Check this out! The National Retail Federation estimates
that the average family can expect to spend $548.72 on back-to-school
costs!!
I don't know about you, but
that figure makes me shudder. But what's
a family to do when each kid needs new shoes, clothes, pencils, books,
etc? B-U-D-G-E-T!
It seems easy enough, but
when your son just has to have the $100 pair of shoes (and he really looks and
acts like he will cry if he doesn't get them) and exclaims, "Everyone else will
have them"; it's easy to cave under pressure.
Don't cave. Have a plan in place and stick to it. There are dozens of resources and tips
available to help you and your family get what you need (key word) for school and not go broke in the process. Check out the following sites for tips, and
then share your back-to-school budgeting
tips for a chance to win cash for your school supplies:
Cleveland
Ohio's "The Plain Dealer" 2008 article on Back to School Spending
Associated
Content's Back to School on a Budget article
The "Paramus
Post's" Back to School on a Budget article
What are YOUR best
back-to-school money-saving tips?
Post a comment and share
your tip by midnight Sunday, September
13 for a chance to win a $50 Visa gift card. Be sure to include your name and email
address in your post so we can contact you if you are our winner.
While it won't influence
the outcome, we'd also be interested in knowing if you've ever been a guest at
any of our 150+
properties.
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When the previous school year is over, clean up and put away newer pencils, pens, scissors, compasses, protractors, heavy plastic folders etc. These items have plenty of use left in them and can be saved for the next year. Just pull them out before you go shopping for school supplies and mix them in with the new supplies you have to buy and your kids will hardly know the difference.
Posted by: Debbie Lubbers on August 31, 2009 at 3:43 PMEven though my little ones are not school age yet I am preparing my household, children and budget already (I am an obsessive planner). The best advice I can give is start shopping early so you are not overwhelmed the weekend or night before school starts trying to hit every store for all of those needed and not needed but wanted items. I shop at consiegnment stores. they have gently used and even NEVER used items such as clothing, lunch boxes and containers, crayons, markers, books. For other items you can find two for one deals for notebooks and paper goods at Amazon.com and often get free shipping. The dollar store is also a great shopping deal. They carry most name brands for a fraction of the price. Make the excursions fun for you and the kids. Make it a contest each trip. Give them each a "budget". Have one child look for notebooks, another look for markers and pencils and see who gets the best deal. It will teach them about shopping and budgetting and give them a little glimps of what your life is like at times.... Good luck!
Posted by: Megan Buckmaster on August 31, 2009 at 3:50 PMDuring enrollment at my kids school (which is now available online!) you can opt to have ths school purchase the kids school supplies for you. For $30 they will buy everything your child needs for the new school year and it will be given to you at the parent teacher meet and greet before school starts. The other cool thing is that my sons then take their supplies to their classroom so nothing is lost between the meet and greet and the first day of class. Even though I may be able to buy the supplies a little cheaper myself, when you add in everything your kid "has to have" when they go shopping with you and all the stuff you miss or buy the wrong version of, in the end I think it saved us quite a bit this year. -Jaysen
Posted by: Jaysen on September 1, 2009 at 8:30 AMMost retailers have BOGO specials for shoes. Buy one get one half off. Another method to the back to school madness would be to go to a online book store or an online auction site. Amazon, Ebay, and others out there have great deals.
Posted by: Emmanuel on September 1, 2009 at 9:09 AMSchool supply shopping is not just for August, go back in September and pick up supplies for the following year at a fraction of the price. Before spring break, retailers liquidate their fall clothing; buy designer clothes at discount store prices for the upcoming school year. It pays to plan ahead!
Posted by: Jewelz Jentzen on September 1, 2009 at 10:57 AMWe've received some GREAT back to school money-saving ideas. Thanks to everyone who has left a comment so far. Remember, the contest ends September 11, so keep those ideas coming!
Posted by: VPFS NewsIt pays to shop early in August for all the back-to-school sales. Target, Walmart & Meijer are great places to grab the lower priced back-to-school items. It it also helpful to use your Staples Rewards and Office Max Perks to purchase school supplies. They often will email you a coupon for your kids back-to-school supplies. Lastly, in our community...there are several churches & non-profits who provide the back-to-school supplies for free....watch your local newspaper and listen to the local radio stations....
