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Why We’re Spending More on Our Kids Now

June 5, 2023 By MelissaB 2 Comments

Teens laying on the ground in a circle with their heads together looking up and smiling

My husband and I have been on a tight budget throughout our marriage. Every year when summer rolled around, we tried to find free activities for the kids. That was easier because they were young and didn’t care as much. They liked going out to do things, free or not. However, our perspective has changed since the pandemic and living through social isolation. We’re spending more on our kids now, especially during the summer.

How This Summer Looks Different than Other Summers

This is the first summer that’s felt like “normal” since the pandemic, so we want to go out and do more.

In addition, our oldest son has moved out and is in college, and our younger two are now teenagers. We realize how quickly time goes and that we only have a few more years to make memories with our younger two while they still live with us.

We moved late last summer, and over the past nine months, our kids have made solid friendships and want to hang out with their friends. Luckily, we parents get along, too.

Finally, my husband and I are in a more comfortable financial position than ever, so we have a little wiggle room in the budget to do some fun activities that cost more than we usually spend.

What Activities Are We Doing This Summer?

We’re still searching for and enjoying free activities. We already went to the beach with friends and plan to do it again. We also plan to see a free Shakespeare play in a local park and attend some free concerts in the area. In addition, we got Kids Bowl Free passes and are bowling once or twice a week. (We did spend $16 for a season bowling shoe rental pass for each girl plus me and $30 for a pass for my husband and me to bowl, so this activity isn’t completely free.)

However, we’re also spending more and in ways that we haven’t before. These activities are new to us:

Ballroom Dancing

The girls are joining a group of friends and taking ballroom dance lessons. This will cost us $40 per girl per month, so $80 a month.

Attending a Concert

Their friend group is also going to see Fall Out Boy in concert. The girls are so excited to go to their first concert! Tickets were $66 a piece, which we said no to. However, when there was a flash sale and tickets were $25 a piece, we said yes. So the concert cost us $100.

Rock Climbing

Man climbing at an indoor rock climbing location

A local rock-climbing business has monthly passes for $75 per person, so the girls will get those one month this summer. It will cost us $150, but they will have unlimited access to the rock-climbing studio and all classes, so we plan to go there several times a week.

Final Thoughts

We aren’t being extravagant, but we are spending more this summer on activities with and for our kids. However, we’re still enjoying free activities to balance out the expenses. After the pandemic and our son moving out, we realize time is precious, and sometimes we must spend money to make memories.

Do your expenses go up in the summer? If so, what do you splurge on?

Read More

8 Free and Cheap Things to Do with Kids This Summer

How We’re Saving on Entertainment Costs

How to Live Without Money

MelissaB
MelissaB

Melissa is a writer and virtual assistant. She earned her Master’s from Southern Illinois University, and her Bachelor’s in English from the University of Michigan. When she’s not working, you can find her homeschooling her kids, reading a good book, or cooking. She resides in New York, where she loves the natural beauty of the area.

www.momsplans.com/

Filed Under: Children, Married Money Tagged With: free summer activities, summer activities, teenagers

How We’re Saving on Entertainment Costs

February 6, 2023 By MelissaB Leave a Comment

Saving on Entertainment

While we’ve weathered the recent bout of inflation fairly well, lately, we’ve encountered a situation that many other Americans have. Each month, we end up a bit short with more expenses than income. To compensate, we’ve had to dip into our emergency fund. I’ve resolved to stop that trend and tighten our budget. One of the easiest ways to tighten up is saving on entertainment costs.

How We’re Saving on Entertainment Costs

Even though we’re trying to save in this budget category, we still want to have fun with our kids and build memories. So, we’re trying to do that as frugally as possible while recognizing that sometimes we have to spend money to save. Here are the strategies we’re employing.

Buying a Museum Pass with Reciprocal Privileges

We bought an annual membership to our local science museum for $90. This museum participates in the Association of Science and Technology Centers (ASTC) Travel Passport Program, which means we can visit any of the 350 museums that participate nationwide for free or at a discount. We’ve already visited another museum 90 miles away, so in two visits (including one to our local museum), the membership has paid for itself. Any other museums we visit this year that participate in the program will not cost us anything.

Combine Frugality with Fun Activities

Saving on Entertainment

We plan to visit farms in the spring and summer to pick blueberries and strawberries. The kids enjoy picking the fruit, probably because they like eating the fruit fresh off the tree.

We also live in an area that frequently has festivals, so we plan to attend some.

Finally, our area also shows free movies outside during the summer, so we will attend several of those.

