How to Afford Summer Camps and Activities Without Going Broke: Plan a Fun Summer on Budget | 564

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As we go through these conversations with our clients dealing with the same thing and trying to set them up for success, we come into, oh, we probably should do a podcast on this topic of summer camps and planning your summer. Yeah, a lot of what we talk about on podcasts comes from what we're talking about with our clients day to day. Which seems normal. Yeah, so if we're talking about it with them, then you're dealing with the same things probably in your budget. So we're here to talk all about. So one thing I said to the client the other day is like sometimes, or you we always budget for back to school, right? You got to get the supplies, the clothes, whatever. It's like we need to back to summer budget because like goodness gracious, there's all of a sudden nobody swimsuit fits all of a sudden there's all these activities that people want to be a part of and all this. So we're here to talk all about summer budgets, camps, activities, schedules, everything about it and hopefully help you out. Do you make good money but have nothing to show for it? Are you tired of living paycheck to paycheck? Do you have big dreams for your financial future? Do you want to get debt free but you don't want to live on beans and rice? Or you don't want to give up those pumpkin spice lattes? If you don't already know how to budget or if you're using credit cards to get through the month. If you want to seem like you have your finances all together or you're not on the same page with your spouse when it comes to finances. We know what you're doing probably isn't working, but guess what? You're in the right place. We're Shayna and Vanessa. We're best friends, business partners and master financial coaches trained by Dave Ramsey. We've been in business since 2019 helping hundreds of amazing people like you create budgets, get out of debt, stop living paycheck to paycheck and know exactly what to do with their money. In this podcast we'll share with you everything we know plus everything we're working on with our clients so that you have the best chance at reaching your financial goals. We want to help you take the guest work out of your budget, improve your marriages and even bring your kids in on the conversation. We can help you no matter where you're at whether you're the single mom who's never had $500 in her savings account or the millionaire who's paid off four real estate mortgages. And we're not going to shy away from the tough love. We'll tell you what you need to hear and encourage you at the same time. This is the Financial Coaching for Women podcast. And as you say that I think we try to tell our clients to budget for Christmas 12 for 12 months, right? So that way you feel it less throughout the year and be done. I try to have my clients done by November 1st so they can freely spend November, December and feel good about it. Then I'm like, people actually start booking summer camps during spring break, right? Probably January would be a really good time to start incorporating. Let's start budgeting how much summer is going to cost for just summer camps and things like that and getting ahead of the game. So next January we'll remind you. But right now we just want to put an event in your calendar. What we want to do is take this time to be intentional because you don't want your budget to get wrecked just because it's summer. So we're going to go through some stuff to help you out with that. And we don't want you making in the moment decisions. You're going to have a whole plan and then you're going to have a wonderful summer. It's going to be great. It's like shopping when you're hungry. Yeah. No. We're not doing that. So this is the exact equivalent. Your kids are all at home staring at you and you're like, what can I do to make this stop right now? So we're going to help you come up with a plan so you're not feeling rushed or broke, right? Either way, but you're very secure that you're having a great summer. Right. So if you plan for a great summer, you'll have a great summer and if you fly by the sea with your pants, like we just said, that's going to make you feel rushed and you'll be broke and it just not going to feel good overall. The stress and anxiety that you feel is going to roll over to the kids 100%. You're going to to display that and push that off on them. Yeah. And then it just makes for this yucky home environment. So we just want to not do that. Yeah. And we say all the time, we usually say spring breaks, but we only have so many summers left with the kids while they're young and they're sweet little babies. And so we want to make the most of it. And that's what we're going to do today. We're going to talk about doing that. Yeah. So one of the reasons that this came up is I was just had a session with a client this week and summer just have tacked her. And it was really hard for her because she's a, she's a nurse, so she works night shift, her husband deployed, and she has six kids. Okay. So all of a sudden things, the kids are at home and she's just been trying to, to get, so they went to the amusement park and they did this and that. And they went off budget and I'm like, that's okay. And so we were talking about, okay, now that we did the fun thing, that's great. All done with summers. No, I'm just kidding. But what can we, how can we make it some more intentional going forward? What can we do for free? What do we want it to