The start of the new school year can be a stressful time if you’re a child – but also if you’re a parent. As with every purchase decision that concerns your child, you need to strike a perfect balance between giving your children what they want, offering them quality school supplies, and still keeping your budget from going through the roof.
How do you achieve this seemingly impossible balance?
Play it smart
Shopping with and for kids can be a real budget black hole. You plan to only spend $50 on a new dress for your 2-year old, only to end up getting matching shoes and a purse, because your little princess deserves the best.
The trick is to plan for the back-to-school list carefully, calmly, and practically. Expendable school supplies like pens, pencils, and notebooks don’t need to be of the best brand. On the other hand, a backpack and well-fitting shoes, which will last a long time, need to be top quality.
Go all high-tech on your list
There are tons of great apps out there that help you keep track of your spending, curtail your impulse purchases(see princess dress above), and monitor how your budget is evenly and fairly distributed among your many financial responsibilities.
So why not use one to plan your back-to-school shopping too?
SmartyPig. This is a fun to use app that helps you save money for a particular goal – in this case, your child’s new school year supplies.
Download it as early as possible and deposit money in it weekly to ensure you create a side budget (or the entire budget if you start it very early on) for the back-to-school shopping spree. It even lets others contribute to this budget, so grandparents and anyone else can give a helping hand (hurrah)!
Spendee. This is another great app to help you manage your household budget. It’s color-coded so everything is visually appealing — even if the numbers are an eyesore. Use it to create a budget for your child’s new school year shopping needs.
Even if you don’t invest in a financial app, it’s a good idea to create a list in your smartphone to ensure you don’t forget what you must buy on the day you actually do the shopping. Type a list in your phone’s memo feature and create a database with all the back-to-school essentials so that you don’t have to make repeat trips to the stores. This will definitely save you money.
Do your research, do the math
Using an app to plan and monitor your budget is not enough. You need to fine-tune your budget by estimating what the projected cost is for each school supply you’re getting.
It’s wise to add a couple of extra dollars for each purchase. It’s far more pleasant to have money left after your shopping trip than to be desperately looking for a credit card to charge!
Shop
Go shopping, but don’t shop at only one place. Your shopping should be spread over a week at least so that you can take advantage of sales. You can even buy some essentials from a discount store online. Get expendable school supplies from a local bookstore with coupons. Get last-minute extras at a back-to-school fair.
Lastly, don’t feel overwhelmed, because buying back-to-school essentials for your children doesn’t need to break your budget. Play it smart by planning ahead and making informed purchase decisions with the help of technology.
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