creative ways to pay for skating

[isakswings]

Everyone who gets really involved with figure skating, knows it is a very expensive sport. It starts out innocenet enough with learn to skate(around here it is 40.00 for 6 wks of lessons). But once your child shows an interest in competing, it becomes SO much more. Dd has been in private lessons for just over 3 years. She's been competing for almost 3 years and she loves it. Fiancially, paying for this sport is quite the challenge for us. We've made adjustments to our finances and have cut back on some things to afford this sport. I juggle around lessons with secondary coaches, to get her the extra instruction she needs as she progresses. She has fewer lessons then other skaters but more then others. She has adequate ice time available to her and now there is a new off ice program that will begin in a few months. This class seems like it would really benefit her. It is intense and there will be a trainer working with the skaters. The trainer will evaluate each skater and figure out their strengths and weaknesses. The trainer will then create a work out plan tailored to each skater. Classes will be small and grouped by abilities. We could do private sessions too...but I don't think that is within my budget at all. As it is, my skating budget is pretty well stretched out. So, what do you all do to afford this sport? Obviously as a skater advances, they will require more and more training. someof it specialized and some of it not. I am seeing why this becomes necessary but my wallet can only do so much.

I have a few ideas of how to raise money(sell items, my daughter will be doing s ome work for grandma to help, ect) but I am curious what others do when they have beer budgets and skate or have a skater. Oh and we already watch eating out and I am making dd skating pants and practice dresses.  Thanks

[kssk8fan]

This sport is not for the faint of heart - financially and emotionally!  I don't think you can make it inexpensive if your daughter wants to be competitive, however there are some things you can do to stretch your dollar.  Keep a consistent or balanced ratio of lesson time to practice time.  Not every session has to be filled with a lesson.  In our case, my daughter actually improves leaps and bounds when she has time to just go out and practice what she's learned.  Off-ice, which in most cases is less expensive overall than ice time plus a lesson is so beneficial!  It will speed up the progression cycle immensely.  However, this is also a catch 22....as your daughter becomes stronger, she'll improve and move up the levels which require more ice time.  I truly believe many families could cut their expenses greatly if they'd leave off a stone or two on their dresses!  HAHA  I'd like to still believe that the more expensive the dress does not relate to more advanced skating skills!

Also, remembering that sometimes less is more is crucial to affording this sport!  This goes for pretty much everything except ice time!  The more ice time you can make available to your daughter the better...skate skate skate!  Not necessarily in a lesson, just ice time!  As for boots, blades, dresses, competitions......everything in moderation will work great.  You can jump into the sport head first or you can slowly get used to the waters! 

It's expensive, there's no way around it!  Sort of like equestrian.  Unfortunately, as you pointed out, this sport is innocent at first and then sucks you in over time!  With equestrian, at least you know it's expensive from the beginning!

As for being creative - many clubs have fundraisers and the money the skaters bring in is held in a personal skating account.  Those funds are then used to help skaters with seminars, competitions, etc....  I think that's a great way to help pay some of the expenses!  If your club doesn't do this, talk to them and recommend it!   Semi-privates for moves is great too if your coach has more than one skater working on the same moves test.  As a last resort, birthdays and holidays are great for asking relatives to help pay for skating instead of giving gifts!  This year for Christmas, my daughter received a week of summer camp from her grandmother!  Granted, she was going regardless, but when asked what she wanted for Christmas, I didn't hesitate to mention it! 

oh, one more thing.....as you mentioned food/meals - I bought a pressure cooker and it's amazing!  It takes literally no time at all to prepare meals and it is so much cheaper that stopping to pick up dinner b/c I'm too tired to cook a decent meal!
Good luck to you and I'd be happy to hear other's responses as well! 