feel like? What do we want? What are the memories I want to have with my kids and what do they want to have at the end of the summer? And like also, but what are there to do, what is there to do out around wherever you are from? There's something cool that other people come to your place to do. So let's focus on doing that and making the most of those things. And so it just came up with that with one of my clients. And then I know you had a fun conversation too. I did. I have a client who just moved to a new town and they have three little kids. And so she was feeling like she had to keep them busy. She had to do something every day to keep them busy, keep them out of house to keep them so that way when they come home, they're exhausted and tired. They want to go to sleep. And so I was just trying to explain to her, it doesn't have to be like that. You can, you can actually do free stuff. It doesn't have to be paid stuff. You actually have downtime at home and schedule this. And if you make it, if you have a plan for it, it's going to feel better and you're not going to make those in the moment decisions where you're like fed up because the kids are yelling or, oh, we're just going to go do something. And then you're paying for stuff that you don't actually want to pay for. You're just trying to, again, keep the kids busy. So we're just trying to really lay this out for you guys in a better way. So you have a better plan for your summer. And maybe if you do make those in the moment decisions quickly, like your client did, how can we work? How can we fix it? And moving forward, what will July look like? Okay. So what's the first step to do this, to do this summer? So that's what we're trying to do. We're having, we're trying to have a great summer on purpose. The first thing we need to do. It's cast a vision. So this is really important because, you know, I was just telling Vanessa, last summer felt really busy to me. And that to me is not what summer is supposed to be. It's obviously supposed to be these fun moments and you want to have, make these memories, but it should also feel like summer. It should feel distinctly different than the rush of the school year to me. And it wasn't. So we need to reevaluate what do I want summer to be like? Do I want it to be busy? Do I want it to be laid back? Do I want it to be whatever? And so you have to decide that. And then obviously you're going to talk to your kids about it, but that's the first step. Yeah. And don't compare what you want your summer schedule to look like to your friends. If they want it one way, that's fine. And maybe they realize that was a terrible way to do it and they want to do it differently. And you've already learned that lesson. And so you're trying to do it differently yourself this year. So don't compare. I think that's a, it's a really good plan. So the next thing is what do you want your kids to look like? And their answers may shock. Yeah. Like what ask the kids, get them involved. What do they want? They may literally just say, I just want to hang out at home. I just know what they're going to say is I just want to see my friends. That's true. I bet. But like with every question that you asked your kids, if you let them answer for themselves and you just stop talking, their answers, no leading questions. Yeah. Yeah. They just usually they shock you a lot in between the two, between everybody. There's going to be some mix of everybody wanting to have some fun family time, to have time with their friends, to go to camp or maybe learn a new skill or definitely some downtime because they haven't had any electronics ever before. So they're going to want some downtime to just relax, read in their room or play some video games or whatever they maybe. Hey, maybe play with that Christmas toy that you got them like six months ago, that they haven't touched in their. Yeah. And so whatever it is, there's going to be a mix of all of the, everybody wants to make sure their summer is including. And so we just want to. Cast that vision and see what do we actually want? Maybe your kids have zero interest in doing things that you think that they're going to want to do. You're trying to plan for them and they, you're pushing on them and they're like, mom, I'd rather just stay home with you and you'll be like, what did you just say with your, with your words? But anyway, so that's the thing that you want to do first is you want to make sure that your summer aligns with who you are and not with, oh, right now there's this thing that last minute decisions, not emotional decisions. That's what we were talking about as we were thinking about this is in how, have you heard that saying your mouth writes a check that you're something can't cash? You know, I mean something like you will write a check that you can't cash. So in the beginning of the summer, you see this three months of free time or two months or however many people get. And you're like, I want to do all of these things. You have to fill it. Yeah. And then by the end of, of the, of your summer, you're like, I just want to do nothing cause school's right going to happy. I just want, and so those are like what emotional decisions you might make at the beginning of the summer. And you want to make sure let's be real. My, by the end of the summer, when I'm about, when I'm thinking about going back to school, getting up every day, is this really going to want to have cash division for it? You'll have to find out for sure. Yeah. And I know planning your summer may be the last thing