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thrifty

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Everything posted by thrifty

  1. registration fee $36 we collect an additional $24 in yearly dues, this is intended to pay for badges, ranks, misc patches and crossovers get a woggle and necker. our budget is very thorough and this usually evens out or is slightly more than we need. parents are responsible for everything else. Our popcorn and other fundraiser are used to upgrade equipment/tents and we pay for whatever leader training is needed. Our average campout is approx. $35/scout including any camping fees, food and mileage. We also have occasional trips that are more expensive and can be $80-$100,
  2. I've been a star wars fan since the 70's. I know more about SW than I do about the BSA but I care about both and want to see them succeed. I didn't care for LTJ but it had nothing to do with feminism. The story sucked in my opinion and directly conflicted with all of the old canon and reversed a heroic character into a whiny hermit. The previous SW movie killed off a main character. Fan boys have dreamed of a new movie with the same actors since the ending of ROTJ and LTJ was an utter waste and a slap in the face. I don't think most fans care about the progressive feminist themes you pos
  3. unfortunately our troop is not thrifty. It's easy for some people to spend money when it's not theirs. But I thought I'd post some of my ideas, maybe they will be helpful for someone. Our suburb community has a local facebook page. If your community has one, I suggest always asking for used donated supplies before spending any cash. This requires some planning because it won't be instant. But for example, if a cooler or a lantern is needed, just put a post on facebook asking if anyone has a dusty cooler sitting in their garage that hasn't been used in years. If you want help, you ne
  4. As scout parents, one of us was always present when he was calling a MBC. He can't make an agreement to meet someone and then just expect us to drive him without checking our schedules. We don't have MBCs in the troop so he would always be meeting strangers out of town, sometimes an hour away. He talks to the MBC, tells us the plans and then we say yes or suggest an alternative plan. I don't recall ever needing to use speaker phone but if things got confusing we would just tell him to use that. From my experience, the adult leaders are the ones that have the most trouble remembering t
  5. never heard of this. It's getting difficult to keep track of all of these youth groups. sounds similar to scouting to me. The Troops of Saint George is a fraternal Catholic nonprofit apostolate for priests, men, and young men looking for a life of adventure coupled with virtue. Initially founded in 2013 by Catholic author and professor Dr. Taylor Marshall we have become a collection of troops that do the following: experience reverent and beautiful Masses on mountaintop vistas pray the Rosary with other men around fire pits in the freezing cold catch a Fish F
  6. my son and two other 13yo scouts took nylt last year. The year before that our troop also had several scouts go and they were either 13 or not much older. All of the boys enjoyed the experience from what they said. many of them are going back this year to help. Not mine but he was interested in going back earlier in the year and just changed his mind (got lazy...again). My son implied that a lot of it was just common sense to him. All of the scouts that went seem mature and had already had several leadership positions before going including PL for some. If they waited too long, sending
  7. I definitely agree to a point. Class of '92 and the things that hurt my popularity and got eye rolls back then were "geeky" culture. Comic books, video games, board games, computers, etc.. Now these things are part of popular culture all over the world like never before. The younger generations appear to be more open minded. Of course this does not apply to everyone. There's also all of this talk about football concussions and it seems like every year there are stories about young athletes dropping dead while playing. Everyone I knew in our 20's complained about bad knees from football
  8. Thanks everyone. I appreciate the help. I've read some of this info before and it has a good description but without knowing more about Summit, I felt like it wasn't enough to commit my money. The map was a big help. It makes sense that strangers can't walk through the actual camps. If Summit Center is the central hub, then I would assume that most scouts and scouters would be spending their time there....waiting in lines.
  9. Hello, We are a reasonable driving distance from Summit. WSJ is too expensive but my family is considering the possibility of driving to Summit for a day pass during WSJ. We didn't know about day passes prior to NSJ '17. I've seen the info online for NSJ day passes but those details are too vague for my comfort. I've heard stories about NSJ and I would expect WSJ to be even crazier with regards to lines, crowds, etc.. What I would like to know is what exactly a day pass entitles the user to do/see, what kind of access is the user allowed? I don't think my scout would want to wait in
  10. I'm also an anal retentive accountant so I can appreciate your posts and your way of thinking. I don't mind the scouts too much but it is very frustrating when the adults cannot properly care for troop equipment. I would spend my own money on items and they would just disappear. Hmmm, last person I saw it with was a scout leader. I like your ideas as long as you were investing in the tools for your own use as well. If it would only be for the troops then I don't think its a good idea because you may get a lot of interest or you may get very little or interest may diminish over time
  11. This topic is about helicopter parents and I don't disagree with you but not all troops work as well as the ones scouters on here post about. I'd be glad to see an old timer with no kids leading the troop because all we have are leaders that joined when their kids did and coincidentally the rules/procedures always seem to change or bend when the scouter's child is involved and then change again after the scouter's child is no longer involved.(this is especially true when $ is involved) Your father and son scenario would be our current leaders. It's also amazing the lack of open mindedness t
  12. when our troop has attended a camporee or larger scout camping event, they have never done an additional weekend camp on their own during the same month. The PLC decided once a month was enough camping.
