Budgeting- kids activities

[quesyrah]

The last few months I have spent way too much on little things- going to lunch, snacks on the go etc.

In order to meet some financial goals that we're so close to I want to reign it in and set a reasonable budget.

We have several memberships (zoo, kids museum, science center, theme park) so I don't count the cost of those since their renewals already budgeted for (or are gifts).

So, how much would you say you spend a month doing things with the kids? Activities, lunches out, special treats (ice cream etc)?

[quesyrah]

Jun 25, 2015 23:08:15 GMT -5 @tooshort said:

Too much! I have a budget of $200 a month for fun money and blow that easily. I don't even know how. This summer has been much better because the park is free and the kids love it. I try my best to pack a lunch when I go out because I'm pretty sure most of my money goes on buying snacks and lunches. i also stated making a weekly calendar of activities so I can get an idea of how much I'm planning to spend each week. Individually they never seem that expensive but written out I can see how expensive my plans are.

Yes, I think the snacks and lunches are what's killing me. Sometimes we end up out longer than planned and we get hungry.

Today I portioned out pretzels, goldfish, cheese cubes, snap pea crisps, apple slices and grapes into single serve bags. When we head out I can grab a dry snack, a fruit and cheese for each kid.

[quesyrah]

Luckily we just moved to a community with an amazing pool (saltwater!) so we've been spending a few hours there each day and not going out as much which is a nice change .

[lexus]

Packing a snack and lunches saves me calories and money. In the past I've kept something that is shelf stable in the car for emergencies (granola bars, applesauce, etc). Can you look back at what you spent last month to get a realistic idea? I would start there.

[quesyrah]

Jun 26, 2015 1:12:27 GMT -5 lexus said:

Packing a snack and lunches saves me calories and money. In the past I've kept something that is shelf stable in the car for emergencies (granola bars, applesauce, etc). Can you look back at what you spent last month to get a realistic idea? I would start there.

Oh yes and the number is embarrassing. It needs to go way down

[lala]

This is one area I'm pretty good in. We take lunch and/or snacks practically every day it seems. I keep emergency snacks in the car, too.

We have memberships to the pool, museum & zoo, plus we can borrow others from the library. I don't spend much money on activities otherwise.

I am probably too strict about treats & lunch out.

Not sure how much I actually spend, less than $50. Probably way less some months.

[andrewsgal]

Jun 25, 2015 23:08:15 GMT -5 @tooshort said:

Too much! I have a budget of $200 a month for fun money and blow that easily. I don't even know how. This summer has been much better because the park is free and the kids love it. I try my best to pack a lunch when I go out because I'm pretty sure most of my money goes on buying snacks and lunches. i also stated making a weekly calendar of activities so I can get an idea of how much I'm planning to spend each week. Individually they never seem that expensive but written out I can see how expensive my plans are.

Yep this kills me too. I need to get better at packing snacks, drinks and lunch.

[dizzycooks]

I've basically set a rule for myself and eventually the kids that we don't buy treats when we are out unless daddy is there too. If it's a family outing we might have ice cream or stop at the coffee shop. Otherwise it's so rare they don't even ask. I pack lunch and snacks any day we are going out. I pack lunch and snacks all year for school so I just keep it up.
Right now the girls and I are oot visiting friends and I know it'll be more spends, but it's part of the experience and I can't just eat all their food
To answer your question, aside from swim lessons, I probably spend $40/month on extras like admission, parking and snacks?

[Kcthepouchh8r]

I have $20/week budgeted (including coffee on the go for me). I tend to not spend that much but I like that it's there. This time of year we definitely spend more on ice cream and frozen lemonade. We rarely spend money on activities due to memberships/plenty of free opportunities living in suburbs.

[lala]

Dizzy, my kids hardly ask either, which is why I feel like I've been too strict!

We will do swim lessons next month, but the cheapo town lessons, so $45 for both girls for 3 weeks.

I told myself I'd suck it up more this summer and buy treats at the pool. I just hate spending $2 on a 30 cent popsicle. When we are on vacation, I go full force treat mode, but every day I am cheap.