Utilize Our Library Card

Yes, you read that right. Our library card can help us save money on entertainment. Sure, the library offers us free books, movies, music, and presentations, but it does even more than that. Our library card offers discounts or free admission to 19 different area attractions. For example, with one purchased admission to our local art museum, we get one free entry for another family member. Of course, we first check what our library perks offer whenever we want to visit a local attraction.

Hiking

Recently, our family has been hiking every weekend. We did have to invest in hiking boots for all of us, but since then, we’ve not had to pay anything to hike local trails. This is an activity the kids enjoy and that we plan to continue year-round.

Final Thoughts

With a bit of research, we’ve discovered saving on entertainment costs for our family isn’t difficult. Of course, we need to be flexible with our plans and our activities, but this year we should cut our entertainment costs while still making memories with the kids. They grow up so quickly, and we only have a few years left before they go to college, so even on a budget, we still want to have fun with them.

Read More

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Find Your Frugal Tribe and Save Even More Money

8 Fun, Frugal Activities to Enjoy This Fall

Editors note: This article was made possible by Rebate Fanatic.  Rebate Fanatic is founded on the vision that users need a centralized location for the best coupons and deals online.  Visit Rebate Fanatic and start saving today.

MelissaB
MelissaB

Melissa is a writer and virtual assistant. She earned her Master’s from Southern Illinois University, and her Bachelor’s in English from the University of Michigan. When she’s not working, you can find her homeschooling her kids, reading a good book, or cooking. She resides in New York, where she loves the natural beauty of the area.

www.momsplans.com/

Filed Under: Children, Married Money Tagged With: entertainment, Family activities, frugal, frugal fun

How We Plan to Help Our Kids with College

January 23, 2023 By MelissaB Leave a Comment

How We Plan to Help Our Kids with College

My husband and I have been on a tight budget for most of our married life. Luckily, one of us has always worked at a college, so we planned to send our kids to college where ever we worked so that the kids would get a tuition discount. Since our budget was so tight, we didn’t have the money to save for college (we still drive an 18-year-old vehicle!), so this plan worked perfectly. . .until it didn’t. My husband couldn’t pass up an excellent job opportunity last year—our oldest’s senior year in high school—so he left his job at the university. While staying at his old job for the tuition discount was tempting, the new job offered a better position, more money, and more opportunities for advancement. However, we then had to work out how we plan to help our kids with college.

Since we had zero saved, we knew we’d have to take a non-traditional track to get our kids through college.

How We Plan to Help Our Kids with College

We had our kids in our mid-to-late 30s, so we are focused on retirement savings now that my husband has a better job. Still, we plan to help our kids with college as we can. Here is the plan. (We have one in college and two more who will be in college in the next four to five years.)

Pay for Community College

Our oldest currently attends a community college. He received a scholarship that pays half of his tuition. We cover the other half.

Likewise, we homeschool our younger two, so we plan to have them take dual credit classes at our local community college when they’re in high school. We will pay for those classes.

Pay for Some Living Expenses

Our oldest lives with a family relative out-of-state while attending community college. We pay for all of his groceries every month. We also pay for any medicine he needs, haircuts, and his college books.

He does not currently have a car, but if he gets one, he will be responsible for the gas and car insurance. (We’re hoping he waits as long as possible to get a car so he doesn’t have any added expenses.)

Give Them a Set Amount

When our oldest transfers from the community college to a four-year university, we have told him we have a set amount we can contribute to his education. He knows what that amount is. To pay the difference, he will need to take out loans and/or get a job. We’re hoping he chooses the most economical option, so he doesn’t saddle himself with student loans.

When our younger two go to college, we will also let them know the set amount we can pay each year.

Encourage Applying for Scholarships

We have encouraged all of our children to apply for college scholarships. The more scholarship money they can earn, the less they will hopefully have to pay in student loans.

Final Thoughts

College is costly. Unfortunately, our plan to get 50 percent off tuition at the university my husband was employed did not work because he left the job. While that was unexpected, we have found ways to help our kids pay for college.

Read More

Beware These Financial Pitfalls When Choosing a College,

How We’re Helping Our Teen Pay for College,

Help Your College Student by Adding Them as an Authorized User to Your Credit Card,

 

MelissaB
MelissaB

Melissa is a writer and virtual assistant. She earned her Master’s from Southern Illinois University, and her Bachelor’s in English from the University of Michigan. When she’s not working, you can find her homeschooling her kids, reading a good book, or cooking. She resides in New York, where she loves the natural beauty of the area.

www.momsplans.com/

Filed Under: Children, Married Money Tagged With: college, college expenses, higher education, parenting

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