August 1, 2025 • 10 mins
Remember when a stick and some imagination were all we needed to have a good time? Fast forward to today, and kids’ interests come with schedules, equipment lists, and a surprising amount of logistics. Whether it's gymnastics on Tuesday, coding club on Thursday, or suddenly needing cleats right now for soccer tryouts, raising passionate, curious kids can feel like managing a small startup. In this episode, we're pulling back the curtain on the real cost of extracurriculars—and how to keep the dream alive without draining your bank account . So, how can I afford my kids’ activities without going broke? Grab a seat and let’s get into it!
Check out the full podcast episode here
Kids these days are like little tornadoes of energy, wanting to do everything from soccer to piano to robotics. And while it's awesome to see them so pumped about exploring their passions, let’s be real for a sec – that enthusiasm comes with a price tag. As parents, we often find ourselves in that classic tug-of-war: do we say yes and support their dreams, or do we clutch our wallets and think about the budget? In this episode, we’re diving into the nitty-gritty of how to manage extracurricular costs without losing our minds (or our savings).
Picture this: I drop a funny story about my own childhood attempt to become a tuba player after a random guy in school called me out on it. Spoiler alert: I ended up with a trumpet instead because, well, the tuba was a bit out of the price range. We talk about how every new interest your kid picks up can lead to a whole new set of expenses – registration fees, gear, travel costs, the whole shebang. So how do we keep our cool while still letting our kids try new things?
The key point I hammer home is about prioritization. Not every opportunity is a must-have, and it’s totally okay to say no sometimes. We talk about creating a simple extracurricular plan, sticking to a budget, and finding that sweet spot between joy and wise spending. By the end of this episode, you’ll be armed with actionable steps to help your family enjoy activities without breaking the bank. Let’s make sure we’re saying yes to what truly matters while keeping our financial sanity intact!
Takeaways:
- Kids have a ton of interests, but every activity comes with a price tag, right?
- It's super important to prioritize what your kids really want to do and what fits the budget.
- Not every opportunity is a must; learn to say no sometimes to avoid financial strain.
- Creating a budget for extracurricular activities will help keep your finances in check and avoid overspending.
- Researching the true costs of activities is key, from gear to travel expenses, keep it real!
- Kids appreciate limits, so teaching them about money management now will totally pay off later.
Links referenced in this episode:
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Your child wants to do it all.I'm talking soccer, piano, robotics.
But you're quietly askingyourself, can my budget keep up?
What if you could say yeswithout the financial stress? Well,
stick with me today becauseI'm sharing my strategy for managing
extracurricular cost so thatyour kids can do all those things
that you would hope they'd beable to do. That's what I'm going
(00:21):
to cover on today's show.
This is Financially ConfidentChristian, your daily dose of gospel,
grounded insight and faithdriven tips to help you break the
cycle of financial shame with confidence.
Hey there and welcome back toFinancially Confident Christian.
I'm Ralph and we're in ourseries Smart Money for Back to School
and beyond. Now if you missedyesterday's show, we talked about
(00:43):
doing clothing on a budget. Wetalked about thrifting and smart
sales. So if you missed it,I'm going to encourage you to go
check it out. You can do thatalways@financially confidentchristian.com.
now today we're going to coveranother big one and that's managing
the cost of kids activities.Listen, I can still remember your
funny story here. I can stillremember going, going into fourth
(01:04):
grade. I remember I waswalking down the hall in my, my new
school at the time it was inWilmington, Delaware as a matter
of fact. And I'm walking downthe hall and all of a sudden this
big tall, lanky guy comesaround the corner. He says, hey,
you look like a tuba player. Isaid, well, not really sure what
a tuba player looks like, butlooking back at it now, I guess because
I was big enough to carry it.So I can still remember I got off
(01:26):
the bus that day, ran to thehouse, ran in the front door and
I said, mom, mom, listen, I'vegot some great news. I'm going to
be a tuba player. Now ofcourse my mom looked at me like I
was nuts. She's like, what?First of all, I don't even know if
she knew what a tuba was. Andsecond is okay, but what does that
mean? So I told my mom myplan. I said listen, I talked to
the band director and he saidthat you can go to the such and such
(01:47):
a store and we can rent a tubaand he's going to show me how to
play the tuba and I'm going tobe in the band and I'm going to do
all these things. So of coursemy mom was one, hey, you know, she's
on board. So we that afterdinner we raced off to the music
store. I remember we walked inthe Front door of the store. And,
man, there was. There wasinstruments just lying in the walls.
