TRying to live rich on a poor man's budget

[camismom]

On top of the ever ridiculously rising costs of gas, in the past couple weeks we have had to shell out a lot of money for back to school. First clothes, then supplies, dues, lunch money, locker fees, etc., etc. Now we have incurred the expenses of extra-curricular activities.

This is something I know alot of our members here face. Children in football, baseball and softball, soccer, cheerleading, and mine in swimming.

Last night we newbie parents to the swim team had a meeting to inform us of the costs, schedules, registration process, etc.. For the next two weeks our children will be having "try out" practices in which they will be assessed by the coaches for skill level so they can be properly placed. This two week session will cost 50.00. Then September 6th is team registration day. They want 70.00 that day as a one time registration fee, plus 125.00 for the first months fees for everything else. The 125.00 is due monthly for nine months. My child will get a shirt on registration day. That's nice. We get the summer months free. That's nice too. She will get valuable lessons from wonderful coaches that love kids and will hopefully gain some much needed self esteem. Hopefully this will lead to her reaching her goal of high school swim team and feeling as if there is someplace she can belong. All this will be worth the money, but I had no idea how much it would be.

It shocks me to hear how much these things are. Last time my oldest step-dd was here she told us how much all her cheering things cost and I about fainted. MAN! I guess only the rich were meant to play sports! ;D ;D ;D ;D

Thank goodness Andy has side work that keeps these extras going for us. If anything ever happens to prevent him from keeping it up, we'll have to find a nice bridge somewhere to live under. It'll have to be next to the river so Cami can practice her swimming.

Sportsmom, vickilyn, those of you with more than one child...how do you do it? ;D ;D

[amcfanny]

Wow - can't believe how much that costs! I couldn't afford it. Maybe someday she can get a swim scholarship for college! I have a niece that did that.

[camismom]

amcfanny said:

Wow - can't believe how much that costs! I couldn't afford it. Maybe someday she can get a swim scholarship for college! I have a niece that did that.

That would certainly be nice... and make this that much more worth it!

[Kaiti]

Oh Lord, :othis was Mikey and Tara's first year playing anything Family registrations were $40 a family. Plus they either had to sell 5 pizza's (which I don't care for) or I pay for the 5 pizzas.........Thank Goodness Tara used her little salesperson skills, I only had to buy out Mikey's pizza cost.

Then again, the leauge is just getting into "Little League" rules and such, with new ball fields and they are planning on soccer or something else........hopefully football, I am not driving out of town to take my kids to the practices and everything else.......that's too much in my eyes. Besides too much in gas.

We don't have wrestling here either, so we improvise and don't yell when Mikey and Mike start wrestling around.

Hey, I should charge them a entrance fee everytime they do that, just incase something breaks ;D ;D

[finnmom]

Christy, that is much I just figured out how it can really be a good thing that my kid´s dont have any event´s like that..... It´s good for our kid´s, but boy will they really take some money out of that

[vickilyn32]

Well for Ambers school cheerleading we paid $800.00 (per year)for the uniform, shoes, poms, megaphone, camp, camp cloths, duffle bag, graphics on megaphone, logo on uniform, warm-up suit, and Jacket for whoever wanted one. (of course Amber had to have the jacket too) For her competition cheer squad it is $1600.00 (per year)for uniform, comp fees, motels, warm-ups, bag, shoes, camp, comp music, coreographer (sp?), and 4 hours per week class. Her Dance classes are cheaper. $30 first class, second is half off(per month), and recital uniform is usually $70 (per year)each. For Dan I only need to buy Cleats and reciever gloves for football, and shoes for basketball and track. Oh I forgot Amber is in basketball and track this year, so that means she need shoes too. We bought her flute used, so we got it for $125 instead of over $1000.00 for a new one. If we did not have the kids (usually Amber) in so much I would not need to work. My paycheck goes for the kids stuff.

[sportsmom]

If we did not have the kids (usually Amber) in so much I would not need to work. My paycheck goes for the kids stuff.

Yep that is where my paycheck goes . I am always saying when the boys graduate from high school we will be rich~~~~~Hey Vic want to start planning for a cuise?? I was thinking Cancun would be nice ;D ;D ;D.

[vickilyn32]

Sounds good to me, I would love a cruise.LOL. I wish our school had more that Amber is interested in so it would be cheaper. Small schools dont offer much in extra activities. We have some sports, and some band, clubs etc, but not much. Everything Amber enjoys we have to go out of school for lessons etc, and pay for it. We also broke down this year and bought a new computer so Dan could have a good one to use now that he is in Highschool. Oh, I forgot he will have his license by next summer, so my insurance will go up, plus the cost of his car. My dad already bought it, so we dont have that expense.

