SAHMs, how much do you spend a day on outings/eating out?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wasn’t in our budget when I sah, so there was no Starbucks run (fill their water bottles, bring my own coffee from home, pack snacks). Library, nature centers, Barnes and Noble. Heck we visited the pet stores more often than I care to admit. All free. There’s a lot of random kids concerts if you look hard enough.

Here’s a tip—while it may be easier now to get them out of the house to do super fun things every day, as they get older they are less likely to be content with the everyday. They will need constant “fun fun fun” in order to be happy and boredom will be painful to them. Try and have a few days at home, with things like backyard time and reading time and sure some screens. But don’t make every day a trip to the movies/circus/puppet show or you’re setting them up.

I appreciate this insight! Setting them up is right—their “normal” is really so indulgent.

[Anonymous]

Do your kids require a paid for outing and lunch every day?

We did the library, playgrounds etc.
I can't imagine $100/day.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I SAH with a 5 yo & 10 yo. They don’t do camps. Most of our outings are free, cheap, or “pre-paid” (ie, we joined a pool and have a couple of museum memberships).
So our outings are things like pool, library, State/regional/county/national parks, hiking, Smithsonians, etc. We went to $1 movies once. We’ve done some historic sites that cost a few dollars per person. We mostly pack lunch & snacks but occasionally eat at fast or fast casual restaurants for lunch.
One kid was a 4th grader last year, so we use his free national Park Pass. We got the Virginia State Park backpack from the library, which includes free admission to a VA state park.
We also have days the kids play in the yard/in the house/read/visit the playground across the street. (The kids actually ask for more chill days sometimes, so they definitely aren’t bored with the activities we do).

Yeah with kids that age you are just unemployed. Be honest.

[Anonymous]

Even if you can spend $100 a day on food, treats, activities etc it’s not a great idea to do so. Your kids get used to having everything they want and constantly CONSUMING. Your child most likely won’t be able to afford this behavior after college (unless you plan on supporting them) and it’s a hard habit to break. Not saying you can’t spend some money on occasion, but doing this every day is going to hurt your child.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We sort of fell into this pattern though not as high. I actually calculate that I was spending about $1600 a month on entertainment, lessons, etc. and realized that I probably needed to go back to work. I took home about 4K after retirement and college savings (I also carried health insurance).

I became a SAHM in a fit of postpartum hormones honestly. My DH supported it, but we were in a crap place financially and objectively working made more sense from a financial and practical standpoint.

What was also not great was becoming the default everything because I was always around and this was my job. My marriage was very lopsided and we went through a rough patch. I was generally pissed off and frustrated, my DH was frustrated being the sole breadwinner and the financial crunch not working put us in, and we both kind of went into this really rough cycle.

Everything improved when I went back to work. I left my kids with a quality childcare provider, my DH began to do more and we both began working as a team instead of two people running two different operations.

Honestly, it is such a personal decision. I know people who are happy but they truly accept the role and the responsibility of being the default parent.

This is pretty common.

[Anonymous]

We usually structure our day so we are home for at least 2 out of 3 meals of the day. Preferably all 3. If kids are hungry while we are out they can split something like a sandwich, and if they’re still hungry I offer fruit, which they generally refuse because they aren’t really hungry they just want to cookie they saw. Pack healthy snacks and see if that cuts down on how much you’re eating out. To answer your question I probably spend $15 on food and $0 on admissions. We do parks, libraries, pools and museums for entertainment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I SAH with two kids. We can easily spend 100/day in food and activities, and our HHI is high enough that I don’t really need to think twice about it, however, we’d never spend that day after day all week long, because there are plenty (plenty!) of things we like to do that happen to be cheap or nearly free. Hiking, pool, library, playground, playing at home, having friends over, etc.

I don’t know why OP asked her question, but if she’s really spending that much I suspect her kids might need a little downtime!

+1
this is me exactly

[Anonymous]

No matter how well to do you are, it is good for brain development to make your own fun the majority of the time rather than consuming fun created by others.

