Pre-K is expensive....when did school get this way?

I don't remember school being this expensive when I was younger. I guess that could be because I wasn't really focused on the money part, even though I was in public school.

Now that my 5 year old daughter is in Pre-K (her birthday was 10 days after the cut-off date, and as a result, they are making her wait an ENTIRE year to start Kindergarten) in a private school, I've come to realize that private school alone costs money, but we factored this into our budget; which could most certainly handle it.

What I didn't factor in was: a school lunch fee just to have lunch at school, the cost of lunch it's self, pictures, book fairs, school fundraising efforts, journal fee (yes, $4 for a book the school requires for each preschooler), and finally school clothes.

Is this what my husband and I have to look forward to in the future?

.......I have been told, school gets expensive the older a child gets.

I guess that's true. Soon it'll be uniforms, school activity fees, trips and other stuff. And I am not even thinking about high school or college yet........

There is one good thing though. Claiming these expenses on our tax return, since this is Pre-k. That'll help us a lot in that area.

But geez......school is like another bill. Now I see why my mother didn't pay for every trip, fee or activity I bought home; it simply was too much money.

So.......its almost the end of September and my wallet feels violated already :-)

I guess I should start to get used to that, I hear kids are the best at violating their parents wallets!

Here's to the future........