on your mind because you've planned all year. You've done things all year strategically with sports and school and everything, homework. But if you take a minute to just a minute, plan it out, have a conversation, get pen and paper out, get the whole family involved, write it all down, figure out what that looks like for you. It may actually make the process a little easier, a little simpler, a little cheaper. Yeah, for sure. And it's going to be intentional. Shayna said you want to make sure that it aligns with who you are, your family values, your goals, and what means the most to you. Yeah, I think that's so important. You're not going to get anything on accident. If you just take in the time to plan, we always say that embrace your inner planner, nerd, it's fine. It's just going to set you up. It's going to be the first domino for what you actually want. Otherwise, who knows what you're going to end up with. Yeah. All right. So the second point is we're going to talk about free things versus paid things. Okay. So we want you to consider. The first thing is one of the things I told my client with her kids was you don't have to pay for everything that your kids do. Consider all of the free things that you have around town to do. So I'm going to list them out that I'm going to give you an example. So we're talking about VBS, library days, free movie days. And there's, those are like places, right? And then a vet, like other things are parks and maybe you live near a beach and there's trails, maybe splash pads, friend dates, things like that, things that they really want to do. And an example is when Shada and I, when our kids were four, that's when we met. We were like, what are all of the church's schedules for VBS? And are they all on different weeks and our kids can go every week? Yeah. For like six weeks. And they really did. They went, they church hopped to all the VBS's. They loved it. They were with their friends. We got all their friends to go and join. And it was just a couple of hours where her and I could go to the beach or go home and have a minute. But the kids were having fun. Yeah. And again, VBS isn't all day. It's just a couple of hours. So it just had that time away from them. But that's it. That's how we took it. And then obviously when we live near the beach, so I think we were there every day. Yeah. Yeah. And the free movies too here. And then it just depends on where you're at. There are so many programs, so many people that it wants. Bestivities. Yeah. And we were just, in those days, we were very frugal. I didn't, I don't even think I paid for a summer camp until maybe a year or two ago because it was just like, we're, we're going to the summer camp of grandparents. Yeah. First, we're going to the summer camp of what is your church doing today? We're going to the summer camp when we were in Virginia, that they had such a great library program. Like it's so good. The real life version of Mr. Rogers was there. And we just like, so we just, all the things, all the free things are good. And they were happy. They loved it. Yeah. They absolutely loved it. Especially if you can be like, Hey, and so this is the hack. Just get a friend. Bring a friend over or say, do you want to go do this library reading challenge with your friend? And they'll be like, Oh, of course I do. Now that you've dangled my friend time. Yeah. So that, and I think that was the other key for us when our kids were little. It was, we always had their friends with them. So they felt like whatever they were doing was fun because it could have just been back there. You'll find that mom. Yeah. You'll find that mom. That's, Hey, let's do this together. And we'll tag team and we can carpool and do all the things. I want to specifically talk about friend dates really quick. Yeah. How beneficial are those? That is all the babysitting busyness that you ever need in your life. It's like a lifeline. And you don't even have to do anything. You have to feed them, but we'll talk about that in a minute. But you just, you just bring a human into your home and you have done summer camp. Like you're basically, We released them to the backyard. Yeah. And then you're all done. And I think that is, that has been the number one quote unquote hack. Yeah. I, as a mom, I don't, if I can get more kids, I don't have to do anything. I know my, someone was like, do you have so many kids over? And I'm like, yeah, but just, if you just keep adding them, it's like hurting cattle and they just all go together. They just kind of say, And then you're happy. They're good.哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎 more than one if you need them. If you need them to hopefully. Chase last night, who's that? We're both the boys were at my house last night and I was asking them, okay, if you could have anything for dinner, what do you want it to be? And so they picked their dinner, but Chase goes, okay, if we want pizza, we're going to have to order one extra just for Zach. It's just so funny. It's true. He's, but he's, he told me he chose what he chose because he's trying to, what do you say? Vary his diet from pizza. I'm like, okay, that's, that's progress. Anyway, it's cute. It's fine. So anyway, the point is there's so many free things to do. Yeah. And if you shut, if you schedule these things, like we, and even if they're not necessarily like an event, but we were like, okay, every Wednesday we're going to the library so that we can recharge our book supply and like, that's all it is. It's not a big deal. It's not, it