How much do you think you'll spend on softball in 2016?

I'm afraid to answer this for myself but now I gotta know.

Travel Team Dues = $500.00 Aprox.
Uniforms = $100.00
Equipment = $400.00
Hotels = $1,000.00
Batting & Pitching Lessons 3x-4x a week = $2,000.00 Annually
Gas = $500.00
= $4,500.00 & I'm sure I am forgetting a few things

Too much to try and tally up I know we will be spending ALOT!!!
Trip to London-England with Team USA-Ohio-Priceless

My team fees are very low, but the gas, hotel, and meals are killers. We were out of town 7 of 8 tournaments (Columbus twice, Nashville, Chattanooga, Owensboro, Indianapolis, and Gulf Shores), so travel got very pricey. If you include pitching, hitting, SSA lessons and college/prospect camps plus 2 new bats last year I would say close to $7,500.

Fees, travel, lessons, equipment should cost us about 6K this year. If we add a second National tourney that number will jump at least $1000.

Travel by far is the biggest expense, and can be calculated many different ways. For instance, I can send my DD to play in Chattanooga, Atlanta, St.Louis or Orlando, for around $200 for the weekend, including travel, meals and recreational money. Option 2, I take the whole family every weekend and the price is at least 4 fold. IMHO the first example is what should be calculated in the cost of softball. Option 2 is scheduling 8 family vacations.

The DD plays on a decent team with a heavy fall and summer schedule. She plays local 1 time a year so travel is extensive. She has a year round hitting instructor, and personal trainer. Calculating by option 1, she is all in for about $5,000/yr. I choose to travel everywhere with her. Having said this, I never come out of pocket this much. If you are willing to work a little, most families should be able to afford this kind of program. Again, JMHO.

Add $50 for walking tacos if that is your vice.

I'm coming in between $6000 - 7000.

That includes:
Team fees
Hotels
Gas for travel + practices throughout the year
Batting coach
Occasional new or upgraded gear

And I should probably go ahead and budget another $50 for those walking tacos.

My question is, how do you guys budget or save cash on out of town trips? We are in SE Ohio so we don't have any local touneys and practices are at least 2 hours one way. I'm guessing around $6-7,000 is fairly accurate, possibly a bit more.

For me the expense is doubled, both my daughters play. Sometimes its not easy trying to figure out how we are gonna pay for hitting lessons or that new glove/equipment they need but we do it. Watching them play the game they love is worth sacrificing some things I want to do or things I want to buy for myself to give them everything they need to help them play at this level. People tell me all the time we are stupid for spending this kind of money on softball. I politely tell them its what they love to do. They can continue sitting on the couch watching tv on the weekends while their kids are hermits in their rooms but for me, I'll keep traveling all over and spend how ever much money we have to so my girls can do what they love. I wouldn't trade this for anything.

OHsoftball said:

My question is, how do you guys budget or save cash on out of town trips? We are in SE Ohio so we don't have any local touneys and practices are at least 2 hours one way. I'm guessing around $6-7,000 is fairly accurate, possibly a bit more.

Click to expand...

OHsoftball - one thing I did last year that did save some cash was rent houses in Nashville, Chattanooga, and Gulf Shores and share the cost of the rental with a family or two. We cooked some of our meals (big savings + nice not having to eat out every meal) and did laundry and such. I rented all of the properties from VRBO (vacation rentals by owner) and had some great results. Last fall in Chattanooga we had a house that could sleep 10-12 on 700 acres; very nice.

One place to start saving is your hotel stays. Find a chain with a good overall value and stick with them. Take advantage of rewards programs offered. I opened a credit card with Club Carlson and pay for my fuel year round. The reward points add up quickly. Check their websites often, as they give bonus days for booking during certain periods. If air fare is required, check prices of multiple discount airlines from several different airports. This past fall the DD and I, flew round trip to Orlando, for $64 each!

