Tips for Starting School on a Budget

Starting school can be a huge drain on your budget and expenses continue to rise every year. In fact, costs continue to surpass inflation. The average back-to-school spend per child is up to a whopping $696 per school year, according to the National Retail Federation (NRF). How can you fight these soaring prices? Let’s look at some tips on how you can start back to school on a budget. We are going to give you 3 tips to starting school on a budget; use what you have, make a budget and make a shopping list.

3 Tips for starting school on a budget

Use What You Have

We all go through our kid’s closets after we buy new clothes to make room, right? Try going through their closets before you shop and see what you can still use this fall. Then, shop to match what they already have; this will save you loads of money at the register!

Next, you can sell the clothes that don’t fit on FB Marketplace or Once Upon a Child to make some extra money. Swap is also a great place to buy and sell gently used clothing. You can even go to a second-hand store to buy clothes instead of buying new.

Make a Budget

Map out how much money you can spend on back-to-school shopping and adjust your budget. Set aside an allotted amount and stick to it! This helps you stay on budget and keeps you from overspending.

Using cash instead of your card can also cut down on going over your budget. Once the cash you’ve allotted is gone, you’re done shopping. If you plan way ahead, you can plan to have a set amount of money come out of your check every month into a club account just for back to school shopping. This is a great way to prepare for this extra expense so it doesn’t throw you for a loop when school rolls around.

Learn more about how to make a budget by reading our blog about “Trimming the fat” and how to start a club account here.  Following simple steps and sticking to a budget will drastically cut down on unnecessary purchases and financial headaches from overspending.

Make a Shopping List

Make a list of all the items you know that you’ll need. This includes the shopping list from the school, clothes they might need and uniforms for sports. This gives you a specific goal and will keep you from buying extra items. Shop around for the best prices for each item online. If you are shopping for more than one student, buying in large quantities could save you a bundle.

Take advantage of sites such as Krazy Coupon Lady, The Frugal Girls and Hip 2 Save to find deals as well!

There you go; 3 Tips to Starting School on a Budget. Remember, always do your research when back-to-school time rolls back around to save the most money. Investing a little bit of time can save you big bucks in the long run!