How has the summer been treating you? On our end, it’s been great. Nice warm CONSISTENT weather, nothing too hot nor too cold. Kids have been attending their summer schools and next week, my eldest is attending his first computer camp. The interesting thing about these summer camps that I’ve learned thus far is this: some can be pretty cheap while others cost an arm and a leg.
Kid Summer Camps: The Cheap and Not So Cheap
This year, we opted to splurge a little to try out the rather expensive computer camp. It’s set up for 7 to 12 year olds and is all about teaching kids develop their own video games. Yes, what kind of parents are we to be sending our kid to build these games, you may ask? After all, too much video gaming can be a hazardous thing. But we’re not having him play the game, we’re having him develop it, which should be good for his creativity. Plus I’ll let you in on a family fact: the spouse had at one point, devoted his career to the video gaming industry. So I can make the excuse that it runs in the genes?
Then again, if you think about it, most families will find themselves paying more for summers than they do for the rest of the year. Why? Because summers equate to family vacations. And many people end up trying to figure out how best to keep their kids preoccupied during this time of year. During the year, kids go to school (and that’s public school for most of us) where tuition is free. While for summers, the kids spend it in fun camps and other summer fun activities. But for those who want a fancier family experience, there’s always travel for everyone. In our case, it’s usually a trip abroad to visit relatives, and airfare can be pretty hefty when we account for 4 round trip tickets halfway around the world.
So to take things in perspective, computer camp may not be that bad. Although a sports camp or other local community kids’ summer program is probably much more affordable — usually under a hundred bucks or at most, a few hundred dollars for many weeks of fun. Now if you’ve got our own local waterhole or cave network around where you live, then consider yourself lucky. Nature is something you won’t need to spend on. Here are some other cheap ways to enjoy the summer.
Quick Roundup
- Mike Fanelli: There Is No Shortcut To Making Money
- Saving Money Today: Organizing 101: Filing Your Bills Neatly
- Lazy Man and Money: My New Career: Stealing Cars in Oakland
- One Mint: Decoupling is evident in the long run
- The Simple Dollar: Ten Big Mistakes #3: Lifestyle Funded by Credit Cards
- Nerd Wallet: Carnival of Personal Finance
If you enjoyed this post, you can get free regular updates through our RSS Feed, or you can have our latest posts delivered to your email inbox by supplying your address here. Your address will only be used for this purpose, and you can unsubscribe anytime.
{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }
The price of summer camps got so expensive lately that it hard to find any that’s reasonably priced!