On a whim about 3 weeks ago I signed up (my kids) for karate. They love it. I love that they love it! The studio said it was $99 a kid when I signed up--for 8 weeks--which was perfect! And then there was a $50 per kid karate uniform fee which was hard but we did it.
Now to keep going it would be $225 a month. They do either family plans, or individual plans and don't have any other options. And there is some equipment they need which is $165 one-time fee per kid. For the last week I have been agonizing over it. The kids love it. They want to keep going.
But I'm pretty sure we can't afford it.
I don't know what karate usually costs. Is this $225 a month normal? To me it seems exorbitant. If it was per 8 weeks, we could definitely do it. That would mean it was only a $25 price hike from the introduction fee...why is the introduction fee so low compared to the regular price? Am I being nit-picky or is this indeed a lot of money? $225 for 12 classes in 4 weeks, 45 minutes a class. When I say it that way it sounds okay, but when I say $225 a month it doesn't sound okay.
Becky wants to sign up for ballet (only $85 per month) and it is her turn to pick the extracurricular this term--we rotate, last term was Reuben and he picked swimming. Then we didn't have anything because we had a baby, but we've done ballet before with Becky and Reuben back when they both wanted to do it, and Reuben had a year of football. Reuben is not interested in ballet anymore, or football...but Reuben really needs exercise in his life. I've noticed his stamina has increased in terms of running, leaping, playing and he's worn out less...he's sleeping better, and seems to be able to regulate himself better with this addition of consistent exercise.
I was thinking when I signed up, now that Esther is bigger we would be able to do both ballet and karate and while physically I am able, (which is a consideration due to my chronic illness), financially I'm trying to figure out how to afford it.
I want to give these karate classes to my children! The exercise and camaraderie of the class has been a perfect fit for our homeschool. The class meets three times a week--Monday, Tuesday and Thursday. It's in the evenings which I thought I would hate but actually I quite like it. The gym is close to our house and it hasn't been hard to make it on time. I make dinner before we go, and besides Esther sometimes getting tired, it's been awesome.
None of this changes the fact that I don't know how we can afford it. Maybe if we quit doing piano, but the kids have been doing that for a long time. I have been running the numbers over and over and how can we add 225 gym membership? We have my hot yoga gym for $95 a month already and Brian has a YMCA membership (just him) for $55 a month. That would be $375 a month for all those gyms...
I was thinking of quitting saving money. The 250 we put into savings each pay period would work well to put towards karate but we do sometimes need that money and we really should start saving up for another vehicle as ours is very old and will likely die in 3 or 4 years...so taking from savings is not an option. Saving a little bit every month is necessary. HOWEVER when we hit our savings threshold that will be an option! Right now I have $500 saved and I want to save 6k. If we continue saving $500 a month then by next year we should be able to have that money for karate, which answers the question with just a "not now, later" solution.
I thought about canceling my own gym membership, but I need my gym. It has helped my diabetes so much and helped me with weight loss and feeling good. So I can't cut that out. I love yoga. And that would only give me $95 a month towards karate anyway.
The only things I think we could cancel from our budget would be the trash pick up ($32 a month) and our Amazon Prime ($15 a month) I don't have prime, but my husband does and I have asked him every month to cancel it and every month he says he forgets...he told me this week he would finally cancel it. Oh, and we could also cancel our YouTube premium family membership that is $25 a month. I have that because most of the ads that play on Youtube are entirely inappropriate for my kids to see. For example I get bra ads because I'm a lady but I don't want my 10 year old son to see that, seriously.
I don't think anything else in our budget is removable.
Maybe I am doing too much. Music lessons and karate AND ballet? What am I thinking? Am I trying to live a classy lifestyle here when I should be more astute about our financial limitations?
Karate is more expensive than piano, but piano is once a week for 30 minutes and karate is 3 classes a week for 45 minutes. So of course it's going to cost more.
I feel like a ball of frustration. What should I do? Try to cram it in? Skip it and try it again next year? Sign Reuben up only ($175 a month) so he can do that and Becky does ballet?
I'm running all the options, and praying about it. We have until the second week of June to make a decision.
Why is everything so expensive nowadays?
I think the answer to my question is that I need to make some serious life adjustments. The math is not mathing anymore with the current inflation and the fact that I have three growing children. I think that is what I am the most upset over. We already cut out so much. And I've given up things I never thought I'd compromise on (like organic food). We don't eat out anymore. We shop used 75 percent of the time and that needs to change to 100 percent. Can't find it? Live without it. That will be my new motto.
We need to seriously sit down and make some adjustments because the world is changing and we have to go right along with it. No one can stand against the flow of a mighty river, and inflation is a tsunami. I don't want to change though! I want to have enough to do what I think is best for my family, and in the year 2019 and 2020 we had that freedom and now we don't. In 2019 I spent around 400 a month on groceries. I had two toddlers. Every season I bought myself a few new clothes from places like Everlane and Pact Organic.
Humans always think life is getting better, but in middle school I learned about entropy and now at 39 I am learning it applies to real life, too.
I still don't know what I'm going to do about karate.
But summer break is here and I'm drinking tea from my favorite mug and God is with me. He is the true water that quenches thirst, and I will trust in him.
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