[justbecause]

We spend $20 a week, maybe.
We just started a summer playgroup that is $10 a week for the boys. I'm not sure about it (the $ goes to cover snacks and craft materials) because it's a bit of a drive through construction to get there.
We usually just plan on being home for lunch. Also, there are a lot of places that give kids lunch (regardless of income). So if we are at the library and it runs into lunch time, they give the boys a bag lunch. I think it's a nice program.
We also hit the playground and play in the yard a lot.

Maybe invest in a small cooler and pack lunch and snacks? My kids love a picnic.

[lexus]

Jun 26, 2015 1:41:47 GMT -5 quesyrah said:

Jun 26, 2015 1:12:27 GMT -5 lexus said:

Packing a snack and lunches saves me calories and money. In the past I've kept something that is shelf stable in the car for emergencies (granola bars, applesauce, etc). Can you look back at what you spent last month to get a realistic idea? I would start there.

Oh yes and the number is embarrassing. It needs to go way down

Haha ok. What about cutting out something specific that you noticed added up? I stopped getting Starbucks so often because I've switched to iced coffee instead of a latte. I can make regular coffee at home.

Unless you need to make the cuts to make it work financially, I would try to cut one or two specific things and do it gradually. If you go from $300 a month to $80 you and the kids are going to feel deprived.

[abs]

This is a huge issue for us. Summer is very expensive. Our only "free"/already paid for activities are the pool and Children's Museum. We go to the pool most afternoons during the week and the Children's Museum once a month. Everything else is pretty costly. We usually do a few weeks of swim lessons, gymnastics camp once or twice a week, and maybe a session of dance camp. All of that is budgeted for and fine. What gets us is the little things. $5 ice cream trip. $20 dollars at an impromptu lunch with friends. $8 admission to the bounce house. $4 shoes at "free" bowling. Random snacks if we stay out too long.

I'm a terrible actual SAHM and we are almost always running around doing something. I need to plan our meals better. I don't mind the occasional cake pop or frozen yogurt treat because that is part of summer IMO but grabbing fruit cups or chips out almost daily is extremely wasteful.

I refuse to add it all up but I do know it's at least cheaper than preschool tuition every month?

[erbear]

Depends on what we're doing (I'm not a SAHM most of the year, just the summer - I'm a teacher). I'd say we do a lot of "free"/already paid for things (park, playing at friends houses, pool, gym) but we do eat out lunch 1-2 times a week and dinner once a week. Not many snacks out (my kids are older - 4 and 6 - and don't snack really) but coffees.

We do 3 or 4 weeks of camp, which is expensive, but we paid for it in the early spring so already dealt with.

[minismama]

I signed DD up for a few weeks here and there of specialty camp and swim lessons and used the money that usually pays for preschool for those expenses. I am extremely reluctant to spend money at Starbucks and ice cream places and such. It always gets out of control. We do a lot of museum and zoo trip in the morning and I pack a picnic lunch to bring to the park afterwards. I always have granola bars and treats in my bag as well as drinks for them. I bought a nice to go coffee mug and I make my own coffee, espresso, cappuccinos at home and take them with us to avoid Starbucks. We invite friends over for lunchtime play dates and make sandwiches. We do Popsicles on the deck outside instead of a ice cream parlor. Of course occasionally we go. We just went out for ice cream yesterday between camp and swim but I'll tell ya the whole time I was thinking geez, $7 for 2 small ice creams, I could have had a whole gallon of ice cream from the grocery store and ate ice cream all week.

Maybe try figuring a realiStic budget and taking that much out in cash, then when it's gone, it's gone.

[mamaalysson]

I'm usually pretty good at packing us a picnic and snacks for while we are out (though I need more ideas for me - I am over pb & j). Once a month or so we will eat out at the burrito place that DD loves (it's less than $10 for the 3 of us). And rarely i take them to the corner cafe for breakfast (usually when I have neglected grocery shopping). We usually save trips to the ice cream shop, etc. for family days with DH. We have memberships to the big attractions, and the city has been doing this cool thing where every month a different attraction is featured and if you have a membership to one of the other participating attractions, admission is free for the month. That's been awesome. This summer we will visit a few places that we will need to pay admission for, and there is one park we like to go to that require a day use fee ($5). So, all told, maybe $200 a year?