I mean, you just picture this.If you. This line in the walls, every
(02:08):
kind of instrument that youcan imagine. And then all of a sudden,
I look, and in the corner ofmy eye, I see the tuba. As a matter
of fact, at this point, it'swhat's called a sousaphone. That's
one of those ones that wrapsaround your head, and it's got a
big horn on the top. So I saidto the guy at the store, he's like,
hey, what can I help you with?I said, hey, man, I want to Renatuba.
Well, it was like he wascrushing my dreams. He says, listen,
(02:29):
we don't rent tubas. So Isaid, okay, well, let's just buy
one. Looked at my mom and Isaid, hey, mom, you know what? Here's
what we can do. We can justbuy one. And she says, son, I don't
know about buying one. I mightbe able to rent you one. But buying
one. She goes, well, let'sfind out how much the price is. So
the guy comes out, he goes,yeah, that one right over there is
$5,000. My mom says, no,you're not going to be renting a
(02:52):
tuba. So, of course, my dreamsare shattered. But the guy says to
me, says, hey, you know, youknow what you really look like? He
said, you look like a trumpetplayer. So guess what? That night,
we walked out the door with alittle box and a trumpet inside of
it. It was still expensive,but she was able to rent it. I went
back to school the next day,and I said to the band director,
I said, hey, guess what? I gota little tuba. It's called a trumpet.
(03:13):
Looked at me like I was crazy.Says, well, we'll make that do. Now,
turns out I can tell thisstory. No, they end up playing tuba
in junior high school, upthrough college, and to this day,
I've never actually owned atuba. But the truth is, as we look
at this, every interest thatyour child has is a new cost. Things
like registration, things likegear, and things like travel. And
(03:35):
if you're like me, you want tosupport them, you want to support
your kids. But as my momlearned, those expenses add up fast.
And all of a sudden, you'restarting to feel torn. You're thinking,
do I invest in their passions?I want my children to explore new
things. I remember when mykids were young, one of them wanted
to play the drums, and we wentout and bought a drum set. Another
one wanted to play the guitar.I wanted to invest in their passions.
(03:58):
But you also have to bewondering about will I be able to
protect my budget? And see,that tension right there is what
I'm talking about that'spalatable today. And it leads to
overspending and sometimes, ifyou're not careful, can lead to resentment
on both parties. But here'sthe thing I want you to understand
today. As I learned with thetuba, not every opportunity is essential.
(04:23):
And the key is prioritization.Prioritization is a powerful thing.
Let's look at the word of Godabout this. From the Book of Proverbs,
chapter 4, verse 7 says, thiswisdom is supreme, therefore get
wisdom. What a great verse.Wisdom is supreme. So get wisdom.
Let's move on to Philippians,chapter 4, verses 11 to 13. This
(04:46):
is what it says, not that Ispeak in regard to need. For I have
learned whatever state I am tobe content. I know how to be abased,
and I know how to abound.Everywhere and in all things. I have
learned to be both full and tobe hungry, both to abound and to
suffer need. And of course,this ends the most, probably the
most beautiful verse of theBible. I can do all things through
(05:08):
Christ, who strengthens me. Sowhat I want you to do is focus on
saying yes to what mattersmost and do it with peace. And the
way you do that is to teachyour kids to discern value and timing,
because you don't have to doeverything. In fact, to be very candid
with you, I think kids aredoing too much. So now you're asking
(05:28):
Ralph, okay, what can we do?How do we solve this dilemma? What's
the solution? Well, as normal,I've got a solution that's create
a simple extracurricular planand stick to a budget that fits your
family. You got to learn tobalance joy, balance growth, and
also balance wise stewardship.Because like I said before, kids
do too much at times. Sohere's your one action step for today.