[Anonymous]

I find this thread pretty extreme on both sides. OP's situation is extreme. On the other hand, others have mentioned they never eat out. I SAH, and eat out with my kids when they are out of camp a couple times a week - certainly not every day, but we do sit down restaurants once or twice a week for lunch, and somewhere like Cava once a week. Some days we do free library, some days friends come over or they play at home with each other, and maybe once or twice a week we do a more expensive outing. Sometimes we go to Starbucks or Ice Cream. But it's not $100 every day.

[Anonymous]

Maybe $100/week? We did buy a pool membership that I’m not including though, and we have an annual pass to a bounce place ($70 for the year)

We did the library book at the beginning of summer along with the Fairfax county parks book. Between those, pool, free bowling, $1 movies, and paid for bounce place, there’s little money spent on activities. We do eat out for lunch once or twice a week.

[Anonymous]

0 on food. I pack our food in cooler.

[Anonymous]

In the summer, about $100-$200/wk.

Most days, we do pool or play dates. But a few times of week I like to take them somewhere different. I’m in LA area so we go to different parts of the city, eat lunch, go to a museum, go shopping (I have girls), or even go see a movie.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I SAH with a 5 yo & 10 yo. They don’t do camps. Most of our outings are free, cheap, or “pre-paid” (ie, we joined a pool and have a couple of museum memberships).
So our outings are things like pool, library, State/regional/county/national parks, hiking, Smithsonians, etc. We went to $1 movies once. We’ve done some historic sites that cost a few dollars per person. We mostly pack lunch & snacks but occasionally eat at fast or fast casual restaurants for lunch.
One kid was a 4th grader last year, so we use his free national Park Pass. We got the Virginia State Park backpack from the library, which includes free admission to a VA state park.
We also have days the kids play in the yard/in the house/read/visit the playground across the street. (The kids actually ask for more chill days sometimes, so they definitely aren’t bored with the activities we do).

Yeah with kids that age you are just unemployed. Be honest.

Okay? The younger one is about to start K, but up until now has been with me except 10 hours a week of preschool for one school year. Watching a preschooler all the time isn’t being a SAHM? And watching my kids all summer?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I SAH with a 5 yo & 10 yo. They don’t do camps. Most of our outings are free, cheap, or “pre-paid” (ie, we joined a pool and have a couple of museum memberships).
So our outings are things like pool, library, State/regional/county/national parks, hiking, Smithsonians, etc. We went to $1 movies once. We’ve done some historic sites that cost a few dollars per person. We mostly pack lunch & snacks but occasionally eat at fast or fast casual restaurants for lunch.
One kid was a 4th grader last year, so we use his free national Park Pass. We got the Virginia State Park backpack from the library, which includes free admission to a VA state park.
We also have days the kids play in the yard/in the house/read/visit the playground across the street. (The kids actually ask for more chill days sometimes, so they definitely aren’t bored with the activities we do).

Yeah with kids that age you are just unemployed. Be honest.

And, yet, you pay someone else to watch your children before/after school, over holidays and during summer break, right?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I SAH with a 5 yo & 10 yo. They don’t do camps. Most of our outings are free, cheap, or “pre-paid” (ie, we joined a pool and have a couple of museum memberships).
So our outings are things like pool, library, State/regional/county/national parks, hiking, Smithsonians, etc. We went to $1 movies once. We’ve done some historic sites that cost a few dollars per person. We mostly pack lunch & snacks but occasionally eat at fast or fast casual restaurants for lunch.
One kid was a 4th grader last year, so we use his free national Park Pass. We got the Virginia State Park backpack from the library, which includes free admission to a VA state park.
We also have days the kids play in the yard/in the house/read/visit the playground across the street. (The kids actually ask for more chill days sometimes, so they definitely aren’t bored with the activities we do).

Yeah with kids that age you are just unemployed. Be honest.

And, yet, you pay someone else to watch your children before/after school, over holidays and during summer break, right?

Yes, she was probably spending $1500 a week on camp in July.