By Amanda Barroso, NerdWallet

The investing information provided on this page is for educational purposes only. NerdWallet, Inc. does not offer advisory or brokerage services, nor does it recommend or advise investors to buy or sell particular stocks, securities or other investments.

The year has barely started, and my kindergarten parents group chat is already buzzing with summer camp anxiety. Registrations are opening and spots fill fast.

I’ve been doing research and here’s what I’ve learned: Camps aren’t cheap. But there are creative ways to work camp into your spending plan, this year and next.

The cost of summer camp

For many families with school-aged kids like mine, summer camps are a necessity. Schools are out and many parents work full-time. Summer camps fill an important child care gap.

But even for parents who are high earners, paying for camps can be a shocking expense. If you have more than one kid, paying for camp can seem almost impossible.

Affordable options do exist, says Henry DeHart, CEO of the American Camp Association, which oversees a national accreditation program for camp health and safety.

“There is a quality camp in your community at a price point that will work for you,” DeHart says.

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Summer camp prices can differ widely. Costs are often driven by how long a camp runs, whether it’s a day or overnight program, and the activities offered. Specialty camps — such as those focused on horseback riding, boating or STEM — tend to cost more because they require additional staff, equipment or materials.

It’s also hard to pin down an average camp price because there are so many options.

“There are at least 20,000 camps out there,” DeHart says.

Like many services, camp prices have increased in recent years due to inflation. Staffing and food costs are higher, so camper tuitions are often higher, too, DeHart says.

I found a half-day dance camp at a local high school for $225 a week and a full-day KPop Demon Hunters camp for $555 a week. The vacation Bible school at the church up the street only charges $10 for the week for a half-day, which is also on my radar.

Costs start to add up quickly.

How to build camp into your budget

Start planning now

Even if you feel like you are late to the game, there are still early registration discounts available and time to start setting aside money before summer begins.

If you don’t know where to start, the American Camp Association’s “Find a Camp” tool can help narrow your search. Depending on the camp, you might be able to pay any registration fees now, and tuition later — or in installments over time.

Waiting until closer to summer to look for camps can be costly. You may miss discounts, find top-choice camps are full and end up paying more for options that don’t meet your needs — such as limited programming, inconvenient locations or camps without safety certifications.

Break camp costs into monthly payments

For next year, you can plan ahead. Treat camp like a seasonal fixed expense that you account for in your budget every month, similar to a mortgage payment or utility bill. You can create a sinking fund just for camp costs.

If your total camp costs for June add up to $1,200, starting in September will give you roughly 10 months to save about $120 a month. That cushion can help cover early registration fees in winter or spring, while you continue saving for the remaining tuition.

“Saving money automatically before it hits your checking account is a good strategy,” says Carolyn McClanahan, a certified financial planner in Jacksonville, Florida. “Small amounts add up, and having money saved is much less expensive than high credit card payments.”

This year, if your budget for camp feels tight, McClanahan suggests looking around the house. “Consider selling items you don’t need or want,” she says. “Have a garage sale, take items to a consignment store, or sell items online. It is a hassle, but is a good way to raise money without going into debt.”

Offset costs by cutting back elsewhere

Look for costs that naturally go away or shrink during the summer. Can you redirect your aftercare costs into camp savings? Do you scale back or pause extracurricular activities that only run during the school year, such as sports, music lessons or clubs? Use that money to help cover camp costs.

“Think about spending that isn’t bringing you or your child much value, such as unused subscriptions or easy ‘click’ spending on Amazon,” McClanahan says.

Even small shifts can help. Our son’s half day preschool isn’t open during the summer, so we can redirect his tuition to help us cover any camp costs for my daughter.

But some tradeoffs matter more than others, especially when it comes to long-term savings.

“If you have to cut back on savings to pay for camp, always make sure you are saving enough to at least get your 401(k) and HSA match at work because you can never get that money back,” says McClanahan.

Mix high- and low-cost camps

If you need to cobble together multiple camps to get through the summer, consider splurging on your top pick and supplementing with cheaper options, perhaps through local churches, YMCAs, or city or county programs.

