Photo by Jahansell
Dear Frugal Upstate,
I would love to see you do an entry on frugal sports or after school activities for kids, teens and even adults.
For example, I ice skated for many years before quitting. I’m getting back into it in the near future and am trying to find ways to make it more frugal. Ice skating is an expensive sport. You have skates (mine cost upwards of $400) and costumes if you compete. Thankfully my expensive skates still fit!
But I think it would be really neat to see a post or even a mini-series on frugality in doing after school sports and extra curricular activities for school age kids.
Thanks!
Elisabeth
Dear Elisabeth,
What an interesting and pertinent question! So far my sports/after school activities for the kiddos have been limited-they are only in 1st & 3rd grade.
We had a single year of dance for Princess, which I wrote about in “How to Cut Costs on Dance Lessons” and “Dying Ballet Shoes“, and this year Buddy is playing soccer.
For soccer the team provides the T-Shirts, but you have to buy the shin guards and knee high socks. Do you know how hard it is to find knee high socks for a 6yr old? The only ones I could find were the actual “soccer socks” that cost $6 a pair. Luckily for me they don’t require cleats at this age in our area, so he played in his sneakers till I found a pair of cleats at the thrift store for $3 that fit.
Even though I don’t have a lot of personal experience with expensive extracurriculars yet, I do have two suggestions.
1. Buy it used.
If there is any specialty equipment required (instruments, sports gear, ice skates etc) for the extracurricular activity, see if there is a way to purchase it used. Thrift stores, yard sales, Craigs List, Ebay, Classifieds, and Freecycle are all great ways to find items at a fraction of the cost of new! You can also try stores like “Play It Again Sports” which specializes in used sports equipment.
2. Ask Around.
Remember the old saying “Ask and ye shall receive”? If you need something, try asking around. You never know what your family or friends may have lurking in their attics or basement. For some reason people sometimes form strange nostalgic/guilty attachments to items which we no longer need but can’t quite get rid of. I know that personally I lugged the flute that my parents bought me in 2nd grade around through college and 4 military moves (note: I stopped playing the thing in highschool) until I finally a coworker mentioned needing one for her daughter. Presto-she got a free flute and I didn’t have to feel like I was “throwing out” a perfectly good instrument.
So what is the most expensive part of after school activities for all of you? What are your best ideas to help save money while letting your children participate? I’d love to hear your ideas!
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I agree after school activities can really ad up. My girls all play softball and we hand down equipment and buy used to help save. We also consign stuff we have out grown to help too.
At my house, extra cirricular sports have been a big part of managing my son’s ADHD. When we did kids wrestling club, we’d have an equipment trade night. If you were int eh sport for years, your kids got a new pari of wrestling shoes each year. They’d be barely worn before the kid outgrew them. We’d have everyone bring in their old, outgrown shoes and see what kinds of matches we could make.
Also, do online searches for equipment. Sometimes you can get a good deal and at other times the weekend sale at Dick’s Sporting Goods may be your best bet. Also, some pieces of equipment can be used year after year, a duffel bag, shin guards, heardgear… Also, you can wear soccer cleats for baseball but most leagues will not allow you to wear baseball cleats for soccer. Baseball cleats have extra cleats at the toe…
My boys have done soccer, baseball, wrestling, football and basketball and also band. As they have gotten older, the bigger expenses are realted to travling to games (admissions fees, food, hotels…) As often as you can, pack a cooler. Or, if you want to support the organization, pack drinks and plan to purchase a freshly grilled hot dog or hamburger. The hamburgers grilling on the charcoal grill at a cool football game smell so good. The burger tastes good, but the Diet coke I pull form my cooler does not taste any better than the diet coke I would purchase from the concession stand.
My over-zealous husband likes to buy our boys their own bats for baseball. And catcher’s gear. In little leagues, each team is usually supplied catcher’s gear. Get a package of wipes to wipe off the catchers mask as it goes from kid to kid. But be generous in allows teammates to use the bats ans helmets. But we did manage to find some of that equipment used.
This just reminded me that my 10 YO has his basketball shoes from last year that no longer fit and then he refused to wear as everyday shoes after the season. I will chekc the size and offer them up first to a classmate who is one of 5 kids and if they cannot use them, offer them up to the rest of the class. My son is the biggest in his class. It is a form of paying it forward. We’ve been given cleats and wrestling shoes over the years.
I introduced my 7-year old to downhill skiing last winter. He loved it, and I had fun after my 19 year hiatus! It’s a very expensive sport, though. I am looking to buy my skis and boots rather than rent. When I was a kid many communities had ski swaps in the late fall where individuals could sell their old skis and boots and buy new ones for their growing kids. With the new age of Craig’s list and Ebay I don’t know how popular these still are. Anyone know of one near Rochester, NY?
Frugality for afterschool/weekend sports and activities can come in pricing various activities and shopping around for equipment. My son loves playing many different sports. He also plays several instruments and is in Scouts.
-If he expresses an interest in an activity, I try to find the cheapest option for him. (ie- he has recently changed rugby clubs due to the rising costs at his original club. Or karate- I found the least expensive classes in our area.) Shop around.
– Another is try to get equipment that will do double duty. His Football (soccer) boots and socks can be used for rugby as well. Shirts, shorts and athletic shoes can be used for more than one sport.
-Ebay, thrift shops, yard sales, other parents, the internet and discount shops are all great places to get equipment for a cheaper price.
-Try to anticipate their needs. That way you won’t go out and buy the easily available but more expensive option.
If you become a member of a club, you can sometimes cut costs of the activity. For instance, my son plays saxophone for a marching band. We pay £22 a month for about 18 hours of music instruction a month where private lessons are £20-30/hour!
Another inexpensive option is your child’s school. After school clubs are either free or very cheap (my son currently has sax and guitar lessons as well as netball free from his school). Explore many avenues. Churches have youth activities at no or low costs. You know your child is in a wholesome environment and having fun. Scouts are another wholesome, fun outlet. Some town councils have special sports day camps free or low cost too.
If you volunteer, sometimes your child will get free or reduced fees.
-Activity equipment can be a great birthday or Christmas present, esp for the older and hard-to-buy-for kids. The giver knows they’ll be used and the kid (and parents) appreciate it.
Sorry for the monologue. So many people are worried about expenses in regards to children’s activities and there are opportunities out there waiting for them that don’t always cost an arm and a leg.
A mom whose son in the past year (most of the sports seasonal) played: soccer, American football, cricket, rugby, tennis, netball, athletics, karate, piano, sax, guitar and participated in Scouts and church youth club. Pheww! Makes me tired to think of it. (Most of these activites were free or VERY cheap.)
Hey I just wanted to let you know, I actually like the piece of writing on your site. But I am utilising Chromium on a machine running version 9.10 of Ubuntu and the UI aren’t quite satisfactory. Not a strong deal, I can still essentially read the articles and research for information, but just wanted to inform you about that. The navigation bar is kind of hard to apply with the config I’m running. Keep up the good work!
Thanks for letting me know. I am currently having a blog redesign implemented-hopefully that will resolve some of the issues!