The math seemed impossible, but numbers don’t lie — it was less expensive for Julie Kelley to send her 9-year-old son to seven different summer camps in three states than to enroll him in one full-time program in Vermont, where they live.

Summer vacation lasts 10 weeks for the Kelleys. And it will cost Kelley and her husband Richard about $2,000 for their only child.

When Kelley searched for full-time, five-day summer camps near Saint Johnsbury, Vermont, where her family lives, she says she couldn’t find any options. Other full-time camps in Burlington, Vermont, about a two-hour drive from their house, cost $400 per week.

By the time school starts in August, Kelley’s son will have attended day camps in Vermont, New Hampshire and Minnesota, where they’ll stay with relatives. All the camps cost between $150 and $400 per week.

“It sounds insane, but those were the best options within our budget, even planning months in advance,” the 50-year-old mom tells CNBC Make It. The local day camp they used last summer closed because of staffing shortages.

Kelley, a communications consultant who works from home full time, says she and her husband are spending “more than double” what they did last year on other child-care arrangements.

“Any time I run into other parents in line for coffee or at the park and ask how they’re doing, I see the same sleep-deprived expression reflecting back to me,” she says. “Summer shouldn’t feel this hard.” 

American families now spend nearly one-fifth of their income, an average of $800 per month, on child care, the Federal Reserve reports.

The rising cost of child care is not a seasonal issue, but the summer months can be especially challenging for families as schools close and parents are on the hook for day care, sleepaway camps and other expenses. 

The average cost of summer camp in the U.S. is about $87 a day, with sleepaway camp tuition at about $173 a day, according to the American Camp Association.

Years marked by inflation and a nationwide child-care crisis mean that families are more cash-strapped than usual. 

Summer camp isn’t an option for many households across the U.S. as 40% of parents say that they can’t afford such programs due to a higher cost of living, according to a recent Credit Karma survey of more than 2,000 U.S. adults. 

Of those who are sending their children to camp, nearly 30% are going into debt or resorting to buy-now, pay-later options to cover the cost. 

A separate report on summer parenting, released in June by the non-profit organization ParentsTogetherAction, found that 59% of parents have someone in their household who had to cut back on hours or leave a job because they can’t afford reliable seasonal child care.

In summers past, both of Margaret McGriff’s daughters, ages 7 and 12, would attend a day camp near their home in Lake Worth, Florida, Mondays through Fridays while she was at work. 

“It was the perfect setup,” McGriff, who is a single parent, says. “I’d drop them before driving to the office and pick them up on my way home around 5 p.m.”

This summer looks a lot different. After months of struggling with higher tax, grocery and gas bills, among other necessities, McGriff says she could only afford to send her younger daughter back to camp. 

The program costs about $2,000 per child, which means she’ll save $2,000 by keeping her 12-year-old daughter home for the summer. 

McGriff, who is a senior content strategist at Labor Finders, a staffing and recruitment firm in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, had to ask her boss if she could work mostly from home until August, as she couldn’t find a nanny or part-time camp for her eldest daughter within her budget. 

Instead of spending three days in-office each week as she normally would, McGriff is commuting once a week between June and August. On Wednesdays, her daughter comes with her to the office.

“I’m super fortunate to have that job flexibility, but it’s still been incredibly challenging to balance parenting and working full time,” McGriff, 42, says. “This is the first summer I haven’t had access to affordable child care. It’s just mentally exhausting.” 

McGriff says that, despite the unexpected challenges this summer brought, she and her daughter have grown “even closer” and are finding silver linings in being home together. 

Her older daughter has been reading, baking and completing workbooks to kill time while McGriff is at her job. In the evenings and on weekends, McGriff takes her children to museums, parks, the movie theater and other outings to make up for the field trips her oldest daughter is missing from not going to camp. 

Natasha Brown works from home as a data annotator from midnight until 8 a.m. five days a week, then clocks into her “second shift” as a working mother to six kids, all off from school and home for the summer. 