Use your dependent care FSA, if you have one

If you have a dependent care flexible spending account, you can use those pretax dollars to pay for eligible summer camp expenses. If you don’t have one but your employer offers them, you can look into signing up next year, which can also lower your tax bill.

For example, if you contribute $2,000 into a dependent care FSA and use it to reimburse summer camp costs, you could save roughly $400-$600 in taxes, depending on your tax bracket. Overnight camps will probably not apply, so check the eligibility.

Plan for hidden costs

Getting your child to and from camp can add to the total cost. This may include daily driving expenses or airfare if the camp is in another state.

Some camps also offer extended hours — such as drop-off before camp starts or pickup after it ends — for an additional fee. On top of that, supplies, field trips and lunches or snacks can increase your costs.

“Coordinating with other parents attending the same camp makes it easy to set up carpools and even share afternoon care, so you can skip some of the costly add-ons,” says Kimberly Palmer, a personal finance expert at NerdWallet.

How camps help families manage costs

There are traditional ways to get help with camp costs, like scholarships and grants offered directly by the camps themselves or through foundations and community organizations, like churches.

Camp directors are also getting more creative with financial assistance.

“There are all sorts of programs built in to help camps be affordable,” DeHart says. “There’s early registration discounts and sibling discounts.”

Referral fees are also popular. Some camps offer discounts if you can get one or two friends or family members to sign up for camp, too.

Some camps offer community service discounts for families working in public service, teachers, nurses, first responders, clergy and members of the military, DeHart says.

Not all forms of financial aid and discounts are advertised, Palmer says, so reach out to the camp’s director.

“If you have a preteen, consider asking if they can serve as a counselor in training for a discount,” Palmer says. “They might be able to earn volunteer hours as well as valuable experience, while saving you money.”

Benefits of summer camp beyond child care

Adding camp as a line item in your monthly budget can feel overwhelming. It’s another expense competing with emergency funds, retirement investing and college savings. But a quality program can offer experiences that are hard to replicate at home, DeHart says.

Your money isn’t just paying for adult supervision. It’s paying for enrichment. Many camps are no- or low-tech, giving kids a chance to unplug.

“It’s time away from social media. It’s time doing face-to-face relationships. It’s time outdoors, being active,” DeHart says. “You know, all these things that parents want.”

My daughter is still young, but going through summer camp sign-ups has made me think about the experiences I want her to have — and how to plan for them.

I ended up picking a few lower-cost camps. Still, I did jot down a few highly recommended camps and feel more confident about asking for creative payment solutions.

I just pulled up my bank app and moved $75 into a high-yield “camp fund.”

Better start preparing for next year.

Amanda Barroso writes for NerdWallet. Email: abarroso@nerdwallet.com.

The article My Quest for an Affordable Summer Camp Without Sacrificing My Savings originally appeared on NerdWallet.

By KATE BRUMBACK, Associated Press

ATLANTA (AP) — Fulton County has filed a motion in federal court seeking the return of all documents from the 2020 election that were seized last week from a warehouse near Atlanta by the FBI, officials in the Georgia county said Wednesday.

FBI Deputy Director Andrew Bailey, right, stands with members of the FBI at the Fulton County Elction HUB, Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2026, in Union City, Ga., near Atlanta. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)

The motion also asks for the unsealing of a law enforcement agent’s sworn statement that was presented to the judge who signed off on the search warrant, according to the county chairman, Robb Pitts. The county is not releasing the motion because the case is under seal, he said.

The Jan. 28 search at Fulton County’s main election facility in Union City sought records related to the 2020 election.

President Donald Trump and his allies have fixated on the heavily Democratic county, the state’s most populous, since the Republican narrowly lost the election in Georgia to Democrat Joe Biden in 2020. Trump has long insisted without evidence that widespread voter fraud in the county cost him victory in the state.

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Pitts defended the county’s election practices and said the county has conducted 17 elections since 2020 without any issues.

“The president himself and his allies, they refuse to accept the fact that they lost,” Pitts said. “And even if he had won Georgia, he would still have lost the presidency.”

Pitts cited comments by Trump earlier this week on a podcast where he called for Republicans to “take over” and “nationalize” elections.

“This case is not only about Fulton County. This is about elections across Georgia and across the nation,” he said.