doesn't, but it's just something we do every Wednesday so that we know that we have new stuff to do. So just. And didn't it work out that way? Like every Wednesday or whatever days when the library had something and then the movies were once a week on this day or whatever. And it just already fit into the schedule that way. It was kind of, maybe it was supposed to be. Yeah. Okay. So then let's talk about the paid stuff. For sure. There's going to be some of that. So some, well, there's, okay, there's opportunity for so much paid things. Yes. And we want to be choosy on this. But so we're not going to spend a lot of time, but you know what they are. There's summer camps. There's the day, like one day activities, like they, we have a marine science station here. So they can go for a one day there or one afternoon thing. Sure. Obviously, wherever you are, there might be different amusement parks. We were just talking about dropping our kids off at the escape room and see if they can make it out alive. Obviously, your family is probably going to have some sort of vacation or even if that's just going to visit grandma or whatever. And then annual, like memberships where you might have it to the zoo or parks or when we were in Virginia, they had the museum. I don't remember what it was called, but it was phenomenal. It was the best money my mother-in-law, I didn't buy it, but my mother-in-law ever spent because they had so many things there. It was different every time we went. The kids loved it. And so whatever it is, those, and those are great Christmas gifts. So make sure you ask for those for Christmas from grandparents to help you to get the thing that they're actually going to use. And then it's free for you. And then it's free for your summer. And you have, this is your hack. Okay. Anyway, so there is a balance between this. You can definitely pick and choose what's important when you have that conversation. What is actually important to you, kid, that you want to, that I'm going to spend my money on. And then we're going to fill everything else with free, hopefully, as much as we can. So you want to definitely make sure you have a balance. And here's the other thing. You don't have to spend money to have a great summer. Most of the things that you're, that you want to be laughing with your kids to be getting some sunshine, whatever these things are, they're probably free. And here's the other thing. We love you. Your kids don't get everything they want all the time. They don't. Could you imagine if we as adults got everything we wanted every day all the time? Like, how would that affect our finances? How that affect our emotions, our relationships, everything? You don't, you just don't, there's boundaries on everything. And we need to instill those with our kids. And it is okay to tell them, no, we're not going to do this because we're going to do this. Don't say we don't have money, we're broke. Don't use those negative words. Just say we are choosing to not do this because our goals are to do this thing over here. So however you want to plan out your summer, just make sure you're vocabulary when you communicate with your kids is positive. Be sure to check back with us. We're going to publish part two of this episode and finish up the conversation about calendars and budget. It's fine. We don't talk too much. You don't think so. It's fine. So we're keeping, we try to keep it in bite size, bite size episodes. So that's why we're splitting this up into two, two different podcasts so that you can listen to both of them in their entirety because we really hope it's going to help you. All right, budget best sees it's time for surreal talk. You don't need another budget. You need a budget system. Are simplified budget system is what you've been looking for. It's going to allow you to be bougie on a budget. You'll be able to easily set up a system that runs automatically and shows you exactly where your money is going. And it's going to give you permission to spend. Everybody loves that. It's straightforward, pretty and packed with walkthrough videos that break down the exact methods we use with our clients to get out of debt, set up a bills account, separate spending, build savings buckets and end the paycheck to paycheck feel. If you're new to budgeting, this is the perfect way to jump in. And if you're already a budget nerd like us, you're about to meet your new obsession. This is the upgrade to your finances that you need right now back to today's show. Now you have some concepts. So how are we going to put this into practice? That's what we want to know. There's going to be two tools that we're going to use. They're going to be great. One is the budget and then one is the calendar. Right? The first thing is your budget. So if you're on a budget, you should know what your discretionary, what your quote unquote extra money is that you can actually afford to spend on anything for the summer. And hopefully you have your sinking funds and it's, you've talked about vacations before this moment. So maybe you have been budgeting for that or whatever. And we've talked about having a sinking fund for kids. And so you can choose to have your own summer sinking fund. You can choose to add this into the kids' sinking fund or you can choose to have a separate one just for summer. However you want to do that. But here's the other thing. Oh yeah. Your kids can help pay for their summer. That's brand new information. This is when we're talking about they don't get everything they want. Here's an incentive. Like