  13. I think that's a great idea. Really play it up like qwazse said in his other post. We have a lot of scouts that don't seem interested in badges and only earn them at summer camp. Like others have said, there's nothing wrong with this. I feel that in our troop there are several reasons for this attitude. The first, is that the scouts don't care about badges and just want to have fun. That's great, no complaints about that. I don't feel there should be any pressure to rank up. The second, is that badges are rarely talked about except for summer camp. It doesn't seem like scouts
  14. my son recently spent seven hours in our park system looking for wildlife for his fish and wildlife merit badge requirement. said he had a great time. he'll be out there again because he still needs two more. The wife recently overheard a conversation our son had with another non-scout friend saying how much fun he had at a recent scout event. This felt good because the event was my idea and I was a little nervous about it. I also got positive feedback from some other scouts and adults. popcorn sales are done.
  15. That was cool. really good commercial. The values promoted in the commercial are obvious but I wonder why they chose pwd. It would seem that any craft project would suffice. just because it's a car? I don't think there's any hidden agenda. I know some people have on these forums have complained before about girls and pwd but GSA in our area have been doing their own cars and races for years. Would seem like an easy way for bsa to be in the background on tv. those stupid commercials where the couple are driving their shiny suv to the remove site for a cup of coffee could have scouts
  16. I've wanted the scouts to do this for a long time. I think it would be fun as well as educational. maybe make some different size fires to see results and test different size extinguishers if available. For anyone interested, extinguishers expire and most of the time they just get thrown out by maintenance departments in buildings, etc.. I'm not aware of any specific disposal procedures in our area.
  17. A lot of scouters on here are wise and experienced. But I also think there are many scouters not on here that are not wise and experienced. Your statements sound about right to me. Programs that are run well can be great but I think it doesn't take much for a program to suffer because of lack of foresight or indifference or poor planning and sometimes just bad luck. The pack that we came from did nothing to prepare the webelos for scouting but that had zero impact on our boys. The troop they crossed over to had a gap in the scout ages with mostly older boys and the previous year cross
  18. Can someone direct me to where this is at on the blog? I don't follow the blog and I don't see anything regarding this when I try to find it (the topic, not the blog). thx
  19. one way or another it will have to be handled just like everything else but I disagree with you on the "boys think nothing of it" discussion. I hear what my thirteen year old talks about to his friends while they are online at home. they want to sit next to girls they like and talk to girls they like and are crushing hard on girls and that's while they are at school. I imagine it will be similar at scouts IF there is a girl that a scout fancies. I have to agree with Back Pack's perspective on this. I just remembered when one of the older scouts brought his new girlfriend with him to a fun
  20. I have mixed feelings about this new decision and have kept my opinions to myself. Some of this is good, some of this not so good IMO. I don't know about anyone else, but I'm not worried about having female adult leaders or older female venturers at camp (except there won't be enough of them). I'm not worried about girls in cubscouts. What I'm worried about is the cute 15 year old girl that makes all of the boyscouts act like fools. I'm sure that venturers, seascouts, our foreign friends and anyone else dealing with youths have all had to deal with this before so it's nothing new. But
  21. "It is acceptable for a counselor registered in once council to approve merit badges for Scouts in another." - Guide to Advancement. I believe it's page 45. Our troop has not done summer camp in council for several years. We also occasionally travel for specialty merit badges that our local environment cannot accommodate. It would be a great disservice to the scouts to limit their counselors to one council (at least in our area). Unfortunately, I cannot recommend a Textile counselor.
  22. Looked into this not long ago. As qwazse said "situations were prohibitive" for us. Nearest pickup for anything being several hours away. I would have been willing to make the drive depending on what the items were but the troop leaders were only interested in new items so I didn't waste my time. We also have very limited storage so having a bunch of cool stuff that is never used would not help us. It does appear to have some merit for those that can take advantage of it. Always interested in hearing any good scores or experiences.
  23. In our troop only registered leaders go on campouts. SM and several ASMs. With the new rules, I would assume all adults staying for summer camp are registered leaders. We've never had a problem with too many volunteers. Seems like you've already identified the critical needs. The summer camp we go to currently gives us two free leaders. We get another free leader for FOS participation. We budget for a fourth leader. If more than that go, the cost gets split between them but this need is based on our current number of boys and drivers. It is also expected that they will participate
  24. I can only assume by comments our SM has made in the past, that his biggest fear is being held responsible for something bad happening to a scout. I think he's a little paranoid but I'm sure most of you veteran scouters have at least one story of something bad happened to a scout and having to tell the parents. I agree that the scouts need freedom and need trust that they will do the right thing. How do you balance the need of the scouts with parents that won't be happy when their scout comes home with a broken ankle or worse? I don't think many parents would be as understanding as I am if
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