A warrant cover sheet provided to the county includes a list of items that the agents were seeking related to the 2020 general election: all ballots, tabulator tapes from the scanners that tally the votes, electronic ballot images created when the ballots were counted and then recounted, and all voter rolls.

By DAVID FISCHER, Associated Press

FORT PIERCE, Fla. (AP) — Federal prosecutors are set to ask that a man convicted of trying to assassinate President Donald Trump on a Florida golf course in 2024 be sentenced to life in prison at a hearing on Wednesday.

Ryan Routh is scheduled to appear before U. S. District Judge Aileen Cannon in Fort Pierce. Her courtroom erupted into chaos in September shortly after jurors found Routh guilty on all counts, including attempting to kill a presidential candidate and several firearm-related charges. Routh tried to stab himself in the neck with a pen, and officers quickly dragged him out.

FILE – In this image released by the Martin County, Fla., Sheriff’s Office, law enforcement officers arrest Ryan Wesley Routh, a man suspected in an apparent assassination attempt of Donald Trump, Sept. 15, 2024. (Martin County Sheriff’s Office via AP, File)

Routh’s sentencing had initially been scheduled for December, but Cannon agreed to move the date back after Routh decided to use an attorney during the sentencing phase instead of representing himself as he did for most of the trial.

Prosecutors said in a sentencing memorandum filed last month that Routh has yet to accept any responsibility for his actions and that he should spend the rest of his life in prison, in accordance with federal sentencing guidelines.

“Routh remains unrepentant for his crimes, never apologized for the lives he put at risk, and his life demonstrates near-total disregard for law,” the memo said.

Routh’s new defense attorney, Martin L. Roth, is asking the judge for a variance from sentencing guidelines: 20 years in prison on top of a seven-year, mandatory sentence for one of the gun convictions.

“The defendant is two weeks short of being sixty years old,” Roth wrote in a filing. “A just punishment would provide a sentence long enough to impose sufficient but not excessive punishment, and to allow defendant to experience freedom again as opposed to dying in prison.”

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Prosecutors said Routh spent weeks plotting to kill Trump before aiming a rifle through shrubbery as the then-Republican presidential candidate played golf on Sept. 15, 2024, at his West Palm Beach country club.

At Routh’s trial, a Secret Service agent helping protect Trump on the golf course testified that he spotted Routh before Trump came into view. Routh aimed his rifle at the agent, who opened fire, causing Routh to drop his weapon and run away without firing a shot.

In the motion requesting an attorney, Routh offered to trade his life in a prisoner swap with people unjustly held in other countries and said an offer still stood for Trump to “take out his frustrations on my face.”

“Just a quarter of an inch further back and we all would not have to deal with all of this mess forwards, but I always fail at everything (par for the course),” Routh wrote.

In her decision granting Routh an attorney, Cannon chastised the “disrespectful charade” of Routh’s motion, saying it made a mockery of the proceedings. But the judge, nominated by Trump in 2020, said she wanted to err on the side of legal representation.

Cannon signed off last summer on Routh’s request to represent himself following two hearings. The U.S. Supreme Court has held that criminal defendants have the right to represent themselves in court proceedings, as long as they can show a judge they are competent to waive their right to be defended by an attorney.

Routh’s former federal public defenders served as standby counsel and were present during the trial.

By WAFAA SHURAFA, SAMY MAGDY and JULIA FRANKEL, Associated Press

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israeli strikes pounded Gaza on Wednesday, killing at least 21 Palestinians, including two infants, and further rocking a fragile ceasefire deal, hospital officials said. Israel said it was responding to a militant attack on Israeli soldiers that seriously wounded one.

Deadly Israeli strikes have repeatedly punctuated the truce since it came into effect on Oct. 10, and the escalating Palestinian toll has made many in Gaza say it feels like the war is continuing unabated. Among the Palestinians killed Wednesday were five children, seven women and an on-duty paramedic, according to hospital officials.

“The genocidal war against our people in the Gaza Strip continues,” said Dr. Mohamed Abu Selmiya, director of Gaza City’s Shifa Hospital, in a Facebook post. “Where is the ceasefire? Where are the mediators?”