[Sk8tmum]

3 on the ice so, yes, I can understand where you're coming from.  Lots of things that add up:

a) I have a dressmaker that lets me stone the dresses; saves a fortune.
b) I get new skates during the annual "end of season" inventory clearances.
c) Troll the end of year dress sales; buy them then.
d) Buy tights in bulk when you can get the BOGO deals.
e) Prioritize lessons and put together a cost-effective coaching package. By NOT having my one kid do dance, we have saved thousands of dollars in terms of coaching, costuming, partnering and test fees over the years - plus allowing for more rapid progression through freeskate. As is noted in another thread, this was also due to the fact that the kid didn't like dance ... however, by choosing a discipline and focussing on it instead of doing multi-disciplines, we were able to use a bit less ice time as well. Have we lost out by not doing dance? No - we just had the "stuff" that dance would have taught taught as skating lessons, which was way cheaper and worked better for us (yes, we have someone teach Figures ! as well as moves in the field )  as it was all "freeskate" focussed. My other kid does do dance, as she's not competitive - which definitely gives me a guideline on how much we saved by making that decision to not do dance for our other kid. We use specialist coaches - which saves us cash - as one intense 15 minute lesson with a "plan" for the week is very cost effective, and allows our (more expensive) freeskate coach to use her lesson time more wisely and effectively. If money was unlimited ... maybe we would have had dance in there too, but, frankly, just wasn't in the budget.
f) We don't do every comp; we do the ones that matter, and save on entry fees. We don't do every seminar; we do the ones that matter.
g) Less popular times save us on ice fees.
h) Budget. Make sure you know how much you have to spend, and stick to it; also, like they tell you for weddings, add about 15 to 20% on top of what you expect to give yourself a buffer for unexpected expenses ...

However, the reality is that it is expensive. If you have a kid going to nationals/competitive skater, you're going to pay out money.  If you have a more casual skater, you can also pay out money ... but you may be more flexible as the pressure isn't as high.

Note too that once you move up in equipment, you're pretty much locked in.  Maybe that jump from Aces to Gold Seals doesn't hurt too much the first time  - you can save up that money- but, when you realize that you're going to be paying that amount for the next pair, which with a kid may be in 6 months or less ... maybe you could stay in Aces for a bit ... same thing with moving to an expensive boot - going back is difficult, waiting for a bit may be okay.

[icefrog]

I spend a lot of time prioritizing what I do and what I spend my money on. Tests before shows, competition fees only when I have the money to pay for them and it wouldn't be super tight for a few weeks (they are $100+ sometimes, plus extra coaching, gas etc.) I rarely buy new dresses and I also bead them myself which saves so much money! and I get used blades and I plan on skating on them until nothing is left! I get most of my skating clothes online cheap or at sports store clearance racks. I plan things out and I like to stagger them so I know what's coming and I have time to plan for it (like test in May, Seminar in July, test again in Sept, Comp in Oct). I also throw a few dollars from time to time in a general skating fund that I have. Then when I have something expensive coming up the money is there, or part of it....  ;)I also take pilates and dance at the community center when I fits in my schedule which is a little cheaper than at the rink.

[Skittl1321]

Until I messed my hip up, I taught tots LTS classes in exchange for ice time.  Unfortunately, now I can't take the repeated falling we do when playing games to teach them how to  fall and get up...

A Mom with a daughter in LTS is exchanging off ice Zumba classes for her daughter's skating lessons.

I worked a deal with my first coach to get a discounted lesson fees- I paid the whole month up front, and if I canceled any lessons, I lost the fee.  It was a guaranteed paycheck for him, so he was happy to do it.  Skating lessons can be very inconsistent income it seems.
I also use a LTS group class as my second weekly lesson, rather than take 2 privates.

I wear leggings from Target in the summer instead of cute skating pants (Under Armour in the winter, it's just too cold otherwise). 
I keep my skates in an old backpack instead of an adorbable Zuca bag.
I sew my own dresses and keep rhinestones to an absolute minimum.
I don't join USFS in years that I won't have a test ready.

[kssk8fan]

sk8tmum, you mentioned keeping to one discipline and focusing on that as well as working occasionally with a specialist.   I really think this advice is spot on!  I know at our rink, we have a coach that insists her skaters do dance as well as freestyle.  We've never worked with this coach but I do hear the comments to the parents and it's the same ol' song and dance (pardon the pun). 

Yes, ice dance will make for a better skater - hands down!  If you've read any of my posts you'll know I'm a big proponent of ice dance to help the skater learn flow, posture, carriage, extension, etc.... (pretty much makes up most of the PCS).  However, it also takes a big chunk of time and money to add this discipline.  My daughter did ice dance for a year until there was a scheduling conflict. 