Adding everything I budgeted for for the 2016 season I am sitting at $6056. this could go up if we do a national or add another away tourney. I include speed and agility for off season, hitting lessons, hotels, food, gas, team fees, spirit wear (because she had to have it lol) college camps, new cleats and 2 new bats. This is travel only we will have expenses with high school ball this year too.

A major problem with the hotel issue is playing in PGF Tournaments that mandate teams to book hotels in their system, or they heavily penalize the teams that do not . From what I have seen families end up spending much more in room rates for terrible hotels and are in some of the seedier areas for the city. This is just a very bad way to grow a sanction community in my mind. This mandatory money maker needs to end. It is plain robbery. Many teams have a parent who is dedicated to finding hotels for their teams as they travel and can get them a preferred rate in doing so. Having to book at a mandated hotel only makes money for the sanction and makes travel ball only MORE expensive. Next they will be mandating your air fares.

Snoman was right on point here.

snoman76 said:

For me the expense is doubled, both my daughters play. Sometimes its not easy trying to figure out how we are gonna pay for hitting lessons or that new glove/equipment they need but we do it. Watching them play the game they love is worth sacrificing some things I want to do or things I want to buy for myself to give them everything they need to help them play at this level. People tell me all the time we are stupid for spending this kind of money on softball. I politely tell them its what they love to do. They can continue sitting on the couch watching tv on the weekends while their kids are hermits in their rooms but for me, I'll keep traveling all over and spend how ever much money we have to so my girls can do what they love. I wouldn't trade this for anything.

Click to expand...

Well said.

I really do not want to think about it

Total is probably $11-15k. Really don't want to know. Quality time is priceless, right!?

How to Budget... spends all that's left on softball after bills. Softball = gas, booze, rooms, booze, cleats, booze, airfare, booze booze booze,... you get the point

Thank God I only have one DD! With that being said, team fees, gas (of course in a 5.4 V8), food, a few hotels...One way I've learned to save $ there is camping. There are some damn nice campgrounds around some of the tournys we play in and out of state. That alone is a HUGE savings! Yet there is still the price of new Xenos, lessons 3-4 X's a week (hitting and catching), new catchers gear...... Pretty sure the list never ends! I'd say I'm in the range somewhere around $4,000 annually. But man the memories.....absolutely priceless!!!!!

My initial guess was it would cost us $9,000-$11,000 for a year.

After sitting down and estimating everything, I was pretty close. I will have approximately $10,610 spent this year.
DD plays a high-level 16u showcase schedule with most of that expense being the traveling costs, but does not actually include the gas to and from lessons and practices, because I didn't take the time to try to calculate that.
This past fall DD was in 6 tournaments - Chicago, Kentucky, Columbus, St. Louis, Orlando & Atlanta. There will be 7 in the summer - Chattanooga, Shelbyville, St. Louis, Colorado, Atlanta, and Huntington Beach (not sure where 7th tournament will be yet).
Here are my estimations:
$4500 - Team fees, weekly lessions (catching and hitting), and speed & agility in the "off" season
$2160 - Hotels for 12 of the 13 tournaments. Estimated by averaging 2 nights per stay at $90 per night. If possible I stay cheaper, sometimes
on mandated hotels it's more expensive.
$900 - total estimation of hotel for the week at Nationals. It may be much more - or even less if I find I can use my timeshare.
$750 - Airfare for my DD alone (does not include my airfare) to 3 of the tournaments. I get some great deals on Priceline.
$1000 - Estimated gas expense for the other 10 trips - $100 per trip average estimated. Sometimes more, sometimes less.
$1300 - Estimated food and water for the 13 tournaments. I might be overshooting here, but since I usually go with her, it's hard to tease out
just how much is my DDs food bill alone. She is a catcher, so we go through a LOT of water and food on tournament days.

I did not have to calculate equipment costs, as this year she received all new equipment from her organization.
I also didn't include camps in that cost - though I probably should. We've done a lot of camps this year. I think I'll just leave those out and not think about it!

Yikes - it's a lot when you break it down. But it is what I expected and I wouldn't trade the time with my DDs (my youngest often goes along as well) for anything. It's worth every penny to us.