Back-to-school shopping can be expensive. It’s easy to feel overwhelmed by the lists of must-have supplies from school and the list of wants from your kids.
Here are 15 smart money-saving tips when shopping for back-to-school clothing and supplies.
1. Make a List
It sounds simple, but it works. If you sit down with your child and your child’s school-supply checklist and create a shopping list you both agree on (and shake on it), it makes it easier to stick to your guns when you’re in the store.
2. “Shop” at Home
Before you go out and buy it, be sure you don’t already own it! Look around the house for unused supplies you have, like pencils, notebooks, rulers, etc.
3. Involve Your Kids
Back-to-school shopping is a great opportunity to teach your kids about budgeting.
Ask your kids what the most important items to them are, and decide on a couple of must-have “latest” items, like a great backpack or a fall jacket, then decide where you can be more frugal.
Be straight with your kids: show them your budget and give them an idea of how much things cost. Ask them for money-saving ideas—they may surprise you with some smart ideas and compromises.
4. Hand Over the Money…to Your Kids
One parent we know gives his kids a set dollar amount every year to buy their own school clothing. If they have money left over, it’s theirs to keep. The kids don’t complain—and they are careful with their money.
This can be an effective way for older kids to learn to budget and decide where their priorities really lie. The key is no caving on your part. When the money’s gone, it’s gone.
5. Focus on Big-Ticket Items
Parents tend to spend the most on backpacks, lunch bags/boxes, sneakers, and clothing. Spend some time seeking out savings on those items. (It’s usually easy to find great prices on the smaller supplies like pencils, folders, highlighters, and binders.)
With those expensive items, consider quality as well as price: a backpack that lasts two years and provides better ergonomic support for your child as he or she lugs heavy books around may be worth twice the price of a cheaper backpack that’ll wear out halfway through the school year.
6. Invest in Lunch
Buying your child a nice lunch bag and litterless containers means you don’t have to buy plastic sandwich bags throughout the year, and is an incentive to pack rather than buy lunch. If you commit to it, you can save a bundle.
7. Scour the Flyers
Get fliers, weekly ads, and e-mail alerts from stores, or follow them on social media for daily deals. Take advantage of price-match guarantees from stores like Staples.
8. Hit End-of-Summer Clothing Sales
It’s usually warm through October and kids can layer up, too, so don’t discount buying “summer” clothes for the fall.
9. Buy Secondhand
Shop smart, and you can find clothes with the tags still on at many secondhand stores. Many shops, like North American chain Once Upon a Child offer cash or store credit for donating gently used clothing, which saves you even more and cleans our your closets.
>> See “Stylish Used Kids’ Clothing: Toronto (and Online) Shops We Love”.
10. Host a Clothing Swap
Organize a clothing swap with other parents. Invite people via Facebook, create a MeetUp.com or Facebook group, put up fliers at the local community centre, or just e-mail your extended network.
11. Put It Off
There are two reasons to hold off on some of your back-to-school shopping:
(1) After school starts, supplies tend to go on sale. If kids won’t need something immediately, hold off until mid-September and catch the sales.
(2) Kids may change their minds about what they want after they discover what this year’s trends are. If you can put off the bulk of your school-clothing shopping, do it.
12. Buy In Bulk
This only works if you buy things you’ll actually need down the line. (Keep in mind that you can lose money by over-buying, too.) Pick up pencils and other supplies kids will run out of throughout the year.
Or combine resources with other parents whose kids are in the same school or have similar supply lists, to buy things like tissues, pencils, and notebooks in bulk and split the costs.
13. Join a Savings-Alert Group
There are many Twitter feeds and online groups for super-savers. We’ve found great tips from the Facebook group Money Savin’ Mamas, for instance.
14. Label Everything
Once you’ve bought it, you don’t want to have to buy it again. Use stickers or iron-on labels to print your child’s name on their supplies and clothing—especially the big-ticket items like shoes, electronics, and backpacks.
15. Check Your Own Motivations
We lecture kids on not caving in to peer pressure, but a recent survey suggests that Canadian parents may be just as image-conscious as their kids. More than 50 per cent of parents said that adult peer pressure figured into their back-to-school purchases.
Keeping up with the Joneses can wreak havoc on your budget. Focus on what’s really important and make it a priority to save. Share this outlook with your kids to hold yourself accountable.
Give yourself pep talks. Here’s one: At the end of the day, would you rather be the guy who owns the coolest new Apple gadget, or owns Apple stock?
PHOTO: LUZ ADRIANA VILA/FLICKR CC