[camismom]

My gosh Vick! I'm surprised you aren't living off tuna fish and crackers. lol
Hopefully Amber and Dan will look back one day and see how much you did for them and pay you back somehow. lol

[vickilyn32]

Well I look at it this way, If I dont keep them busy they will find something to do, and I probably wont like what it is. when I was in school there was nothing to do but roller skate and lots of kids would spent their friday and saturday nights out in some field getting drunk. (thank god I loved to rollerskate.LOL) I dont want my kids doing this, so I keep them busy and happy. Besides, someday if they become famous I can retire!

[kstquilter]

brittany didn't do anything in school but competed in dance and on the competitive team. it was very expensive. there were classes which numbered between 6-8 per week, all more than one hour each. then costumes which could get up around $100 ea and more when you added the various shoes and tights. competition fees were also in addition. luckily brittany was only in a handful of dances each year, most of the girls could be in as many as 12-15 dances each competition.
then there were mandatory summer classes and a weekend long dance retreat thing sometime during the year. then if you went to nationals, it always involved travel and accomodations for nearly a week. she danced from kindergarten to 11th grade and was on the competitive team from about 4th grade to 11th. to say nothing of the gas involved in running back and forth to the studio. we did some fund raising but tended to be the team parents doing most of the buying. of course they also all wanted the jacket and pants showing team name and the team bag. oh, and don't forget the knick knacks and t-shirts for sale at all the competitions!
of course now we have additional car insurance and repairs for two extra cars! not sure which is worse! don't forget about proms, yearbooks, and three long dresses each year for the dances during high school. then for the first couple of dances, there were manicures and hair updos! thank goodness brittany got past the need for that quickly. We didn't pay for everything but just helping out can run into money. also college tuition, luckily still at a community college but she'll probably be out of state next year.
i'm not sure this gets any better until they have their own place and job!
karen

[sportsmom]

Oh yes the dreadful insurance ......Riley is ready to go get his drivers license and I keep dragging my feet as I am not ready to put him on my insurance . I want to wait until I am back to work before that added expense starts but that will only be a few weeks more....

[camismom]

kstquilter said:

of course now we have additional car insurance and repairs for two extra cars! not sure which is worse! don't forget about proms, yearbooks, and three long dresses each year for the dances during high school. then for the first couple of dances, there were manicures and hair updos! thank goodness brittany got past the need for that quickly. We didn't pay for everything but just helping out can run into money. also college tuition, luckily still at a community college but she'll probably be out of state next year.
i'm not sure this gets any better until they have their own place and job!
karen

, gee thanks Karen. You give me so much to look forward to. ;D ;D It is true though isn't it? They seem to cost more the older they get.... gone are the days I could pay 10.00 for a pair of jeans at Walmart.

You know you bring up a good point though about fundraising. I was telling my dad last night about the costs involved and it reminded me they had mentioned fundraising too. Now, there are quite a number of kids in this program yet only four coaches. You figure anywhere from 100.00 to 125.00 per month per child, 70.00 registration fee per child, competitions fees are extra...paid for as you go and it doesn't include travel expense and yet they want me to do fundraising too?! Dang! Where is all the money going? Me thinks me will have to find out.

...let's see. Say there is 50 Hurricane swimmers (I'm sure there is probably more than that though) and each one pays a 70.00 registration...that is 3500.00. Now 50 kids times 100.00 a month (monthly fees are between 100.00 and 125.00 varying by ages) for 9 months...that is $45,000.00. Part-time pay for four coaches, payment for use of the YMCA facility, ... ok, guess that answers my question.

Guess the fundraising pays for the swim caps they get with the Hurricane logo on them. 8-

[kstquilter]

sorry christy! didn't mean to depress you already! they do seem to cost more every year tho. i have to say, i always knew where our dance money went. i think every cost was a seperate check and we knew exactly what it was for as a rule.
luckily my kids are designer name kids so we don't pay outrageous prices for clothes and shoes. but to just buy something at the average store can get expensive.
i think i would find out about where your money goes. makes it a little easier to write those checks!
karen

[camismom]

I know one thing...we sure are in the wrong business! lol I figured I counted at least 25 kids in the pool last night, so I'm guessing there was about that many in the younger group that practiced in the two hour slots before this group's time. I was wrong about the coaches though... there are three, not four. Again, I figure the money I mentioned before goes towards their pay and payment to the Y. The fundraising is due by March 15th in order for "swimmers to continue swimming past that date". "Each family is responsible for $250.00 net profit, either by fundraising or cash donation."

I WANT to ask where that money is going but I don't want to ruffle feathers.