AIBU to ask how much you spend on activities?

[swlondonmumof2]

Going through our finances, and have worked out that we spend about £550 just on DD's extra curricular activities, including travel there as it involves trains/driving so petrol to some of them. she is a super active child and loves everything she does but it seems excessive. We've already stopped piano, which was £90 a month... She's nearly 8. I'm basically spending more than half my salary just on her activities.

She has a younger brother who doesn't do anything like the kind of stuff she does (too young) he does football which is about £50 a month. we don't have lots of money really, but DH is adamant that she is passionate about all the stuff she does and it's the best use of our money... Part of me thinks when we were kids there was no way we'd have had this much... But on the other hand, if we can give her these opportunities why not? Interested in opinions...

To be fair I am a good way north of where you live so that could account for some of the higher cost. Even so I pay £65 for 12 hours and then like you there is an additional cost once per year for the insurance (£60 I think). Like your DD mine loves the sport and has made some of her best friends there. She has also learnt a lot about team work and that hard work does pay off. It's definitely a worthwhile activity in my eyes.

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DS - walk climbing £12, diving £6.50, swimming £6.50, cookery £3, gymnastics £6 and Cubs about £3.. so that's £37 a week, or £144 a month.

Absolute life saver! My dd has never managed to make it through the full book without nodding off. Takes a while to get used to reading the hypnotic bits accurately but there are so YouTube videos on how to do it. HIH

Wrong thread. Ignore...

DS1 (6) does football, swimming and piano lessons which add up to £27 a week. He really enjoys them all. But if it started totting up to the amount the OP quoted, I'd have to ask him to prioritise.

Mine was annual obviously

Per month
£32 scouts (2 kids)
£48 piano
£30 swimming
£80 tutor
£40 althetics
£80 breakfast club

Approx £300 per month for two

Dd - £17 swimming, £16 sports
Ds- £20 music

Would like to do more but budget won't allow it at the moment.

DD is 9.

Per year (cos I can not be bothered to work it out monthly)
Dance: £284 (that is 30 mins modern, 30 mins tap, 45 mins ballet a week)
Brownies: £75
Forest school: £180

Then she sometimes takes part in theatre productions which might be about £70 a year.

This does not include dance clothes/exam fees.

She also wants to start an instrument, so this will go up quite a lot!

DD2 swimming club is £45 a month
DD1 swimming club is £55 a month
Swimming competitions add up, £5 per race; so a day with several races, drinks, lunch and spectator entry can end up costing around £50. Usually twice a month we have open meets, team comps cost less.

Ds swimming is £25 a month
Scouts and Cubs is £30 each per term. Camps and day trips with the scout group are very good value, a whole weekend will only cost £12 for dd1.

Horse riding is £40 a month.

About £60 a month for 3 wkly activities

If you shop around you will find the same activity at a cheaper price. I imagine she is going to stagecoach or perform and they are really expensive. Do you have a local theatre offering child acting classes? The football is expensive too. How
Many times a week is that for? You can find some local football teams that charge an awful lot less but I imagine you are at something like little kickers. And yes, I'm talking about London. Stop spending all that money, it's a waste, honestly!

DD (10)
Dancing (£58 per month)
Horse riding £60 per month
Ice skating lessons £24 per month (local lesuire centre)
Tumble £12 per month

DS (12)
Plays football with a club and trains 9 hrs a week (3 nights) plus games at weekends so don't have to pay anything but just the petrol to travel probably £30 a month

About £170 in total for the 2 of them and I feel it is excessive -in terms of time and money plus all the kit for DD. DD has done Brownies and swimming etc but is 10 and wants to do the activities her friends are doing. I am hoping to cut down her dancing this term so the cost would half and she would have one less night out as it's trying to get enough time to do homework properly. She loves all her activities and would sign up for everything but I felt last term she was getting tired and the homework was getting a bit rushed.

I think if she is that keen and you can manage, then let her do it, you seem to have a good activities/school/home relaxation balance.

She sounds like the sort of girl that would thrive in an independent school with lots of sport, and included activities, some offer included activities each day for no additional cost......though school fees are eye- wateringly expensive to begin with.