(05:51):
I want you to start by listingout all of those activities. And
listen, these kids today, theydo all kinds of stuff. Not. Not that
I'm against that, but, I mean,sometimes I feel like these parents
are like taxicab services. Butstart with that. List all the activities.
Brainstorm everything yourkids are interested in. Write every
single thing down. Maybe theylike drama. Maybe they want to play
the tuba like Ralph. They wantto do, you know, sports. They want
(06:14):
to what? All those things are.Brainstorm everything your kids are
interested in and write it alldown. So that's the first step, second
step. Is really research thetrue cost of those things. And I'm
talking about under the hoodresearch. What is the registration
fees, what are supplies youneed? What are the uniforms? Hey,
when I played in high schoolmarching band, there were uniform
components I had to buy. Isthere travel? A lot of these sports
(06:36):
teams do travel. And what arethe deadlines? So really research
those true costs and get tothose things so that you can put
those on the list. And then asa family, step number three, prioritize
these things. You know, you'regoing to have to learn and teach
your kids that they havelimited resources. So choose one
or two per child that fit yourbudget and fit your values. And sometimes
(06:58):
you're going to have to saythis with tough love. Say, hey, listen,
not this season. Sometimesyou're gonna have to say your kid,
look, way people do that nextseason. Let's. Let's pick two things
right now. I can only imagineI came home and said to my mom, hey,
I want to go get a tuba. Andthen I want to go get a football
uniform, and I'm gonna getthis and that. And she'd have been
like, wait a minute, there'sonly so much you can do. So this
is a time to prioritize thatas a family and let your children
(07:21):
get involved. Make one or twothings that fit, and I want you do
that. Reduce the cost. Hey,one of the things you can do is look
for secondhand gear. There's alot of secondhand gear on. Because
here's the thing about kids inschool. A lot of times they'll try
stuff and they find I don'treally like that so much. Now, I
didn't really spend a lot oftime looking for used tubas. Maybe
I could have and found one.But there's also scholarships, there's
(07:43):
volunteer discounts, there'scarpooling. There's always to reduce
costs. And then once youfigure out, okay, here's the way
I can reduce those costs, thenbudget it. This is a time to add
that extracurricular lineright to your budget, right to that
monthly budget. Plan and fundit intentionally, because this helps
keep your budget in check.See, that's the key. And kids appreciate
(08:05):
limits and kids appreciatevalues. Now, that might be contrary
to popular belief, but I trulybelieve when my mom said to me, listen,
son, I'm not buying that$5,000 tuba at the time, I was like,
eh, that stinks. But I got atrumpet anyway out of the deal. But
kids really do appreciatelimits and they appreciate values,
and that's going to be thingsthat are going to. They're going
(08:26):
to pay dividends for them forlife. And it. And it reduces family
stress and it reduces familyguilt. And it builds a margin for
generosity and other goals.How about we pray together? Father?
God, we just thank you for thetalents and the passions you've placed
in our children. We are sograteful that you've given those
passions, those interests,Lord. And we confess that managing
(08:47):
activity costs can beoverwhelming. It can feel really
overwhelming for us at times,Lord. So we ask that you would just
give us wisdom to discern whataligns with our values and your will.
Lord, help us to really livein. And Lord, help us to support
our children's growth withoutsacrificing the peace of our home,
without sacrificing ourbudgets and that margin. We need
(09:08):
to really be successfulstewards of the resources you've
given. Lord, we ask that ourdecisions will be guided by your
stewardship and your joy. Andwe ask this with confidence in Jesus
name, Amen. Listen, you cansay yes to your kids and yes to your
peace at the same time. Youcan do it. Just make your extracurricular
(09:30):
plan today. You're movingforward with intentional family freedom.
