Parents often struggle with the unexpected expenses that appear after signing their child up for an extra-curricular activity.  How often have you signed your child up for a simple activity to later find out about all the hidden costs associated with it?  Suddenly the simple affordable activity is taking a huge chunk out of the family budget.  This is extremely important for one-income households, and those with multiple kids.  Managing the rising costs is always important.

An activity that costs a small fortune is risky to start unless you are sure you can afford all of fees, classes, and equipment as well as travel expenses.  Some things will likely appear that you never thought about until after the expense presents itself.  Ensure these costs will not harm your family financially before signing your child up, to keep from hurting your child by forcing them to quit because you can no longer afford it. 

While researching each activity, look over the entire list of required equipment.  For example, hockey, photography, and football can be very expensive hobbies.  Soccer and track can be much cheaper.  The activity selected will determine what equipment is necessary, as well as the price range for that equipment.  If you can purchase used equipment for the activity, this will help dramatically lower the overall cost and make it easier to afford. 

If the activity has a lot of meets, there may be some travel involved.  This will at a minimum include gas, as well as possibly hotel fees involved.  This can really jack up the cost for an activity.  All of these expenses have to be considered when you are determining if you can afford the activity.  You also need to consider there may be private lessons, as well as the tournament fees that may be required. 

A good budgeting tip is to write out all expected expenses for a year, try to determine exactly when these fees and expenses are likely to be due.  You will begin to see a pattern in the budget, some months will have more fees due, while others will have very few fees due.  The months when there are fewer expenses, it will be helpful to save some money towards the months where the expenses are enormous. 

You need to carefully consider all of the costs and fees before deciding to sign your child up for any activity to ensure you can reasonably afford it.  Shop around for the best deals on fees, equipment, and lessons.  Just ensure that safety is never compromised in the process of saving money.