one child in college and one in grade school, looking forward to some well deserved time off.
“As a mom and a teacher, you’re always on — it’s 24/7,: Guillen said.
"It’s just that relax, refocus, reset, recharge, so I can fill my own cup and be the best teacher and mom I can be."
But with Spring Break, comes big expenses and experiences.
“Peter is doing an internship and Xavier is preparing for the STAAR test," Guillen said.
"He goes to mathnasium, we have a couple of camps set up for him — just to get that extra practice in for state testing, and he’s also in honors choir, so, he has a choir event coming up, and then just spending time with family because as we know our life is always so go-go-go-go."
Guillen pre-plans to make sure her and her kids can enjoy the times ahead.
“Pre-planning is key, so with receiving our work calendar a year and a half ahead of time, I’m able to see if I need to allot funds for a kiddo to attend summer camp," she said.
"I’m able to do that and organize my finances in a way where it doesn’t feel burden-some at spring break or summertime. I’m designated teacher incentive allotment, so I receive an additional stipend for student growth and achievement and that helps as well."
Every little bit helps, but also cutting back where you can with discipline is key.
“We don’t eat out — everything we do is locally grown, so we do a lot of farmer’s markets, we purchase our meats from farmers, we meal prep as a family," Guillen said.
"We meal prep a lot, we cook together, and that happened organically, honestly."
With all the pre-planning, Guillen is looking ahead to what next year’s Spring Break will be.
“I’ve already made my next spring break plans and spring break 2025 aligns with my kids’ spring break, so we’re already thinking what can we do, what experiences can we provide the kiddos."