Now, as we're talking aboutbeing intentional, I would really
like you to intentionallyshare the show with somebody today.
Maybe you've got a friend ormaybe your neighbor or somebody else
that's going through thesesame type of situations with this
back to school stuff. Youcould just send them a text or send
them an email. Hey, pick upthe phone and say, hey, I heard your
(09:51):
kid wants to get involved insoccer or football or whatever those
wrestling, whatever thosethings are, and say, hey, I listened
to this guy Ralph. He does adaily Christian finance show and
he had some really great ideasabout how to create a good atmosphere
for that. You can send them tofinanciallyconfidentchristian.com and
listen, the more we share, thebetter we're all going to be. Now,
(10:12):
tomorrow we're going to betalking about teaching your kids
financial literacy. Say we'retalking about back to school. Well,
let's talk about building somefinancial literacy because starting
young and starting strong isgoing to help them get established
habits for life. So Iencourage you not to miss it. Now,
as you go out today, let's allbe financially confident Christians.
You can do this. I believe inyou, believe in yourself, stay financially
(10:36):
savvy. God bless you and youhave a great day today.
Your child wants to do it all.I'm talking soccer, piano, robotics.
But you're quietly askingyourself, can my budget keep up?
What if you could say yeswithout the financial stress? Well,
stick with me today becauseI'm sharing my strategy for managing
extracurricular cost so thatyour kids can do all those things
that you would hope they'd beable to do. That's what I'm going
(00:21):
to cover on today's show.
This is Financially ConfidentChristian, your daily dose of gospel,
grounded insight and faithdriven tips to help you break the
cycle of financial shame with confidence.
Hey there and welcome back toFinancially Confident Christian.
I'm Ralph and we're in ourseries Smart Money for Back to School
and beyond. Now if you missedyesterday's show, we talked about
(00:43):
doing clothing on a budget. Wetalked about thrifting and smart
sales. So if you missed it,I'm going to encourage you to go
check it out. You can do thatalways@financially confidentchristian.com.
now today we're going to coveranother big one and that's managing
the cost of kids activities.Listen, I can still remember your
funny story here. I can stillremember going, going into fourth
(01:04):
grade. I remember I waswalking down the hall in my, my new
school at the time it was inWilmington, Delaware as a matter
of fact. And I'm walking downthe hall and all of a sudden this
big tall, lanky guy comesaround the corner. He says, hey,
you look like a tuba player. Isaid, well, not really sure what
a tuba player looks like, butlooking back at it now, I guess because
I was big enough to carry it.So I can still remember I got off
(01:26):
the bus that day, ran to thehouse, ran in the front door and
I said, mom, mom, listen, I'vegot some great news. I'm going to
be a tuba player. Now ofcourse my mom looked at me like I
was nuts. She's like, what?First of all, I don't even know if
she knew what a tuba was. Andsecond is okay, but what does that
mean? So I told my mom myplan. I said listen, I talked to
the band director and he saidthat you can go to the such and such
(01:47):
a store and we can rent a tubaand he's going to show me how to
play the tuba and I'm going tobe in the band and I'm going to do
all these things. So of coursemy mom was one, hey, you know, she's
on board. So we that afterdinner we raced off to the music
store. I remember we walked inthe Front door of the store. And,
man, there was. There wasinstruments just lying in the walls.
I mean, you just picture this.If you. This line in the walls, every
(02:08):
kind of instrument that youcan imagine. And then all of a sudden,
I look, and in the corner ofmy eye, I see the tuba. As a matter
of fact, at this point, it'swhat's called a sousaphone. That's
one of those ones that wrapsaround your head, and it's got a
big horn on the top. So I saidto the guy at the store, he's like,
hey, what can I help you with?I said, hey, man, I want to Renatuba.
