Examples that we have/ had come up lately. Scout fundraiser, we buy 1 item from each kid roughly 16$ x 2 kids = 32$ (then they sell to the neighbors, friends, etc)
School fundraiser, we let them pick 1 item each so they can attend the magic show, 15$ x 2 = 30$ (this year Memaw paid for it, awesome)
We didn’t want them to miss out on the magic show but we don’t have the time to do 2 different fundraisers so we had to pick one.
The school will have the same fundraiser in a few months.
Mandatory Military Ball – DH has to go and the cost is 50$, found out about it this week and money is due next week, they figure everyone gets paid on the 1st so no problem.
UGH! And its not the same time of the year and not always a yearly thing. Some its one a year, some its 2 a year, some years they skip it, all depends on what mission the military is doing from the current base.
PTO fundraiser/ Haunted House/ Halloween thing – 5$ per person x 4 = 20$, this is our first Oct in this school district and that’s just for the haunted house and one game ticket, if we buy now we get a free hot dog dinner thrown in. Otherwise its 10$ per person for those 3 items. Granted we don’t have to go, but its nice to support the school and this will be our entertainment for Oct. We don’t do anything fun anymore that costs money, no out to eat, etc.
Things that come every year at the same time I can budget for and this being our first full year at this school the fundraisers were unexpected. Our old school didn’t do any fundraisers in the fall, we always had carry over money from the previous year. Also the Halloween stuff was always something the kids earned and then it was free. If you didn’t get your books read you didn’t get to go. And then in Nov there was a free night of games & bounce houses and stuff that was to promote family fun.
So do you just pick a number and say 40$ goes into an envelop for unbudgeted pop up expenses and when its gone its gone?
Also thinking I might need to line budget an item called Military for the mandatory stuff, the formal dinners, the awards that DH has to chip in on, the hail & farewells (also at restaurants, DH is good through he usually has water and the cheapest thing salad, a burger, whatever so when most have 50$ checks he is never over 10$ usually in the 5$ range depending on the restaurant) and have this separate from the other expenses as this is not optional and generally last minute. Sometimes he finds out the day he needs the money so not really easy to budget for in advance. What Im thinking is set a monthly dollar amount and save up then when it gets to about 200 stop funding it until he spends some. Some times he will go months without needing it and others it will be 20 to 50 $ every month for a few months.
Oh and this weekend we have a scout camping trip 25$ for the family and the boys HAVE to go. The old scout pack didn’t have mandatory things, it was if you want. This is not optional. Although not sure what they would do if we didn’t go…lol.