you can kid as much as you're willing to work for. And obviously the older they are, the more the supplies. And also, but the older they are, the more the younger they are, the less they need to do because they're younger. They don't need to do as much or they, none of them need to do it. I have an eight year old and she's not going to do as much as her brother and sister who are older than her. And that's fine because she's little. But last year she was seven and she still worked a lemonade stand, right? And our candy, our food stand at the local ballpark to be able to get money to pay for her summer can. We can talk about age and how it's a big factor, but it actually probably doesn't apply as much. Shana said the smaller they are, the younger they are, they're not going to, you're not going to be paying as much for them to do things. And you really don't need to. So the equivalent of what they're going to attend, like the paid stuff that they're going to go to and the amount of money they can raise for that is equivalent for their age. Yeah. And it's such, it's equivalent. It's just the best life lessons. So if part of the whole conversation we have about children is that we want them to, we want a better financial future for them than what we had. We want them to start knowing more than what we started with, right? And so this is part of that. This gives them a learning curve, a learning process. And to learn, I directly control at least part of my destiny. If I do a, then I get B. And this is such a good lesson for them to learn. So there's different ways to do it. We have friends that the kids have to pay for half of the summer camp, or maybe they have to pay for anything over. If I'm going to pay for one and you have to pay for anything else you want, or what, there's different ways. Or maybe mom and dad say, okay, I'm putting $200, I'm allowing you to have $200 for summer camp. Anything over that is what you have to pay for. Right. Or net money for us. I think that's a really good, good, like, and of course that's summer camps. It could be all of it. Like I said, you have, okay, so you want to go to the amusement park with your friends and you want your friends and you need to earn some money or whatever. Or your friends can pay. Or your friends can pay. Yeah. Okay. Here, can we talk about that really quick? Just because you're inviting your friends, your kids friends to go somewhere, the invitation is that they're coming. You don't feel obligated to have to pay. When my friend, one time in middle school, took me to Miami, I had to pay my way. It was just, they were being the parent that was guiding me and taking me with, right? So I still paid for my food and I did all of that. And let me tell you, we had a friend recently, remember when my son, the lost his, forgot his wallet, but anyway, she said, I'm taking the, I would love to take the boys out, please have them bring $15 for whatever it was that they were new. That's a normal, awesome request. So if you want to be the mom, because you don't have to drive them. Yeah. And every other mom is, please thank you. So please take my money and it's fine. So just, don't be afraid to ask for that. If you want to be doing this, doesn't mean you have to pay for every, but either way, there is a way that your kids can help pay for this stuff. And, and I, and it's going to teach them a good lesson. Plus it's just good. I remember Melanie, my middle, like trying to, she had so many different things going on last year. And so she's the amount of math and spreadsheeting she really had to do with such a good lesson and that as well, not just how you have to earn it, but just math and stuff. My daughter had three jars. So she had, they, my kids got a phone, but it was only for babysitting and work purposes. So my son was cutting grass and he had to call me when he was getting picked up and my daughter was babysitting. And so that's the only reason why they got it last year for, for work. And so she had to pay me for it. But I was like, if you want this, it stays, we have so many rules. But anyways, if you want this, you had to pay for it. And then here's your summer camp jar. And here is your saving jar. So she had three jars that was like phone, camps and save, save, spend. And it was just really cute to watch her like fill it up. She had the amount of money she had to save up for the phone, the amount of money she had to save up for camps. And she was so proud at the end of summer that she was able to make that plus sum to be able to put in the bank and then have some spending money. So it was just good. Yeah. But the budget, so between what you could afford or what you're willing to, if let's put it that way, because you can probably afford a lot, but you, that doesn't mean that other, all your other goals, you should send it all. And then what your kids want to help with. That's how you create this budget. And then like Vanessa said, they need to have a system. We had an envelope system. They had jars, like whatever it is, there needs to be a system how we can actually do make this thing happen. And then, and so then I do want to go back to the kids activity. So that, and I still love that one of our clients specifically had the Chick-fil-A fund. Like it was not, there's no other activities. This is what we're doing as mom and kids, right? But if you have an envelope for each month and you're having your kids activity, okay, here's the money guys. This is, what do you want to do with it? How far are we going to make this last? And I