If she is bright too, have you thought of a bursary to get into the independent sector? Most schools love kids that are really super keen on myriad activities and as she does a couple to a good standard she may get a subsidised place.

You mentioned independant for secondary...this can be tough to move into depending on how competitive the schools are in your area, esp London.....if you could try to move her earlier on a bursary she could indulge and develop her sporting talents and be prepared for independent secondary with a scholarship.

If you do not qualify for bursaries then at least consider moving her a year before seniors to prepare her and give her a shot at scholarships.

A scary amount - oldest does a lot of extracurricular stuff (7 day a week) - 815 a term adds up to over 2.4k a year! Younger does less stuff - 530 a term so about 1600 a year. Wow, that's a lot all up! Thankfully all is local so no massive transport costs.

Costs don't include uniforms, dance shoes etc but we hand down, wear same ones for years if we can for those.

But having said this we are economical re buying clothes, go to free places for days out (woods, museums etc) and don't eat out/go to the cinema etc, throw big parties for birthdays, so it's manageable.

Every family is different as are children and what you can afford.
I spend over £30k on school fees which is about £2500 a month. I pay about £1350 for music lessons a year on top of that.

I just took the children skiing which cost a bit so it rather depends what you count as activities. So in our cases including schools I probably pay about £40k+ a year.

When the girls had a horse each at stables and show jumped that was very expensive too.

Just spend what you can afford.

DD (14)-
-Chemistry tutor once a week £30 for an hour.
DS 18- Gym membership £25 a month
DS 15- swimming once a week- £8 a week (£24 a month)
DS- 6- football (free at school), swimming (£24 a month)
DD 4- None, but she likes cooking at home and arts and crafts but not sports.
£193.00 a month on extra curriculum isn't bad for 5 kids!

A friend of DS called and asked if he can come over to play today, can they pick him up in 40 mins. I agreed, by nod a relief as I have lots of work stuff to get done. As mother of friend arrives to pick up, DS is buckled in. They are driving away when she opens the window and calls out that I can pick him up whenever suits me. AIBU to have expected her to drop him off?! Had I known I'd have to spend 40 mins picking him up (I have DD who would need to come wth) I would have politely declined the offer!

Ds's 8 and 6.

Dance lessons for both - £40 a month.
Football for both (one lesson, one match a week each) - £22 a month
Swimming for both - £36 a month
Guitar (ds1) - free at school
Yoga (ds2) - free at school

So just under £100 a month for two dc doing 4 extra activities a week out o school time - that's really good I think, although obviously the free school activities help!

I pay around £180 a month:
4 x dance classes
1 x swimming
1 x Kumon

My mum kindly pays for 2 other dance classes at a cost of around £50 a month. These are invitational classes for children that have been identified as talented. I'm sure that it's more about making money than about identifying talent but I was suckered in with the lure that my child is a special snow flake. I have no illusion that she is going to make it big or be a professional but she enjoys it and it's keeping her fit, building her confidence etc so why not.

This doesn't include equipment but I try to buy second hand anyway.

It does seem a lot OP but if you can afford it then why not. I don't drink or smoke, I don't go out much or buy a lot of clothes. I'd much rather spend money on DD and her activities. I'm very frugal in other ways.

Regular activity - £20 month football (2 x 1.5hr training sessions a week + match on Saturday). Plus cost of boots, transport etc probably adds another £30-£40 a month.

Other activities aren't clubs, just occasional swimming,bowls,cinema,climbing, trampolines, etc probably come to around £100-£150/month.

DC1 - karate and rock-climbing, approx £50 a month. £30 a year for Cubs.

Dc2 - rock-climbing and the odd horseriding lesson, Rainbows once a week approx £65

Dc3 swimming lessons. Rock-climbing. £40 a month.

It's recently come down for us as the older two are now good swimmers and no longer need lessons. That saved £50 a month.

I spend £200 at moment on DD 5 years old and DS 4 years old , soon he turns 5 gets more expense ! Where I can find music /piano for £36 pm?