Well, it was like he wascrushing my dreams. He says, listen,
(02:29):
we don't rent tubas. So Isaid, okay, well, let's just buy
one. Looked at my mom and Isaid, hey, mom, you know what? Here's
what we can do. We can justbuy one. And she says, son, I don't
know about buying one. I mightbe able to rent you one. But buying
one. She goes, well, let'sfind out how much the price is. So
the guy comes out, he goes,yeah, that one right over there is
$5,000. My mom says, no,you're not going to be renting a
(02:52):
tuba. So, of course, my dreamsare shattered. But the guy says to
me, says, hey, you know, youknow what you really look like? He
said, you look like a trumpetplayer. So guess what? That night,
we walked out the door with alittle box and a trumpet inside of
it. It was still expensive,but she was able to rent it. I went
back to school the next day,and I said to the band director,
I said, hey, guess what? I gota little tuba. It's called a trumpet.
(03:13):
Looked at me like I was crazy.Says, well, we'll make that do. Now,
turns out I can tell thisstory. No, they end up playing tuba
in junior high school, upthrough college, and to this day,
I've never actually owned atuba. But the truth is, as we look
at this, every interest thatyour child has is a new cost. Things
like registration, things likegear, and things like travel. And
(03:35):
if you're like me, you want tosupport them, you want to support
your kids. But as my momlearned, those expenses add up fast.
And all of a sudden, you'restarting to feel torn. You're thinking,
do I invest in their passions?I want my children to explore new
things. I remember when mykids were young, one of them wanted
to play the drums, and we wentout and bought a drum set. Another
one wanted to play the guitar.I wanted to invest in their passions.
(03:58):
But you also have to bewondering about will I be able to
protect my budget? And see,that tension right there is what
I'm talking about that'spalatable today. And it leads to
overspending and sometimes, ifyou're not careful, can lead to resentment
on both parties. But here'sthe thing I want you to understand
today. As I learned with thetuba, not every opportunity is essential.
(04:23):
And the key is prioritization.Prioritization is a powerful thing.
Let's look at the word of Godabout this. From the Book of Proverbs,
chapter 4, verse 7 says, thiswisdom is supreme, therefore get
wisdom. What a great verse.Wisdom is supreme. So get wisdom.
Let's move on to Philippians,chapter 4, verses 11 to 13. This
(04:46):
is what it says, not that Ispeak in regard to need. For I have
learned whatever state I am tobe content. I know how to be abased,
and I know how to abound.Everywhere and in all things. I have
learned to be both full and tobe hungry, both to abound and to
suffer need. And of course,this ends the most, probably the
most beautiful verse of theBible. I can do all things through
(05:08):
Christ, who strengthens me. Sowhat I want you to do is focus on
saying yes to what mattersmost and do it with peace. And the
way you do that is to teachyour kids to discern value and timing,
because you don't have to doeverything. In fact, to be very candid
with you, I think kids aredoing too much. So now you're asking
(05:28):
Ralph, okay, what can we do?How do we solve this dilemma? What's
the solution? Well, as normal,I've got a solution that's create
a simple extracurricular planand stick to a budget that fits your
family. You got to learn tobalance joy, balance growth, and
also balance wise stewardship.Because like I said before, kids
do too much at times. Sohere's your one action step for today.
(05:51):
I want you to start by listingout all of those activities. And
listen, these kids today, theydo all kinds of stuff. Not. Not that
I'm against that, but, I mean,sometimes I feel like these parents
are like taxicab services. Butstart with that. List all the activities.
