Back to School on a Shoestring Budget

Back to School on a Shoestring Budget

Back to school: three words that fill every child with dread and every parent with joy. Whether your little one is just starting school, or you’ve got a fashion-hungry teen on your hands, here are six easy ways to maximize your back to school budget – while still being the “cool” parent:

1.Every child, no matter what age, looks forward to having something new to start the first day off right. Even if you can’t afford much, a new spiral notebook featuring the hottest cartoon character, or some zany-looking pencils will be just the ticket to getting your child excited about school again.

2.If your child has a creative streak, get some brightly-colored paper, scissors and stickers and let them have a blast giving their book covers and notebooks a “makeover”. Several budget-minded art and craft ideas to help make the old stuff new again are available online at: http://familyfun.go.com/arts-and-crafts/season/specialfeature/backtoschool_craft_sf/

3.Every child wants to look trendy at school – but the latest fashions may be too risqué or expensive. Work with your son or daughter to strike a compromise while letting them appear to remain in control of their fashion decisions. Setting a budget beforehand and letting your child be in control of what gets spent when, and how, not only teaches them valuable budgeting skills, but it also opens the door for comparison shopping and deciding between needs and wants.

4.At the end of the first day (for youngsters just starting back) or the end of the first week (for teens and tweens), plan a special surprise to reward your child for making it through. It could be something as simple as a Friday night pizza and movie marathon or taking them out for ice cream sundaes.

5.Take shorter back-to-school shopping trips (yes, I said trips – as in more than one!) The longer you spend at the office supply store or the mall, the more everything begins to look like a bargain. This makes it temptingly easy to go over budget and spend unnecessarily.

6.Buy your child one or two “must-have” outfits for the first couple of days and save the rest for the following week or so. By that time, they’ll have seen what their peers are wearing (which only adds to their “gotta-have-it” list), and thankfully most retailers will have marked down their prices considerably once the back-to-school stampede is over, making your hard-earned money go farther than before.

In the end, trends are going to be trends no matter how odd or silly they look, and chances are, your child is at that age where walking into the classroom with last year’s style seems like a fate worse than death. By keeping these tips in mind as you browse the aisles, you’ll not only keep the kids looking cool, but you’ll teach them valuable shopping, comparison and organizational skills as well. Good luck!

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