The High Price of "FREE" Stuff

I recently signed my boys up for dance lessons.  It wasn't something I had planned to do,  but my sister mentioned to me that her boys were starting dance lessons, and they were free.  FREE!  My favorite word!  Like I said, I had no previous thoughts of signing my boys up for dance class (in fact our family's schedule is so packed I didn't think there was any way to squeeze even one more activity onto the calendar!), but if someone else's kids were getting a fun experience for free, shouldn't my kids get it too?  The lure of free is so enticing!  So I took the bait.

I went to the dance studio to inquire about these free lessons.  It turns out not a lot of people sign little boys up to dance, so they are enrolling boys for free.  I signed up my two boys (age 5 and 7) for a combination of ballet, tap, and jazz lessons..... and I paid the $30 annual family registration fee.  That's not that much, right?

On the first day of class, four other expenses suddenly appeared.  Gas, wardrobe, shoes, and Chinese food.  Paying for gas is a given in situations like this, so we often don't think about it when we decide to join an activity long term.  The studio is eight miles from my house, and in my giant beast of a mini-van that takes a full gallon of gas round trip.  That's $3.50 today (who knows how much it will be tomorrow!).  So $3.50 a week for a 20 week semester = $70.00 for a semester of dance classes.  Not a big deal, right?  I would be paying that gas money no matter what activity my kids joined right?  The only way not to pay for gas is to just stay home.  And who wants to be that mom?

Next was wardrobe.  Fortunately boys have it easy.  They just need white tees and black shorts.  I figured that would be no problem.  It turns out we own tons of white shirts, but we don't own any black shorts.  So we had to go to Walmart and buy some.  We found a couple pairs on clearance for $3 each, for a total cost of $6 (confession: we could only find little girl shorts, so if you notice pink ribbons hanging down from the waist band, please ignore them).

One of my boys needs shoes for class too (thankfully the other can go barefoot).  It's a ballet/tap combo, so he needs a pair of both ballet shoes AND tap shoes.  The studio conveniently has it's own store and offered to sell me the shoes I needed, but I declined.  I was sure I could find what I needed for a better price somewhere else.  Sadly, I was wrong.  All the shoe stores I went to only sold girl dance shoes.  Nobody carries boy shoes!  And the prices online weren't good enough to risk buying shoes without trying them on first.  So we went back to the dance studio and bought two pairs of dance shoes for a total of just over $50.  Fifty bucks for two pairs of shoes?  I honestly don't think I own a pair of shoes that I paid more than $10 for.  But it's worth it right?  I mean, who wouldn't want to see a little five year old Fred Astaire?

And lastly we come to the biggest expense of all: Chinese food.  I know you are wondering what the cost of Chinese food has to do with ballet lessons, but I promise you it's all very logical.  First of all, dance class is from 5-6 PM.  Second of all, the dance studio just happens to be across the street from my favorite Chinese restaurant, a place I rarely get to go to because it's too far from my house and I never have a good enough excuse to drive there.  So now I find myself every Monday night, at dinner time, with an hour to kill, sitting across the street from my favorite restaurant.  I have to get Chinese food, right?  I mean is it really a choice?  Cost of Chinese food: $10.

So let's add this up, shall we?

lessons: Free

registration: $30

gas: $70

shorts: $6

shoes: $50

Chinese food (if I only go every other week): $100

I have no idea yet if we will have to buy a costume or tickets for their recital at the end of the semester.  So for now the total cost stands at 20 weeks of free lessons = $256.  Is that a steal of a deal for dance lessons?  Yes.  Is it free?  No.

Don't get me wrong, I'm glad I signed them up.  They are soooo cute!  And soooo excited to be dancers!  Aside from that, the best part is really that  I get to spend an hour a week hanging out with my sister (without our kids!).  That's worth $15 a week right there!

So what's my point?  My point is simply that when a business tells you that you're getting a good deal or that they are giving you something for free, remember they have an agenda, and that agenda is to make money.  Be sure that you are choosing where your money goes, instead of being surprised halfway through the month when it's all gone.

Marcia