“It is complete chaos,” Brown, 40, says. “This has been the most stressful summer ever.” 

Brown and her husband, Christopher, live in Cumming, Georgia with their children — their youngest child just turned 1, and their oldest is 20 — and two dogs. Christopher also works from home full time as a data manager for a health tech company. 

Last summer, the parents hired a full-time nanny for about $800 per week to watch their four youngest children while they worked. The Browns would also send their children to part-time day camps and one-off activities like cello and singing lessons. 

This summer, however, Brown says they’ve been “crushed” by higher child-care costs and had no choice but to keep their children at home. Hiring another full-time nanny would’ve cost the family about $1,800 per week, more than double the amount it cost last year.

“At that rate, almost my entire paycheck, or my husband’s, would be spent on summer child care,” she says. “We want our son and daughters to have a fun summer but we don’t want to blow our savings to make that happen.”

Her two oldest children, who are 16 and 20, have summer jobs, and the younger three — ages 11, 9 and 5 — are taking online classes in French, Spanish, math, ballet and other subjects on the platform Outschool. Classes can cost as little as $10 or upwards of $100 depending on the subject.

Other than that, Brown says she’s tried to keep her children occupied with summer movie marathons and encouraging them to play outside with other children on their street and have sleepovers with their friends. 

She and her husband take turns watching their 1-year-old daughter when they’re not working. 

Brown estimates that she’s saving at least $3,000 by keeping her children home this summer — money that she’s planning to use toward a family trip to Martha’s Vineyard in September. 

“Even if we didn’t get the relaxing summer we hoped for, it’s a short-term sacrifice to ensure that our bills are paid, our children are comfortable and we don’t slip into debt,” she adds. “I still feel blessed to have that option.” 

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Growing up in Nara, Japan, I was surrounded by natural beauty, historic sites, long-held traditions and authentic, delicious food.

When I moved to the U.S. as an adult, I struggled a lot with the culture of fast and processed food. I was a busy, working parent and constantly felt ill or out of sorts because of my diet. So when I became a nutritionist, I decided to focus my work on sharing Japanese eating habits.

Anytime I return home, I am struck by the vibrancy of the elders in my community. Their secrets to longevity are eating with intention, and keeping Ikigai, a Japanese concept which translates to finding one’s purpose.

Here are the eight foods I always keep in my kitchen and eat every day to live a longer and happier life. 

My 99-year-old aunt starts every day with matcha, and so do I. I make sure to serve it in some of the special bowls she gifted me.

Green tea has many health benefits. It contains vitamin C, vitamin B, fiber and protein, as well as anti-inflammatory and illness-fighting polyphenols. Those naturally occurring compounds are high in antioxidants, the nutrients that protect against cell damage.

Since I was in high school, I have practiced Chado, the traditional Japanese tea ceremony for preparing green tea. Every morning, I sit meditatively with my matcha, chasen (bamboo whisk), hot water and bowl. 

Some of the most popular foods in Japan are miso (fermented soy paste, often used in soup), natto (fermented soybeans) and nukazuke (fermented veggies pickled in rice bran). 

Growing up, my father would always bring back a pile of daikon (radishes) and seasonal vegetables from his local farmer friends. I would sort the veggies, help pickle them and serve them with ginger.

Fermented foods are also packed with probiotics which help with digestion and absorption and can reduce the risk of disease.

Every region of Japan has unique types of miso and pickles, depending on the weather, crops, culture and lifestyle. It can sometimes be hard to get high–quality miso here in New York, so I make my own with three ingredients: soybeans, koji rice and sea salt.

In Japan, you can find seaweed — known as kaiso — in so many dishes and snacks. I think it is safe to say that I have consumed at least one bite of seaweed with each meal for as long as I can remember. 

This flavorful and sustainable staple has many health benefits. It’s low in calories and high in fiber. It also contains a variety of essential minerals and vitamins including iodine, iron, potassium, magnesium, vitamin B12 and omega-3 fatty acids.  

At any given time, there are probably anywhere from five to 10 types of seaweed in my kitchen. They all have different flavors and culinary uses.