Brainstorm everything yourkids are interested in. Write every
single thing down. Maybe theylike drama. Maybe they want to play
the tuba like Ralph. They wantto do, you know, sports. They want
(06:14):
to what? All those things are.Brainstorm everything your kids are
interested in and write it alldown. So that's the first step, second
step. Is really research thetrue cost of those things. And I'm
talking about under the hoodresearch. What is the registration
fees, what are supplies youneed? What are the uniforms? Hey,
when I played in high schoolmarching band, there were uniform
components I had to buy. Isthere travel? A lot of these sports
(06:36):
teams do travel. And what arethe deadlines? So really research
those true costs and get tothose things so that you can put
those on the list. And then asa family, step number three, prioritize
these things. You know, you'regoing to have to learn and teach
your kids that they havelimited resources. So choose one
or two per child that fit yourbudget and fit your values. And sometimes
(06:58):
you're going to have to saythis with tough love. Say, hey, listen,
not this season. Sometimesyou're gonna have to say your kid,
look, way people do that nextseason. Let's. Let's pick two things
right now. I can only imagineI came home and said to my mom, hey,
I want to go get a tuba. Andthen I want to go get a football
uniform, and I'm gonna getthis and that. And she'd have been
like, wait a minute, there'sonly so much you can do. So this
is a time to prioritize thatas a family and let your children
(07:21):
get involved. Make one or twothings that fit, and I want you do
that. Reduce the cost. Hey,one of the things you can do is look
for secondhand gear. There's alot of secondhand gear on. Because
here's the thing about kids inschool. A lot of times they'll try
stuff and they find I don'treally like that so much. Now, I
didn't really spend a lot oftime looking for used tubas. Maybe
I could have and found one.But there's also scholarships, there's
(07:43):
volunteer discounts, there'scarpooling. There's always to reduce
costs. And then once youfigure out, okay, here's the way
I can reduce those costs, thenbudget it. This is a time to add
that extracurricular lineright to your budget, right to that
monthly budget. Plan and fundit intentionally, because this helps
keep your budget in check.See, that's the key. And kids appreciate
(08:05):
limits and kids appreciatevalues. Now, that might be contrary
to popular belief, but I trulybelieve when my mom said to me, listen,
son, I'm not buying that$5,000 tuba at the time, I was like,
eh, that stinks. But I got atrumpet anyway out of the deal. But
kids really do appreciatelimits and they appreciate values,
and that's going to be thingsthat are going to. They're going
(08:26):
to pay dividends for them forlife. And it. And it reduces family
stress and it reduces familyguilt. And it builds a margin for
generosity and other goals.How about we pray together? Father?
God, we just thank you for thetalents and the passions you've placed
in our children. We are sograteful that you've given those
passions, those interests,Lord. And we confess that managing
(08:47):
activity costs can beoverwhelming. It can feel really
overwhelming for us at times,Lord. So we ask that you would just
give us wisdom to discern whataligns with our values and your will.
Lord, help us to really livein. And Lord, help us to support
our children's growth withoutsacrificing the peace of our home,
without sacrificing ourbudgets and that margin. We need
(09:08):
to really be successfulstewards of the resources you've
given. Lord, we ask that ourdecisions will be guided by your
stewardship and your joy. Andwe ask this with confidence in Jesus
name, Amen. Listen, you cansay yes to your kids and yes to your
peace at the same time. Youcan do it. Just make your extracurricular
(09:30):
plan today. You're movingforward with intentional family freedom.
Now, as we're talking aboutbeing intentional, I would really
like you to intentionallyshare the show with somebody today.
Maybe you've got a friend ormaybe your neighbor or somebody else
that's going through thesesame type of situations with this
back to school stuff. Youcould just send them a text or send
them an email. Hey, pick upthe phone and say, hey, I heard your
(09:51):
kid wants to get involved insoccer or football or whatever those
wrestling, whatever thosethings are, and say, hey, I listened
to this guy Ralph. He does adaily Christian finance show and
he had some really great ideasabout how to create a good atmosphere
for that. You can send them tofinanciallyconfidentchristian.com and
listen, the more we share, thebetter we're all going to be. Now,
(10:12):
tomorrow we're going to betalking about teaching your kids
financial literacy. Say we'retalking about back to school. Well,
let's talk about building somefinancial literacy because starting
young and starting strong isgoing to help them get established
habits for life. So Iencourage you not to miss it. Now,
as you go out today, let's allbe financially confident Christians.
You can do this. I believe inyou, believe in yourself, stay financially
(10:36):
savvy. God bless you and youhave a great day today.
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