1) To the person who wants to know why it only costs $200, this is not daycare. It's a 3-hour, 4-day-a-week preschool program offered by the Park District of our village. It is cheap even for that, but no, it's not an all-day daycare program.

2) It's also not a private or stand-alone preschool. If it was, I, too, would be concerned that they wouldn't have enough money to run the place and I would be the first to jump to their aid. But since it's part of the village government, it's really more like the water bill situation. The teachers will get paid, the building is a park building, and there aren't many supplies per se.

3) To those who want to know what I did with the money each month, well, I never really had it. I was worried at the beginning of the year how we would come up with the payment in addition to regular monthly bills, and on the months we weren't billed for it, it was a bit of a relief. Once we noticed, that is. We knew we would have to pay eventually, and we did talk to the office about it, but we were always hoping we would have improved our income or managed to lower other expenses before that day came. And basically, it did -- I now make a small income freelance writing, my husband got a small raise, and I've cut our budget. So sure, I spent the money instead of putting it aside for the preschool payments I knew would eventually come. I spent it on groceries, gas and the mortgage. Shame, shame.

You all have convinced me, though: I'll pay the bill up front. Now I just hope they'll process it before my 5% cash back period ends next week.