For example, I’ll throw kombu seaweed into miso soup with some dried mushrooms, or make a salad with seaweeds like wakame and hijiki. Or I’ll use kanten seaweed and red bean paste to make yummy vegan sweets. 

Soybeans are a delicious and affordable daily staple, and I’m always careful to make sure that I’m choosing minimally processed soy products.

My kitchen is not complete without edamame, kinako (soy powder), unsweetened soy milk and, of course, homemade natto and miso. Soybeans are high in fiber, B-vitamins, potassium and polyphenols like isoflavone.

I love red beans, or azuki, too. They are rich in polyphenols, fiber, potassium, protein, B-vitamins — all of which can help prevent inflammation. Red beans are often found in soups and desserts, like wagashi, which are often served with green tea.

The ingredients for wagashi are very simple: red bean paste, sweet mochi rice and fruit. I make it at home without any additional sugar, swapping in dried fruit and cinnamon as natural sweeteners. 

I’m a big fan of tofu because it provides protein, like you would get from meat and dairy, but without any of the cholesterol. It’s also quite versatile. It is always on my shopping list because it can be used in so many different types of dishes.

During the course of the week, I might prepare it as a burger, in dumplings, with veggies in fried rice, in soup, in a vegan curry, in hummus, as a side dish, in salad dressing and sauces and even as dessert.

Sesame seeds are my culinary superhero! Roasted brown or black sesame seeds are a kitchen staple for me, as is tahini. I’ll typically stir fry vegetables and fried rice with ground sesame seeds or paste instead of the oil, to get the whole benefits.

Sesame seeds are high in vitamin B and E, protein, fiber, and minerals like magnesium, calcium and phytosterols, which can help manage cholesterol.

Shiitake is a foundational ingredient for many Japanese dishes. The mushroom is packed with protein and vitamins D and B. It also contains lentinan, a polysaccharide which can help fight inflammation. 

I use dried shiitake for overnight dashi (soup stock) with kombu seaweed, miso soup, dressings, vinegar, curry — basically everything.

I will typically buy organic mushrooms from the local farmers market, put them on a bamboo plate, and place them at the window. I’m not the only one who enjoys them. I found out the hard way that my neighborhood squirrels love them too. 

Not just in Japan, but around the world, ginger is known as a healing food. It helps boost immunity and metabolism. It is often my go-to for settling upset stomachs and relieving colds. 

Ginger enhances the flavor of dishes and protects food from spoiling.

I add a generous amount of ginger into miso soup and use it in dressings, sauces, marinades and sweets. It’s the perfect topping for nukazuke, natto, fish and noodles.

Growing up, one of my favorite things to eat was my mother’s umeboshi (pickled plums) with ginger and red shiso pickles. And all year round, to fight illness, I love a cup of ginger tea with dried goji berries, cinnamon, matcha and kudzu. 

I hope that some of my longevity favorites will find their way into your kitchens as well!

Michiko Tomioka, MBA, RDN is a certified nutritionist and longevity expert. Born and raised in Nara, Japan, her approach focuses on a plant-based diet. She has worked in nutritional roles at substance recovery centers, charter schools and food banks. Follow her on Instagram @michian_rd. 

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Many experts consider emotional intelligence a predictor of success and satisfaction. I see it as just one important component of something more substantial and even more empowering: mental strength. 

Mental strength is the ability to productively regulate your emotions as well as your thoughts and behaviors, especially in the face of adversity. I believe it is the success and leadership superpower of our times — the next EQ, only bigger.

I’ve studied and trained mentally strong leaders for decades and written my recent book on the subject. From my research and experience, I can tell you that mental strength is about what you must have the discipline to say and do, and to not say and do. 

Mentally strong people never do these seven things: 

Mentally strong people understand that we’re defined not by what knocks us down, but by how we get back up. 

They treat mistakes as missteps, not “mis-leaps” — meaning they’re careful not to exaggerate the negative impact of a setback. 