Israel strongly denies accusations that it is committing genocide in Gaza. The war began on Oct. 7, 2023, when thousands of Hamas terrorists poured into southern Israel after a surprise barrage of rockets, killing 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and abducting 251.

Hamas has been designated as a terrorist organization by the United States, Canada and the European Union.

Deadly strikes have continued despite ceasefire deal

The deal attempted to halt the more than 2-year-old war between Israel and Hamas. While the heaviest fighting has subsided, it has been marred by repeated flareups of violence.

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A total of 556 Palestinians have been killed by Israel and 1,500 wounded since the ceasefire went into effect, according to Gaza health officials, while Israel’s military says four Israeli soldiers have been killed.

Israel’s military has said its continuing strikes are responses to Hamas violations or attacks on its soldiers, but dozens of civilians have died. Eight Arab and Muslim countries, including mediators Egypt and Qatar, recently condemned what they called Israel’s “repeated violations” of the deal.

An Israeli military official, speaking on the condition of anonymity in line with military policy, told The Associated Press that Israel’s latest attacks were in response to gunfire that badly wounded a reservist soldier Wednesday morning.

Early morning strike kills 11, including two children

Israeli troops fired on a building in the Tuffah neighborhood in north Gaza, killing at least 11 people, most from the same family, said Shifa Hospital, which received the bodies. The dead included two parents, their 10-day-old girl, her 5-month-old cousin and the children’s grandmother.

Mourners gathered in the courtyard of Shifa hospital Wednesday morning for funeral prayers.

“What did this child do? …. Why are they killing the children?” asked a relative of the family, Mohammad Jaser.

“We don’t understand why this is happening to us. What do we do? Where do we go? This isn’t life,” he said.

Two young children were seen kneeling at the body of their father as a woman told them to bid him farewell. A young girl kissed her father’s cheeks.

Strikes on Gaza continue into Wednesday afternoon

Later, an Israeli strike on a family’s tent in the southern city of Khan Younis killed three people including a 12-year-old boy, said Nasser Hospital, which received the bodies. Tank shelling in Gaza City’s eastern neighborhood of Zaytoun killed another three Palestinians, according to Shifa Hospital.

A strike on a tent in the Muwasi area of Khan Younis killed at least two people and wounded five others, according to a field hospital run by the Palestinian Red Crescent in the area. The dead included Hussein Hassan Hussein al-Semieri, a paramedic who was on duty at the time, said the hospital.

Thirty-eight Palestinians were wounded in total by the strikes Wednesday, the Gaza health ministry said.

Passage through Rafah border is minimal

The Rafah border crossing’s opening Monday was hailed as a step forward for the fragile ceasefire. But since then, Palestinian passage through the crossing has been marred by delays, interrogations and uncertainty over who would be allowed to cross.

It took the entire day Tuesday for 40 Palestinians to enter Gaza. Around 1 a.m. Wednesday, they finally arrived at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, where their families welcomed them. By midday Wednesday, no one else had passed through the crossing.

Three women who crossed into Gaza on Monday told The Associated Press a day later that Israeli troops blindfolded and handcuffed them, then interrogated and threatened them, holding them for several hours before they were released.

Asked about the reports, the Israeli military said that “no incidents of inappropriate conduct, mistreatment, apprehensions, or confiscation of property by the Israeli security establishment are known.”

Ceasefire deal plods forward

While all fighting has not stopped, some parts of the ceasefire deal have moved forward.

Hamas has released all of the hostages it was holding, and in return Israel has released several thousand Palestinians and is beginning to reopen Rafah. Increased amounts of humanitarian aid have flowed into Gaza and a new technocratic committee has been appointed to administer the territory’s daily affairs.

But other key elements of the ceasefire appear to have stalled, including the deployment of an international security force, the disarmament of Hamas and the reconstruction of Gaza. The U.S. has given no timeline on when these parts of the deal will wrap up.

Over 71,800 Palestinians have been killed since the start of the war, according to the Gaza health ministry, which does not distinguish between fighters and civilians. The ministry, which is part of the Hamas-led government, maintains detailed casualty records that are seen as generally reliable by U.N. agencies and independent experts.

Magdy reported from Cairo and Frankel from Jerusalem.