You also mentioned planning!  Like in business, planning is a crucial element in reaching a goal.  I think it should be standard business for coaches to have plans for their skaters for each lesson.  This is very common in other sports, not sure why it isn't in skating.  I do know some top level coaches and others that insist on planning for lessons, competitions, seasons, etc.....  I also know this is normal and required for our team USA skaters.  I really think it should be included for the younger skaters!  We would never send our kids to school if we knew the teachers weren't preparing lesson plans for the day and just winged it!  I'm not sure how to change this but perhaps someone else has ideas!  I'm not talking about pre-season planning, I'm talking about each lesson, having a plan on paper that everyone can be accountable for. 

[AgnesNitt]

My goal has always been to be a kept woman. At first it was for horses, now it's for skating, a few more years and it will be for walkers.

[isakswings]

Thanks so much! We try very hard to maximize dd's ice time. She also helps on LTS sessions and earns 1 hour of ice time for each LTS session she helps out with. If I could, I would have her do this twice a week, but I am not able to get her to the rink both LTS days. Still, saving around 40 a month is VERY helpful! I tell her it is her way to help pay for skating.

Dresses... I make her practice dresses or buy them used(in most cases!). I got a great buy on black spandex(3.00 a yard!) and have been making her practice pants... it's fun for me and she loves having pants to skate in. She does have a Zuca bag but it is 3 years old and is something she bought for herself with her birthday money. I wasn't going to buy one for her but she wanted one bad enough, she saved up for it. Good for her!

Anyway... I have a few ideas of how I can make some money to help pay for dd's skating(ie: one of the mom's wants me to make her dd some practice dresses, she'll pay me). Dd isn't going to be an elite skater, but she is interested in becoming the best she can be. She would also like to become a coach someday. We can't do as much as some families, but we do what we can.

Thanks again... I hope others post. I would love to know what others do to make this sport work for them.

[hopskipjump]

I work full time but have been trying to make extra money with my "talents/hobbies" (ha ha).  Eventually I will need to sit with my skater and let her know to keep up, I'll need a real second job.  I'm willing to do what I can, it does break my heart to know I can't do more.  We don't have family to get help from.  But if you do have a hobby, maybe someone would be willing to pay for it.

[davincisop]

My agreement with my mom when I started skating again at age 22 was that I would have to pay for everything myself. I had mentioned I wanted to get back into lessons and she said "Find a way to pay yourself and you can do it, but I won't pay for it" (I was still in college at the time). I ended up waiting about 4 months after that before I got a job (I was going to Italy on a study abroad for a month so there was so skating that entire month), and I took a learn to skate before I got the job to make sure I still loved it and wanted to do it and feel out my current coach's teaching style. I got a job at the ice rink (it just made sense since I was there every day anyways) and it's saved me a TON in money. I only have to pay for my lessons and synchro class and whatever maitenance stuff I need (laces/tights/jackets etc). The only thing I didn't buy for skating in the last year were my new skates because my old ones were too long and didn't fit. When I was graduating she asked me what I wanted and I told her new skates and that they could be graduation, birthday, AND christmas (I wanted them that badly!).

But the point is, there are many ways to pay for skating, I even do freelance design work on the side to help pay and am in the process of finding a full time job outside my part time job at the rink. Basically, I don't plan on sleeping lol.   

[Schmeck]

My salary has always gone to the children's activities, and we live off of my husband's.  When older daughter quit gymnastics and decided she wanted to skate fulltime, I had her choose - skating or a college fund.  She picked skating, got into synchro, and competed nationally for two years.  We did run up the credit cards a bit, but always managed to pay them down, she did without a lot of fancy stuff ($700 skate/boots each year was all she got for most birthdays) and we just planned our vacations to be at competitions.

Younger daughter dances (not on ice, on land ) and while the equipment and costumes are not as expensive, it's still using up a lot of my salary.  There's a lot of travel, mostly by car, and Nationals is in NYC, and they qualified this year.  We can save money by not buying all the t-shirts, videos, etc, at each competition, and just order the best performance online at the end of the season.  I also sew for her dance studio, which keeps costs down, and her solo "costumes" are usually made from something hanging in my closet, or hers.

We were lucky in that the synchro skating at the national level made my daughter stand out for college, and she got accepted at her dream school, with a nice scholarship from the school.  That more than makes up for not having a college fund.