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Kids Ain't Cheap

But They Sure Are Worth It

7 Unexpected Expenses as Your Kids Get Older

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Unexpected Expenses as Your Kids Get Older

My friend recently had a baby, and she has so much fun dressing him in cute clothing that she buys from Etsy. He has a better wardrobe than most adults! I understand her excitement in decking her baby out in adorable clothing (I did the same thing when I had my first child). However, I know her budget is tight, so I want to tell her, “Save some of that money for unexpected expenses as your kids get older,” but, of course, I don’t say that. Yet, parenthood has taught me that life will always throw you and your kids curve balls, which are often expensive!

Here are some unexpected expenses to plan for as your kids get older:

Larger Vehicle

You may think your current vehicle will suffice, especially if you only have one or two children. However, you may be surprised how quickly your family outgrows the car. We had a Toyota Echo when our first child was born, which I thought would be fine. However, we traveled frequently, and all the gear we had to bring for the baby didn’t fit in an Echo. So, in less than four months, we moved up to a minivan, which we still have 18 years later!

Don’t forget that your kids will likely want to bring friends to different activities, which is another reason you might need a bigger car.

Increased Grocery Bill

Everyone knows the grocery bill will increase when you have kids, but no one is prepared for the tween and teen years. Kids that age are growing rapidly, and they need a lot of food! When my son turned 11, I was shocked at how much he started to eat!

Private School or Homeschool

Public school is a good option for most kids, but some need a different environment, so their parents send them to private school. Or, parents like us might decide that homeschooling is a better option. Unfortunately, you may have planned for your kids to graduate from public school, so you’re unprepared to pay for private school or homeschooling when public school doesn’t work out.

Therapy for a Disability

Unexpected Expenses as Your Kids Get Older

No parent thinks their child will have a disability. I didn’t, yet, I have three kids, and each one has two diagnoses—two with autism, two with dyslexia, two with ADHD. These disabilities have cost us thousands of dollars in therapy that insurance would not cover. Thankfully, the therapy helped and the kids are doing great, but we did not anticipate having to pay for therapy, let alone having to spend so much.

Psychologist

Likewise, many kids, especially during COVID, needed a psychologist’s assistance. While most insurance plans cover psychologist appointments, you will likely have to pay a co-pay. Even if your co-pay is only $20 a session, you’re paying $1,080 over a year if your child goes once a week.

Electronics

Thirty years ago, parents didn’t have to pay a lot for electronics unless it was for a Nintendo or Atari game. Now, kids need laptops for their schoolwork, especially since some of the work (or all of it) may be online. In addition, most teens and tweens have cell phones that you’ll need to pay for.

I bought my youngest two simple Gabb phones, but they still run $50 monthly for two lines. Electronics expenses add up quickly!

High School Fund

A wise parent will start a high school fund when their children are young. Many activities in high school are pricey. Consider saving for

  • Class trips,
  • Homecoming,
  • Prom,
  • Senior pictures,
  • College application fees,
  • ACT or SAT prep and test fees

Final Thoughts

If you have a baby or a toddler, pour yourself into them, but remember, there are many unexpected expenses as your kids get older that you’ll want to save for now. Even though it’s cute to dress babies in adorable clothes, make sure you’re also saving for the future.

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Simple Ways to Create Memories with Your Kids

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Ways to Create Memories with Your Kids

Sometimes when your kids are little, every day might seem so LONG. The kids have endless needs you have to meet, and they might fuss, cry, or have tantrums. However, smiling older women look at you in the store and compliment your beautiful family and reminisce about their now-grown children. People tell you, “The days are long, but the years are short.” Yet, while you try to enjoy the days, sometimes you struggle. As your kids grow older (and it happens so quickly!), you realize that the time you have with them is fleeting, and you want to create memories with them. Here are some suggestions to do just that.

Simple Ways to Create Memories with Your Kids

Creating memories with your kids doesn’t have to be expensive. You simply need to spend your undivided time with them.

Actively Watch Their Sports

How often have you gone to kids’ sporting events and seen parents not watching the game but instead giving all of their attention to their smartphones? Put the phone aside and watch your kids. They notice, and they’ll appreciate that you spend time on them, not on the internet.

Have a Dedicated Movie Night

One fun family tradition is to have a dedicated movie time. In our family, we watch a movie on Sunday afternoon. This activity may not seem like much, but your kids will likely enjoy this tradition and remember it fondly when looking back on their childhoods.

Play Board Games

Likewise, you can have a family game night. Or, if you can’t play board games with the family that often, make a habit of playing a board game with your child at least once every two weeks. Your kids will enjoy playing the game and the time you gave them.