mentioned last, this is so funny, this conversation is evolving. So we did, we do a yes day every summer and I did a yes day and I told them it can't cost any money. And then I'm like, okay, this year we're going to, we'll take it to the next level. And so then I'm like, oh, I was going to tell them they can have a hundred dollar budget for the yes day or whatever. And then Ayla or, Zach is going to spend all of that on food. And it is for five people to go anywhere you're going to. So, so now we have a yes day budget and it's going to, they're each going to get $50. I felt like that was fair for their yes day. And then that's, and then they, so then I love the idea of the kids quote, unquote being in charge of Solaris to see what they want to do, but I can't afford, I can't afford all the things. So no, so the movie is super cute. However, yeah, and I didn't even know there was a movie and it's super cute girl and Jennifer or whatever. I didn't even know that it was a movie. But anyway, the point being, so they've got $50 and that is going to be their budget. But I was just saying, if you have a monthly budget and they can see, okay, if we, if I want to go skating, that's going to take half of this monthly and I get one more thing that's not the whatever, it's just going to be another way for them to learn budgeting. And for you to have a easy tool, because one of the things we were just talking about this, it's not easy. It's not easy for me to tell my kids no, but if I have like math, this is the math, you figure it out, it's on you to figure it out, then it's just helping everybody out to make good decisions. I would challenge you to start off with, if you can, or actually everyone can, but I would challenge you to start off with a free yesterday. Ours last year was we can do anything you want, but it can't cost anything. That's the one that we had the kids and we did, we had them do theirs together. For us, it was a bonding thing. We wanted them to come together and create the plan and decide what the day looked like. And it was really cute to watch them figure out what they wanted to do in collaborate. Yeah. And I, yeah. And I like, how else this is how we did it? How else are you going to end up literally playing hot potato with a potato at a park an hour away? Right. That's what happened to us. Yeah. And we just said, they came up with such fun things and we had the best time. And again, I think the biggest thing for me that I got of it was, we, Shayna, they have a lot of family time and we have a lot of family time. And so that, for some people, you may not. So for some people, this may be the only really good family time you get, but that wasn't it for me. It was watching my kids come together and create this plan and laugh together while they did it and be a team while like they were on one team and then dad and I were on another team going through this whole process. So it was a lot of fun. I would challenge all two incorporate that into your summer plans. Okay. After the budget, then there's the calendar. So first of all, let's talk about what do you even have time for, right? Do you have time for all of this craziness that you're trying to plan into your summer? So on top of work? So the, yeah, you need to look at this on, like on whole, right? So if you're working or not, if you're traveling, if you're already planning to do this, that and the other, like my friend is leading VBS, right? So she's not, so now it's, do I have time to take her to take my kids and do something else? Right. That we know. So look at it first of all, the months of summer, look at it week to week, what do I got going on? What do I actually have time for? And where are the gaps? So if there are, if you're already taking these strips or they're already doing this thing or the other, maybe those gaps can just stay unfilled and that's, you're going to be like really happy about that. So you want to look at the months and weeks overall, and then you're also going to look at the daily schedule. Yeah. You don't have to, you don't have to fill every time slot. You don't have to fill every 30 minutes. You don't even have to fill any every hour. Have some downtime. Look at the daily schedule. Figure out what you want that to look like. If you could have your ideal summer day or your kids could have their ideal summer day, what would that look like and plan around that plan accordingly? And even think about their ideal summer week too. So if you're like, okay, every Friday you get to have a friend over and then you have a good mom friend, every Friday they're going over, or every Thursday they're going over there or whatever, something like that too, where you have a week as well. There might be, like we talked about, maybe the library is every Thursday. Or even like age groups or certain times. So just look at your week on whole, look at your, and then the daily routine is obviously very important. So we all think, oh, I'm just going to let the routine go out the door and you regret that. Yeah. So let's talk about daily routines for a minute. Just because your kids are on summer, doesn't mean they never help out doing chores. And maybe they don't have chores. And maybe this is a great time to incorporate that as they have more downtime at my kids last year. My daughter was just talking about this at Bible study last night, but every morning when they woke up, they had a list and it was have breakfast, feed the animals, make sure they're all taken care of, do your pushups, do your squats. And honestly, it