Perpetual increase in expenses?

[Tresbn00]

It used to be where I could hardly wait to stop spending sixty dollars a month on Diapers but then baby number two came along and I was spending one hundred and twenty dollars. I had a brief reprieve until the kids went into day care at fifteen hundred dollars a month. When they graduated from daycare we were spending about one thousand dollars a month on sports which is now, in their teens, up to about seventeen hundred dollars a month plus twelve hundred dollars a month for my son's school and three hundred dollars a month for their car insurance .  Oh yeah...another fifty dollars a month for gas and ninety dollars for every test my daughter takes in her AP classes. Two years to college and both want to go to the best. I think I'll have a beer.

[potluck6]

Wait wait am I being punked or something 1000.00 a month on sports 12,000 a year for tuition. might go back and read this again.i had a son in baseball cost like nothing a month after a fee of 12.00 maybe .The diaper price was right but the rest wow how could you afford that forget the beer i'd be smoking crack.

[sdenimandlace1]

Wow that's real high for some of those thing. 

[hawkeye3210]

Over $20,000 a year on sports??? Sounds like a waste.

[bowrunner]

I didn't know it was possible to spend that much on sports.  Is it AAU sports?  It looks like you'll have to give up the beer.

[coreyw87]

Wow must be nice to have an extra thousand or more to spend on non-necessities.  A lot of people are cutting out everything except for absolute necessities and that is even if they can come up with the money for those.

[alamedann]

Wow must be nice to have an extra thousand or more to spend on non-necessities.  A lot of people are cutting out everything except for absolute necessities and that is even if they can come up with the money for those.

Not all of those things are non-necessities.  In order to get into the better/best colleges and universities, you need to prove you're really smart and the AP tests can help do that.  The competition to get into schools here in California, where I live, is incredibly fierce.  Where I live and the work I do, it's essential that you have at least a bachelor's degree.  And the better your school, the more likely you are to get better jobs after graduation.  $90 per AP test does seem really high though; but it saves hundreds of dollars later if you can get the credit.

[davidh121]

The AP test and possible college credit will be worth it, but I would be skeptical of the cost involved with the sports activities. Even when my daughter was in softball cost was nothing like this even when adding the extra spoils, such as personalized sports cards.

[potluck6]

I have some extra money this month and i'm gonna blow it on Tide detergent and Charmin because they are so expensive they are a luxury.

[ilovepatrick]

 i would have liked to had a child but they are expensive but worth it when i clicked this topic i thought it discussing hyperinflation fears

[blondie71]

My son is on his own now but I know how you feel! I am disabled and still have not got approved for disability after 11 years, so we live off my husbands SSI and its been rough, we have to gather junk together to get money to pay for our co-pays on our medications. I hate that people can't afford meds or grocieries or gas to get to the doctors.  I just stay home with my computer and tv.  That is why i am trying to help my husband out by going on line and making a little money every two to three months i would like to make a $100 a month between all the websites I am apart of but its been difficult.

[CHANEYLAKEGIRL]

Are your children expected to contribute in anyway? I could not afford to pay for the things you are paying for. My kids had to earn their own gas money. At a minimum they should help around the house and do chores.

[kapeh12]

Well, regarding the sports expect - it depends on the sport.  I've been involved with figure skating, and that type of expense is not uncommon.  Say they are really good, then your child will probably have 2 hours of ice time, 5 days a week, at $12/hour - that's $120/week or $480/month.  Then on top of that, they probably have a coach, and a cheap one would be $40/hour, and assume a half hour lesson per day - that's $100/week or $400/month.

Of course that would only be if your child is super dedicated.  But, for that sport, racking up $1000/month is completely believable.  I'm sure there are other similar sports between club fees, national memberships, coaching, personal training conditioning, etc - the expenses add up.

[samrhett2]

I am just shocked at the grocery store expenses.  No wonder so many people are on food stamps.  My son wanted a bag of Tortilla chips the other day and the price was $4.50!  I was shocked.  There is hardly anything in the store that is less than $4 unless it is something canned.  How the heck are people surviving?  I am slipping every month.  I never had this hard of a time in my life.  Does anyone else feel like these are the hardest times they ever experienced?