• I knew I didn't want my four kids to graduate from college with student loan debt.
• I started saving for college when my oldest was in the first grade, and it's not enough.
• With three more kids heading to college, I'm overwhelmed financially.

I was with my four kids on the playground one day, talking with the other moms. We were chatting about school, work, and tiptoeing around the subject of finances.

One of the moms mentioned saving for college, and it felt like cold water was poured on me. I had a vague idea about tax-advantaged college savings plans; our diligent financial advisor had surely discussed them in one of our meetings. But the numbers — the 529s, 401ks, and 403bs — all swam together in my head.

However, I was confronted by the fact that someone else with small children was already planning for college. I felt like we had just started saving for retirement, and now I had to start thinking about another future — four of them.

Did I have to start worrying about this already? If I wanted to be anywhere close to ready when they graduated from high school, I did.

That was years ago, and now that college is here, I'm worried we'll never have enough.

We knew college was going to be difficult for my large family

My parents remortgaged their house to pay for my college. While I hope it doesn't come to that, my family is in a difficult situation. My husband and I make too much money for grants. I am a freelance writer, picking up as many gigs as I can, and my husband is a small-business owner.

After the pandemic and online school, all of my kids' grades plummeted while their anxiety skyrocketed, so scholarships are not an option for them.

I also knew that I wanted my kids to leave college without any student loan debt that they'd be paying off for the next 20 years.

That meant college tuition fell on my husband and me. In two years, we'll have two college tuitions to pay. In the next seven years, we will be paying for all four of my kids to go to college.

We started saving years ago, and it's not enough

Shortly after that mom's group, I called my advisor, and we started college savings plans for each kid. We have been saving since my college freshman was in first grade.

We automatically withdraw $100 a month for each kid, which is $400 a month out of the budget. That's no chump change, but it's not even close to enough.

We saved $1,200 a year per kid for nearly 12 years. That's not even enough for one year of tuition, books, and room and board.

My oldest son started school in September. We saved $14,400 for him and used our state's 529 plan, so it was invested and grew to a little over $20,000. He attends an in-state public school, and those savings still weren't enough.

He works in the summer and on breaks to help with costs. For the remaining amount, my husband and I squeeze it out of our budget. We're on a payment plan, so it's broken up — $3,300 a month rather than $13,200 all at once at the beginning of the semester.

Getting a good education is still worth it

Education is a core value in my family. Going to college will afford my kids so many opportunities. Thankfully, my son is thriving at school. Despite the expense, despite my feelings of overwhelm, I still think it's worth going. He's happy, and he's learning a lot — both in his classes and about himself.

The finances aren't his concern right now. My husband's business is doing great, and I'm taking on more writing gigs and a couple of side hustles. There will be vacations closer to home, and the new bathroom that I've wanted for a while won't happen.

We will get through these next 10 years; we will just keep our heads down and pay the bills as they come in.

When the overwhelm starts to kick in again, I check my son's texts. The smiling photos with his college roommates and the video of his rugby club remind me all this is worth it.

• My husband and I bought a storage unit business because we couldn't afford my daughter's college.
• The business is nothing like I expected, and the customers are real characters who are difficult.
• Although it can be a hard business to run, it pays for itself and for our daughter's tuition.

The good news is that I have a new pizza oven. The bad news is that it's bigger than my kitchen and weighs a ton.

It belonged to a restaurant owner who closed up shop, moved his equipment into a space at my storage-unit business, and then relocated to Eastern Europe. Before he left, he canceled his credit card payment.

A friend advised me to auction the pizza oven off. But my business is in a rural area, and no one here wants my oversize oven. In fact, I contacted every restaurant within a 40-mile radius offering this behemoth for free. I even called the local senior center and some churches just in case they wanted to add pizza production to their service offerings. No takers.

This is just one of the problems I now face as the unlikely owner of a storage-unit business.

We bought the business to make money for college tuition

When our daughter, Lauren, was born, my husband and I started a savings account to finance her college education. It's a great idea on paper, but by the time she was in middle school, we realized our efforts had been mostly thwarted by life's unexpected financial emergencies. Our savings would barely cover one year of college and then would be gone.

At a family meeting, we decided that instead of taking on student loans, we'd rather go into debt buying a business that would generate cash flow.

We found a fixer-upper mini storage business for sale and used Lauren's college savings as seed money to make the down payment. We paid $325,000, and it was a huge risk.

Owning a storage unit business is nothing like I expected

Before we bought the business, I assumed people would store their stuff, pay their rental fees, and eventually move on. I visualized a cycle of mostly passive income with the occasional hiccup that comes with any entrepreneurial project. I doubted that I'd get to know my customers because we wouldn't have much interaction.

Reality has been different. My phone number is posted on the side of a building. When people call about renting a unit, I'm the one who answers. I've learned that moving in or out of a storage facility often coincides with a life-changing event. People tell me their stories. They start new businesses and need space to store supplies. Spouses die, and survivors want to hold on to precious keepsakes. Moms get fed up with overflowing closets and want an orderly household. Renters get evicted and need to store furniture until they figure out a housing solution.

One man called in a panic. His U-Haul was full, and he wanted to unload it immediately. An hour later, after he dumped his mess and locked the door, he told me he was a landlord and that his tenant hadn't paid rent in a year. Courts had just given him possession of his property, but he was still required to store his tenant's possessions for a certain period of time. A month later, when his bill was due, he told me he wouldn't pay.

"Contact my tenant," he said. The tenant told me she didn't want the stuff either. Since my husband was out of town, Lauren and I shoveled out the unit — half-eaten pop tarts, soiled diapers, and wet laundry, along with every conceivable household item. We donated what was salvageable and took the rest to the landfill.

I also talk with customers when they can't pay their bills. One customer calls monthly to ask for extensions, and during our conversations, we've gotten to know each other. I learned he was feeding a colony of feral cats, and the expense of all that food was bankrupting him. Another customer called after he moved across the country. He said it didn't make sense to come back to California just to retrieve "that old junk." But then he told me that his mom's ashes were in his unit and started to cry.

Sometimes, I talk people out of renting units. One potential customer had just split up with her boyfriend, and as I explained the cost of renting storage space, I sensed her reluctance. She was worried about money. "Are you sure you want this space?" I asked. "What if you had a garage sale instead?"

"That's a great idea," she said. And just like that, I lost a customer.

Though it's difficult, the business works for us

Owning a mini storage business has been more interesting and challenging than I thought it would be.

So far, the income the business generates covers all its expenses and just enough to pay for college. It's enabled my family to pay for our daughter's college expenses without going into debt, and I've learned interesting lessons about business and humanity.

And if I ever need a fallback plan, it's given me a perfect leg up to start a pizzeria.