Instead, they look for opportunities to learn and grow when facing adversity, and stay focused on the best way forward. 

The Static Trap is:

• Failing to admit a problem exists, i.e., being static about it, ignoring signs of trouble, and doing nothing
• Making excuses and pointing fingers to blame others when the issue is eventually acknowledged, like by creating static, or distortion, around what’s really happening
• Continuing to be complacent or moving too slowly to address the real issue, remaining static even once it’s obvious something’s gone wrong

Tackling real problems is hard work. But mentally strong people aren’t daunted. They recognize the consequences of letting an issue fester. They don’t deny problems exist or bury their heads in the sand; they move quickly into problem-solving mode. 

Being mentally strong doesn’t mean never making mistakes. It means acknowledging your mistakes, learning and growing from them, and not repeating them. 

However, mentally strong people never make a mistake of motive. That means they don’t take ill-intentioned actions, like claiming credit for someone else’s work. 

To avoid this, when you feel motivated to act from an unhelpful place or solely out of self-interest, pause and ask yourself, “Does my intent have integrity?” If not, change course. 

Focusing too much on whether you’re getting the respect you believe you deserve can lead you down an unproductive path. You can spend too much time trying to right how you were wronged, for example, or stewing about how much credit you get.  

Instead, mentally strong people use the Give-Resist-Exude framework to focus on the actions that will ultimately earn them respect. Periodically ask yourself:

• What can I give? It’s wise to focus on giving more than you get. Share praise, credit, and knowledge freely. Always put in that extra 10% effort. Give your word and keep it. And don’t expect respect if you don’t give it to others. 
• What should I resist? For example, credit-grabbing, gossip, negativity, and blaming.
• What should I exude? Try professionalism, accountability, mastery, transparency, and authenticity.

Make your own list of what you want to give, resist, and exude, and the respect will roll in. 

Being mentally strong doesn’t mean you believe you’re great at everything you know a little bit about. Or, inversely, that you tamp down your belief in yourself in areas where you actually excel. 

Inaccurate self-assessments in either direction can cause real problems. Overestimating your skills might mean going into an event underprepared and overconfident, while underestimating your ability to succeed might mean shying away from career-enhancing projects and risks. 

Mentally strong people are thoughtful and honest about assessing how good or bad they are at something before they do it, so they can seek out and get the support or confidence boost they need. 

When your behavior and decisions fluctuate without any rhyme or reason, it creates uncertainty. People become confused about what to expect from you and they might start to see you as unfair. Inconsistency can erode trust in relationships and create a “learned inertia” where people avoid interactions with you altogether. 

Mentally strong people don’t act on unhelpful impulses. They manage their emotions so that their feelings don’t translate immediately into words and actions. 

They’re clear about their priorities and what they expect from others, and have a high say/do ratio — as in, they always (or almost always) follow through on doing the things they said they were going to do. 

Constantly trying to please everyone around you can cause you to put up false fronts, hold back, and bury the authentic you. All of that can quickly lead to burnout. 

Instead, do like mentally strong people do and don’t try to be everything to everyone in your world. 

Start with you. Ensure you’ve set healthy boundaries that allow you to take care of your needs. You’ll find better balance, feel more confident, and be able to help others in a more authentic way.

Scott Mautz is a popular speaker, trainer, and LinkedIn Learning instructor. He’s a former senior executive of Procter & Gamble, where he ran several of the company’s largest multi-billion-dollar businesses. He is the author of ”The Mentally Strong Leader: Build the Habits to Productively Regulate Your Emotions, Thoughts, and Behaviors.” Follow him on LinkedIn.

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Accepting the reality that everyone dies eventually is an important step toward appreciating the life you have left to live. It can help make the rest of your days more fulfilling and meaningful, author and “death doula” Alua Arthur told “The Happiness Lab,” a podcast hosted by Yale University psychology professor Laurie Santos, last week.

Arthur’s advice: Stand in front of a mirror, look into your eyes and repeat to yourself, “I’m going to die.”

