The Kids' Activities Budget

Pay for sports, lessons, clubs and camps without the surprise months: the whole year of each activity, its cost per session attended, gear per season, one monthly set-aside, a family cap and the years ahead

KidBeast's Cost of Raising a Child Calculator takes one cost a month for each line, but children's activities do not bill that way. A soccer season arrives as a registration in February, another in August, a uniform, cleats and the fuel to every practice, so typed in as its monthly bill it costs nothing at all, and the lumps land in the months nobody planned for. The Kids' Activities Budget prices the whole year of each activity, divides it by the sessions your child actually attends, prices gear per season it fits, and lays every charge on a calendar with one monthly set-aside and the starting buffer that keeps it above zero. In its worked example, two children's three activities with monthly bills of $250 really cost $3,946 a year, $328.83 a month; $328.84 set aside monthly with a $111.44 buffer never runs dry, and over the years ahead the whole-year figures come to $28,340 against the $23,040 the bills alone would show. It is money and planning only: no coaching, health or baby advice, no club or brand named, helmets and mouthguards priced new, and every family, price and age in it is an example for you to replace. Included: 24 printable pages with 7 steps, a season cost sheet, a gear decision log, a year calendar and set-aside ledger, a family cap card, reference tables, a quickstart, and a personalised sheet worked from your own figures in the calculator.

Look inside

Two full pages from the plan, exactly as printed. Click either to read it at full size before you decide.

What is in it

• Step 1: the whole year of each activity by kind (fees, gear, uniform, travel, extras) and its true monthly cost beside the monthly bill
• Step 2: the cost per session your child actually attended, against the sessions on the schedule
• Step 3: gear priced per season it fits: buy, buy used, borrow or rent, with head and mouth protection always new
• Step 4: every charge on a twelve-month calendar, a set-aside rounded up to the cent, and the starting buffer worked to the cent
• Step 5: the family cap set before the sign-up, and a plan change judged on cost per session attended
• Step 6: camp counted net of the care it replaces, with the deposit and balance on the calendar
• Step 7: each activity run through the Cost of Raising a Child Calculator with an end age, and a yearly review month
• Four working pages: a season cost sheet, a gear decision log, a year calendar and set-aside ledger, and a family cap card
• Reference tables for the cost per attended session and the set-aside and buffer for a lump, and a quickstart that closes the score loop
• A personalised sheet: your monthly figure, what one more activity adds by the whole year, and the set-aside and buffer a lump needs

The plan picks up where the free Cost of Raising a Child Calculator leaves off. The calculator takes a cost a month for each line; sports seasons, lessons, clubs and camps arrive as registrations, uniforms, gear, travel and test or recital fees in lumps. The plan prices the whole year of each activity, divides it by the sessions your child actually attends, prices gear per season it fits (head and mouth protection always new), lays every charge on a calendar with one monthly set-aside and the starting buffer that keeps it above zero, fits the total under a family cap, counts camp net of the care it replaces, and runs each activity through the calculator with an end age. It is money and planning only: no coaching, health or baby advice, no club or brand named, and every figure in it is an example for you to replace.