Read Aloud to Them

Ways to Create Memories with Your Kids

This family tradition is best started when your kids are young, though you can begin any time they’re in elementary school. When my kids were babies, I started reading aloud to them, and we never stopped. My younger kids are now 13 and 12, and I still read aloud to them every day. I’m sure this is one activity they’ll cherish and hopefully repeat with their children.

Have a Yes Day

Too often, we parents say no because it’s more convenient than saying yes. Challenge yourself to say yes one day and see how different the day will be. “Mom, can we go to the park?” Yes. “Can I bake a cake?” Yes. If the activity the children propose isn’t dangerous or out of your budget, try saying yes and see what happens.

Take Them on Vacation

Finally, if you have the means, take your children on vacation. Getting out of your element and exploring new places leads to family bonding, especially when you reminisce about your adventures years later.

Final Thoughts

Kids grow up too quickly. The older women in the stores are right—the days are long, but the years are short. Cherish the time you have by utilizing simple ways to create memories with your kids. You’ll be glad you did.

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Paying for Extracurriculars Without Breaking the Bank

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Paying for Extracurriculars
Kids are naturally curious and tend to get excited about sports, musical instruments, and all sorts of group activities.  While you may appreciate their enthusiasm, you also likely have to balance your budget. I’ve learned over the years that paying for extracurriculars without breaking the bank is possible.

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Low-Cost After School Activities for Kids

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More and more, parents are not content to let their kids stay home after school watching TV and playing video games.  Instead, they want their kids to be involved in activities that will help them grow and learn more.  Being involved in activities helps children’s personal development, but it will also help improve their college admission chances because colleges routinely look for well-rounded students who are not only strong academically, but are involved in a variety of activities.  However, most parents struggle to find appropriate activities because they are intimidated by the high price tag of some activities like playing an instrument or horse back riding.  If that is your concern, keep in mind that there are many low-cost after school activities for kids.

Low-Cost After School Activities for Kids

Low-Cost After School Activities for Kids

The following are great places to start when you’re searching for after school activities:

School Based Activities

The first place to look for low-cost after school activities for kids is at your child’s school.

Sports

Your child’s school likely offers a host of sports from football to baseball to volleyball to swimming to track and field.  Some of these sports will be completely free to participate in and others will require some equipment and perhaps some fund raising participation.

Many kids participate in one sport per season and stay very busy and active with that schedule.  Even better, they stay physically fit!

Clubs

Likewise, after school clubs are usually free.  When my son was younger, he participated in choir and art club, each of which met one time per week.  Now that he’s in high school, he joined the Model U.N. Club, which also meets once a week.

Depending on the size of your child’s school, there are likely to be a handful of clubs or many more.  Likely she can find one she wants to participate in.

Library Based Activities

Many people don’t consider the library when looking for low-cost after school activities for kids, but it’s a great place to look!  Our local library has many activities for kids and teens as I’m sure yours does also.

Games

Our library has a game night once per month, but there are also other get togethers for such things as Minecraft and Legos.

Chess Club

Low-Cost After School Activities for Kids

Photo by Wim van ‘t Einde on Unsplash

Once a month, our library has a chess club meeting.  Kids can bring a chess board and play against one another for two hours.  I’m always surprised to see how many kids are there.  Upwards of 20 to 25 kids come to play chess.

Teen Advisory Board

In our area, each local library hosts a teen advisory board once or twice per month.  All participants must be 13 to 18 years old.  Together, they help organize activities for the library, and they also have the option to volunteer when the library hosts activities.  Some weeks, they also do fun things such as receive specialized art lessons or do something good for the community like make cards for seniors.

Girl Scouts/Boy Scouts

Girl Scouts or Boy Scouts is another option.  You will have an initial upfront fee to buy the uniform and the book.  This runs about $80 to $100.  Then, there are fees for camping events and badges, so this isn’t the cheapest activity around.

However, by joining the Scouts, your child could keep quite busy between attending the meetings, going on camping trips and other outings, and working on badges.  Many adults fondly remember their time in scouting and say they learned a great deal that helped shape their lives.

Parks and Recreation Activities

Have you looked at your local parks and recreations or community center activities?  Depending on the area that you live in, you could find many activities from sports to arts and crafts.

My kids have regularly taken advantage of parks and recreations activities.  My son took swim lessons there, and my daughter has participated in several crafting classes as well as a gymnastics class when she was little.  What I love about activities through the parks and recreation or community center is that they’re low cost.  Depending on the activity, you pay $20 to $40 for a six-week class, and most supplies are included.