The exercise can be “a little confronting,” Arthur acknowledged. But the mindset shift can have many beneficial effects: Embracing mortality leads people to be more compassionate, mindful and driven to achieve their goals in life, Santos said.

Arthur is the founder of Going With Grace, a Los Angeles-based end-of-life planning and support organization, and author of “Briefly Perfectly Human: Making an Authentic Life by Getting Real About the End,” which was published in April.

“If we can get more comfortable with the fact that living and dying is also happening … it maybe eases a bit of that fear” of death, she said on the podcast.

Arthur has spoken to hundreds of individuals about their final stages of life. One of her top takeaways: Too often, people focus on trying to construct meaning in their lives, rather than finding meaning in “the little things that bring us joy,” she said.

“Grounding in my mortality means that at some point I won’t have access to all these senses anymore,” Arthur said. “And so, how cool is it that I can feel cold on my hands? How cool is it that I have plates for me to eat off of?”

The concept of death awareness, or reminding yourself of your mortality, dates back at least to ancient Greek and Roman philosophy. It can put your life in perspective and motivate you to make the most of what you have, added Jodi Wellman, author of the book “You Only Die Once: How to Make It to the End with No Regrets,” during the podcast episode.

“An astonishing life doesn’t just happen to us. We have to take action towards it, but sometimes taking that bold step, it does take courage,” Wellman said.

Her favorite possession is a coin engraved with the Latin phrase memento mori, meaning, “Remember you must die.” Whenever she finds the coin in her purse, Wellman says to herself, “I am going to die soon.”

“It’s just that little, subtle reminder that says, ‘Oh, yeah, right, we’re temporary,’” she said.

To live a more satisfying life, it helps to anticipate possible regrets of omission, or “pre-grets” — things you wish you’d done but never ultimately did, Wellman wrote for CNBC Make It earlier this month.

Recline in bed, take a deep breath and identify your pre-grets, she suggested. Make a list, circling the entries that particularly matter to you. Then you can begin brainstorming your next move.

“An unflinching awareness of your pre-grets can change the trajectory of your life,” Wellman wrote. “That’s because we don’t have to continue down the paths we’re on and resign ourselves to regrets of omission. We don’t have to merely imagine the paths not taken.”

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They say everything’s bigger in Texas.

And between 2020 and 2023, that seems to have been true of population growth.

Nine of the 10 U.S. cities and towns where populations grew at the fastest clip during that period are found in the Lone Star State, according to the latest U.S. Census Bureau data on places with populations of 20,000 or more at any point between April 2020 and July 2023.

Here’s where populations changed the most from 2020 to 2023:

Celina, Texas, a city about 40 miles north of Dallas, earned the top spot as its population grew by more than 143% between 2020 and 2023. As of July 2020, the city had a humble population of just over 17,800. By July 2023, that number had swelled to more than 43,300, according to Census Bureau estimates.

Residents say Celina is incredibly safe, has excellent economic health and offers an overall great quality of life, according to a 2022 community engagement survey the city sponsored.

Fulshear, Texas, which lies about 30 miles west of Houston, experienced similar growth. Its population more than doubled, from 17,558 in 2020 to 42,616 in 2023.

On the flip side, Big Spring, Texas, had the fastest population decline of -14.8% over the three-year period. But it’s the only Texas city among the 10 U.S. cities and towns that saw the biggest population drops between 2020 and 2023.

While the cities that grew the fastest are fairly concentrated in Texas, places where populations shrank by the largest percentages are spread across eight states, primarily in the South and Western regions. California has three entries, including notoriously expensive San Francisco.

The population growth in many Texas towns may be attributed, at least in part, to the state’s relatively lower cost of living compared with many other states, plus its lack of personal income tax. Texas also ranked No. 3 in the nation in CNBC’s 2024 top states for business rankings.

The state’s population has been growing steadily and faster than nearly any other state since 2000, the Census Bureau reports. Despite its position along the Southern border, domestic migration has played a slightly larger role than international migration in Texas’ population growth, the agency finds.

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