In youth a 50 buck bat that lasts 3-4 years works. In HS, those composite bats are 300-400 and you pray it lasts 2 . We didn’t buy expensive cleats yearly until HS and in youth it was cheaper ones that would go two years. Football is the nastiest sport to outfit, so different than I was in school.
If your kid has a vehicle in 4th grade that eats up gas and insurance, he’s the coolest in his class.
If you think what you spend on clothes for a 4th grader compares to a HSer, just give it a couple years. You are on the edge. Our youngest, 5th grader, has now became conscious about clothing brands and styles. Heck, socks now are like 30 bucks a pair. They don’t last any longer.
My daughter quit dance after 8th grade and that was 250/month for lessons and costumes. The expenditures haven’t went down. Amongst the people I know and my sisters and their kids, I wouldn’t say we aren’t way above them. My sister probably spends more than we do.
Next year one goes to college so that is 2k/month right there.
Our daycare was probably 1000/month for 2 kids for comparison. (Or 500/kid)
You're still using high numbers for nearly every category. You trying to say every kid playing baseball in high school has a new $400 bat every 2 years? Yeah, no. I played football and officiate it now, other than cleats ($100), mouthpiece/chinstrap ($30), gloves ($40) and game under clothes ($100), there isn't much else you have to buy..
As far as car goes, liability insurance on a 10+ year old car isn't over $100, probably less. A high schooler who rarely needs to drive over 20 miles in a day with a 4 cylinder car won't use much gas (especially since they'll have a summer job).
Socks aren't $30/pair, again, you're exaggerating. If you're a savvy shopper at all, you can outfit a child for $1,000/year (again, that nifty job can help them go above that).
Our oldest has been in dance and cheer for 3 years now, not once has either cost $250/month, and rarely do they combined.
And I'm already saving for both their college (not to say they couldn't pay for their own like I did). This isn't a cost that's changing.
Again, I'm not saying you CAN'T spend $1,000/month, but it's pretty easy not to.