A word of warning, though.  Since these classes are such a bargain, they typically fill up quickly.  To be able to get a seat for your child, you may have to sign up early on the day that registration begins.

AYSO

One activity canvasing the United States is the American Youth Soccer Organization (AYSO).  AYSO is open to both boys and girls from three to 19.  There is an initial joining fee, and you’ll be required to sometimes bring snacks for the team.  You’ll also need to buy the proper equipment such as shin guards and cleats, but these can be bought second hand at a used sporting goods store.

Once your child joins AYSO, you can expect him to have practice two times per week (perhaps more depending on his age), and to have one game a week.  My son joined AYSO and had a wonderful coach, but when we played against other teams, I saw some less than stellar coaches that berated their players.  Make sure you have a coach who encourages and supports the children.

Church Groups

If you belong to a church, consider having your children join some of the church activities.  My daughter sings in our church choir and attends practice once a week.  My son is part of the teen group.  The teen group meets once a week for 1.5 hours, and they also participate in service activities and weekend retreats.

Church activities are typically free except for special events like retreats.

Final Thoughts

If you’re looking to get your child in an activity or two but you’re worried about the cost, rest assured that there are many low-cost after school activities for kids.  You’ll be glad your kids are more involved, and your kids will likely enjoy being out with friends doing something fun.  Plus, you’ll be laying the groundwork for college admissions, if that’s something your child wants to pursue in the future.

Enjoy Sporting Events at a Great Price!

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seats at a sporting eventWe are a sports loving family! The boys’ nursery was sports themed — and now, their bedroom is pretty much the same. Once we moved them to their bunk beds, we did away with the baby stuff and gave their room a “little-big kid” update. We purchased their first baseball gloves when they were still infants — and my Aunt and Uncle made sure they had even better quality baseball gloves for their 1st birthday. Once my Uncle found out A. was a lefty, he promptly went out and purchased him a left-handed glove.

We don’t push sports on our kids but they are surrounded by it. They are still too little to play organized sports (they’ve had soccer lessons but nothing competitive). However, N does love to play baseball — and has grand visions of being a catcher one day.

My husband and I love sports. I’m a huge Bears fan and enjoy watching just about any sport live. My husband follows a variety of sports; baseball, football, hockey, basketball and now that Portland has a pro-soccer team — he might be converted to a soccer fan as well. The boys know all the right teams to cheer for. Although, I’m afraid when they go through their rebellious stage — they’ll, also know the teams they can root for, to drive my husband and I crazy!  I am also proud to say that the boys can recognize logos of quite a few sports teams – at least the important ones anyway. And if you are wondering — no, we don’t quiz them with flash cards.

 

Free Sports Events

Attending professional sporting events can be spendy but there are a lot of other options. For instance, our boys love going to any sporting event, especially ones where they can see their “big kid” friends play. These sporting events are usually free – or cost very little – to enjoy. These games may not have all the thrill and excitement of pro games – but for little ones – they will just love the atmosphere and some great bonding time.

We actually took the boys to their first little league game, when they were only about a month old. Of course they slept through the game  — but I could tell they were really happy to be there. They went to their first middle school football game when they were less than a year old. They liked it, until my friend cheered for her son’s team — which scared A. Actually, he cried through the rest of the game. I am happy to report that he had a much better time the following year — and cheered along with the crowd.

 

Low Price Sporting Events

Semi-pro teams are also a fantastic way to take in a game without spending a ton of money. We actually just took the boys to watch our town’s semi-pro basketball team. Total cost for 2 adults, 2 children, 2 bags of chips , and a bottle of water — $13. You can barely get one person into a movie for that amount of cash! The team plays at the local community college, and it’s a great time for the whole family.

They do free face painting, they are always giving away things, and they even had a station set up so people can make signs, to show the team support. The best part is, if the kids are having a tough time sitting still, or get too tired to be there — you don’t feel like you are wasting money if you need to leave early.

Check out your local area. You may discover a team you didn’t even know about (like we did last year–we had no idea our town had a semi-pro basketball team). Tickets to semi-pro baseball, hockey, car racing, etc. won’t break the bank and you’ll make fabulous memories with the kiddos!

Finally, if you want to really surprise your family or spouse, you can put together a sports package and go see a major sports team or sporting event.  For example, you could find a discount sports package through a service like RoadTrips, and you could get into a great event for a good price.  I’ve done this for my husband’s birthday, and we had a blast.

How do you work sporting events into your budget?