ETA: Oops, I didn't include activities like classes. Yeah, that shit adds up. I just spent $100 on summer swim lessons, DD has three camps this summer that were all around $100 each, and both kids usually do some sort of all school year activity (dance or gymnastics so far) that runs us another $100ish a month. And now DS will do some kind of community center class in the fall - those are $20-30 a term.

[quesyrah]

Jun 26, 2015 9:07:36 GMT -5 minismama said:

I signed DD up for a few weeks here and there of specialty camp and swim lessons and used the money that usually pays for preschool for those expenses. I am extremely reluctant to spend money at Starbucks and ice cream places and such. It always gets out of control. We do a lot of museum and zoo trip in the morning and I pack a picnic lunch to bring to the park afterwards. I always have granola bars and treats in my bag as well as drinks for them. I bought a nice to go coffee mug and I make my own coffee, espresso, cappuccinos at home and take them with us to avoid Starbucks. We invite friends over for lunchtime play dates and make sandwiches. We do Popsicles on the deck outside instead of a ice cream parlor. Of course occasionally we go. We just went out for ice cream yesterday between camp and swim but I'll tell ya the whole time I was thinking geez, $7 for 2 small ice creams, I could have had a whole gallon of ice cream from the grocery store and ate ice cream all week.

Maybe try figuring a realiStic budget and taking that much out in cash, then when it's gone, it's gone.

Dude, I told DS at the mall the other day that we could get an ice cream. So we get to Ben & Jerry's and they want four fucking dollars for a scoop of ice cream!

[vlagrl]

honestly we rarely go out to lunch so we can save money and I bring snacks in my purse from home. It's summertime so she is out of dance till Sept and out of preschool as well. I enrolled her in a kids summer yoga camp with me for $51 for 4 visits and she did a 3 day hip hop dance camp for $75. That's all I got so far. We will go to the community pool this summer which is $6 per person per visit and parks which are free. Also visits to the library are free as well. We really keep everything in our budget tight.

[minismama]

Jun 26, 2015 13:26:48 GMT -5 quesyrah said:

Jun 26, 2015 9:07:36 GMT -5 minismama said:

I signed DD up for a few weeks here and there of specialty camp and swim lessons and used the money that usually pays for preschool for those expenses. I am extremely reluctant to spend money at Starbucks and ice cream places and such. It always gets out of control. We do a lot of museum and zoo trip in the morning and I pack a picnic lunch to bring to the park afterwards. I always have granola bars and treats in my bag as well as drinks for them. I bought a nice to go coffee mug and I make my own coffee, espresso, cappuccinos at home and take them with us to avoid Starbucks. We invite friends over for lunchtime play dates and make sandwiches. We do Popsicles on the deck outside instead of a ice cream parlor. Of course occasionally we go. We just went out for ice cream yesterday between camp and swim but I'll tell ya the whole time I was thinking geez, $7 for 2 small ice creams, I could have had a whole gallon of ice cream from the grocery store and ate ice cream all week.

Maybe try figuring a realiStic budget and taking that much out in cash, then when it's gone, it's gone.

Dude, I told DS at the mall the other day that we could get an ice cream. So we get to Ben & Jerry's and they want four fucking dollars for a scoop of ice cream!

I know! It's nuts! Kills me everytime.

[dizzycooks]

You guys inspired me today. We fed the goats and road the train at the zoo crazy I tell you!

[Deleted]

I also have to really reign in my splurging while out. I try to pack lunches and snack (like pp said, it's good for the budget AND calories).

We spend quite a bit each month on craft supplies. I mean...not a fortune...but like $50 maybe?

We always take refillable water bottles so we never have to buy drinks when we are out. (If we do go to a sit down restaurant of course we'll drink their drinks)...but just to be out or driving through we have water.

We try to stick to parks and our memberships...maybe look for coupons? I know our bowling and skating places offer coupons fairly regularly.