Posted by: Lisa Luckey on September 2, 2009 at 9:54 AMWith back to school quickly approaching my son and I do the crack down on budgeting. As for clothes we have a yearly back to school swap, where other parents can meetup and swap out nice clothes that their children can no longer wear, twice as nice, and half the price. We also do our school shopping on days when things are like buy 1 get 2 free type of things, that way we are able to stock pile for stuff throughout the year, and the best solution for the "I wanna's" on cool items for school is to do the decorating yourself. Buy a plain notebook go to an arts and craft store and purchase the same decorating items at half the cost of instore stuff....
Posted by: Crystal on September 2, 2009 at 12:47 PMMAKE A LIST AND STICK TO IT. KEEP YOUR LIST WITH YOU AT ALL TIMES SO
Posted by: Rhonda on September 2, 2009 at 7:35 PMYOU DON'T BUY DUPLICATES. TALK TO CHILD ABOUT THE BUDGET AND MAKE
IT SOUND LIKE A GAME TO GET ALL THE NECESSARY SCHOOL SUPPLIES WITH
AS LITTLE MONEY AS POSSIBLE. THIS IS ANOTHER OPPORTUNITY TO INSTILL
MONEY MANAGEMENT SKILLS THAT THEY WILL APPRECIATE WHEN THEY HAVE
THEIR OWN FAMILY.
START EARLY.
BUY ONE REALLY SPECIAL 1ST DAY OF SCHOOL OUTFIT.
SHOP GARAGE SALES,CONSIGNMENT AND USED CLOTHING STORES FOR MAJORITY. FIND OUT WHAT DAY THEY HAVE BAG SALES OR 50% OFF CHILDREN'S CLOTHING AND GO THE DAY BEFORE AND GATHER YOUR CHOICES AND PUT THEM TOGETHER IN ONE SPOT AND THEN GO BACK THE NEXT DAY AND PURCHASE THEM.CHECK ADS IN LOCAL PAPER AND ON LINE.
FOR SCHOOL SUPPLIES CHECK DOLLAR STORES, LOCAL NEWSPAPER ADS, AND ON LINE SITES.
DON'T BUY EVERYTHING IN ONE STORE. MANY STORES WILL HAVE A FEW
SPECTACULAR BUYS HOPING YOU WILL COME FOR THOSE AND THEN PURCHASE ALL THE OTHER SUPPLIES AT THEIR REGULAR PRICE. WATCH ADS AND IF CONVIENENT MILEAGE WISE GET AS MANY ITEMS AT THE SPECTACULAR PRICES AS YOU CAN!
The best way to budget your money for a new school year is to reuse. For example backpacks, lunchboxes, binders, pencil cases, calculators, gemetry sets, rulers, pencils and clothes.You can reuse clothes by if you already have some nice outfits wear them. A trip to another office supply store or a wholesale club will provide school supplies in bulk. though it might not be possible to use a very large lot of supplies in one year, many school supplies will be needed for years to come. The following items can often be bought in large quantities an distributed as necessary. For example paper, pens, pencils, binders, and notebooks. Most large grocery and big box stores carry school supplies at reasonable rates. Dollar stores, wholesale dubs and odd lots stores often carry school and office supplies particulary around the beginning of the school year.
Posted by: Sandrica Leake on September 7, 2009 at 10:39 AMI often stay at Value Place while traveling. I am a government contractor. With my high travel budget and loss of time at home with my 3 kids it is difficult to have the extra money to school shop. This would be a great help to my family to win a $50 Visa card.
One thing we do is try to look to non-profit organizations like the Unite Way or Salvation Army because they usually give school supplies to kids in need. You also may want to try your local churches because they usally provide supplies as well.
Good luck to you and your kids.
Posted by: Ron Staley on September 11, 2009 at 10:31 AMRemember everyone, the back to school contest ends tonight, Sunday, Sept. 13 at midnight. We are all impressed with your money-saving ideas! We'll be announcing the winner soon -- by Tuesday at the latest. Stay tuned...
Posted by: VPFS News