was just because I wanted them to have some type of physical activity in between their camps and vacations or whatever. But it was, you had to earn your time. You had to earn time to friend time. You had to earn your camps. You had to do certain things. You had to do baseboards. You had to do laundry. You had to do certain things around the house. And once they got done with that checklist, and guys, it literally maybe took them an hour. And I even had, you need to schedule in your reading time. You need to make sure you get that done. It's important. And so I don't want, even if they have a reading challenge for the, for the summer, because most schools will issue that if they don't, I still made them read. I don't care. So just make sure you schedule that in. And what do you want your kids to do every day? And then you can go around that. Yeah. And it's also important to keep routines because then they, you still need to eat breakfast. Don't you have a client that you talked about? She gets to be lazy till 10? Yeah. Yeah. She's older. She's older too. And this is the thing. I, they're only young ones. We do not need to keep pushing them and keeping them busy. So it's cool. Remember what your summers were like, like, what am I going to do today? And we want that luxurious luxury of time to be like, what do I want to do? What and be creative and be down and be bored and all that kind of stuff. So anyway, yeah, I do have a client and I said, you get till 10 to be, to be a teenager. And then it's time to do something with your life after that. And so anyway, you just, but you need to eat breakfast. That's one of the things my kids were like, I'm hungry. It's 1030. I'm like, why didn't you do that? Like you're old enough. Yeah. So you just want, the number one thing I learned early on is lack of routine is going to just be a nightmare as a mom. It's not bad for everyone. It's bad for everyone. So you don't want to let that happen this summer. Okay. So the point is you want to look at your calendar, big macro, what does the whole summer look like to week? We want to look at weekly schedules so that we all know what's the flow of the week. Cause your day is hardly ever look the same, but weeks tend to look the same. And then we want to look at the daily in an average day and it doesn't have to be perfect. What is my ideal summer day? Even your kids like, okay, first of all, I'm going to sleep in. And then second of all, I'm going to have video games and then I'm going to go to the pool with my friends and then I'm going to read and then I'm going to take a nap or whatever. Whatever your kids, maybe they have a fun version of what their cool day looks like. So you want to just discuss that with them and, but also don't let them shy away from what they're supposed to. Oh yeah. Add in the choice. That's a given for sure. And here's the deal. When we were thinking about your client who wants to keep the kids busy, I want to ask you a question. Yeah. How much time is it taking you to keep your kids busy versus if you stayed home and put some of the stuff into place and you had more free time and they were quote unquote busy, whatever that means. Yeah. Because there's a way to stay home and let them be busy. And we forget, we think that they have to be out or we have to be out doing something with someone, activity or paying money to keep our kids busy when you can do that at home. You know, we have, we, you have kids because you want kids, you love your children. We love our kids. I love being around my kids. Now, will they sometimes get anxious? Sure. Especially if you have maybe three little's at home, we get it, but pull the electronics away from them. They may have detox. They will, they will, they'll throw a little temperature for a minute, but then let them be creative. So one of the guys that we listened to his podcast, he talks about downtime actually creative, creativeness, right? You actually become more creative in downtime. So take the thing, bored, boredom is boredom. Thank you. That's what it is. Boredom creates creativity. So if you allow your kids to quote unquote be bored and oh my gosh, mom is so bored, they're going to be fine. They're going to live. They will actually start playing with things they haven't played with before, start coloring or play games or build forts, right? They're going to really be creative and let them go outside. I don't know where you live. Maybe it's too hot. No, maybe you have a patio or maybe you have a tent you can put up for them or something, but just let them go outside, get the hose, make a slip slide with a tarp or just something. There is, you can do that. And it doesn't mean they have to be in the house. Like I'm a big component of, we live in Florida, so go outside. Like I'm a big component of that. And that's very close to probably how you grew up. Like you can come in when the sun goes down or whatever. I just, yeah. So being, the thing is, the goal is not to keep them busy. That's not necessarily the goal. The goal is to let them be kids. So when you say creativity equal or boredom lets you be creative. I'm like, I was so bored. I'm the only child we lived in the country. There were no kids around. Anyway, my parents worked. So I would be home alone all the time. Let me tell you, I, the ridiculous things I came up with to do and to keep my time. But you remember those to this day? I remember. And I just happened to know that's what makes me the person I am because I didn't, I have to come up with things in my own brain. I don't have, I'm not constantly engaged. I'm not constantly being told what to do. I am the one. And that's going to create a more autonomous adult. And it's a good thing. And that's the other thing. The summer is supposed to be down. God made it hot because you don't, so you don't want to move. So then you can just rest. Okay. You're hot and sticky and you don't move. And you're just like sitting there watching everybody, watching other things move. And there's something to that. Let it be, think about it as being a season of rest before the busyness of the harvest of the fall or the busyness of the holidays or the school year. Yeah. And the school year is just time to just be, have some downtime, like and enjoy it. Yeah. And like we talked about kids being bored is a good thing. And just allow that to sink in and allow that to register before your kids come to say, I'm bored mom. What are we doing today? We're on board. What are we doing? What's the plan? Blah, blah, blah. Like you can actually say no is a complete sentence. It is okay to say that. And it's okay to tell them, Hey, go in your room and find something to do or go outside and find, go in the garage and find that toy from Christmas or from your birthday that you haven't touched in six months and use it. Play with that. I think it's really important what you said about the detox though. Cause I think a lot of parents, a lot of people don't realize that their kids are capable of that just because the way like getting through it. Yeah. Like they're, every kid is the same. If you let them have too many electronics or you're constantly keeping them engaged, like you are constantly making sure they have something to do. They, they don't know how they forget how to be a little kid. Right. So it's going to take a day, a couple of days, a week or whatever before they get back to that natural state, but they will. So just be prepared. Hold on. Yeah. Hang on. And be ready with your answers. Like, why, why don't you figure it out or whatever? Just be ready with your answers. It is not your job to keep them entertained also. So just release yourself from that. It's okay. Yeah. To me. Okay. Yeah. My parents ran a business when my brother and I were younger and we were home. We were home. We were fishing. I was digging up worms and helping him untangle fishing line and swimming in the pool. And we had a couple of ducks and chickens in the backyard that we took care of, but we didn't do all things. We had a yard to play with. And that is what we did. And that we, I remember those times and they do create precious memories. And I just, I had a good time. Yeah. And I think the one hack that we're giving you is to have a friend over for free. Yeah. This is, so it's like the next level of that. Yeah. And that's all done. You did a good job, mom. Oh, anyway, this was just some of the fun or some of the things that we wanted to tell you about summer so that you can have a great on purpose. And one bonus tip I wanted to add in there is so our kids, they make their lunches for their school. Sometimes you get lunch at school, but either way, this summer, your new plan is to still have them make their lunches every day or month or week or however that system will roll because they're, so what's going to happen is you're either going to, we'll be working and they'll be like, let's do the lunch. And I'll be like, Oh, listen, go figure it out. But you don't even have that conversation if they already have lunches in the fridge or whatever, where, however that works for you. But then also if they, oh, so-and-so called, can we meet them at the park or they're going to take me to play basketball or Hey, Shayna, just come over and we'll work for my house. Okay, get all the kids in the car and they're coming over here. Yeah. And so we are summer as it was last summer, the kids spent a lot of time together. Always have your lunch made so you can be ready for any activity. But then even if we're at home, always have your lunch made that way they know what it's already done. You don't have to think about it. Like such a, the other reason for this- So grab and go. You're making lunchables. It's grab and go lunchable just like you grab from the deli at the store and it's cheaper. That's what I was just going to say because if you decide, okay, we're going to go to the beach with the, with friends and then you don't have something, what are you going to go? You're going to go through the drive through. You're going to gas station or yeah, or something like that. And we maybe once or twice you can plan to do that for fun on purpose. But let's not have that be part of your summer budget because that's just another expense that's not in alignment with what your goals are. So just, this is your bonus tip. But also another bonus is check out the freebie. Yeah, we have a freebie. We're going to have a downloadable calendar for you to help you plan your summer. What does that look like? And this is something your kids can use and they can plug into to figure out what their schedule looks like and how their summer is going to go. It's going to be smooth sailing y'all. Yeah, it's going to be amazing. If you make good money but have nothing to show for it, this quiz will help you figure out what's really going on with your money and what your next step should be. You'll get a personalized result and a simple action step to help you feel more organized and less stressed. Go to budgetbesties.com for slash quiz and take the free quiz today. 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