Back to School

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My family and I just got back from visiting my older brother in Seattle. Shopping there for my daughter during the back-to-school season brought to mind this article.

Depending on the amount of children you have and where you live, getting your kids back to school can become a lengthy and costly enterprise. So I wanted to throw some ideas your way to help you save.

Saving starts at home, literally

Before you do anything, check your supplies: do an actual inventory of blank binders, folder,

paper, pens, rubber bands, staplers, tape, erasers, and any other items that your children will need. You may have enough of some things to last you a while so that you can shop later.

Create a recycle project: ask your children if they want to use stickers, magazine photos or collectible cards and stickers to make their own personalized binders. Plain binders and folders can turn into real cool personal items with some personal ideas, tape and transparent film.

Buying supplies: bulk or the grocery store?

This depends on your needs entirely. If you’re buying for several kids and need a variety of things, you’re better off going to an office supply store to buy all your supplies.But if you are buying fewer things or for one child only, consider the school supply section at your supermarket and shop there when you go next to buy groceries.

What kind of supplies?

When buying pencils, pens, erasers, folders, always buy good quality brands. There’s no point in having to buy something else halfway through the year if you bought something cheap that didn’t last.

Also, avoid flashy items like pencils cases with lights, or items to be used in the classroom

that are decorated with light-reflecting stickers. These things distract both your kid and other students, so teachers appreciate it if you refrain from buying them.

Finally, never buy something that is too advanced for your child. Buying scientific and graphic calculators too soon is distracting to your child, and the risk of losing them or breaking them is greater the longer they own them. The same applies to adult-sized staplers and other needful things.

Clothing

As with school supplies, start at home before making a clothing list. Go through last season’s clothes and see what gear and clothes still work.

After this, create a sensible clothing list that works for you and your kid. This means that you

should plan to buy basic items, jeans, shirts, sweaters, but also a few trendier items to combine with those. That way you save on the basics and can splash on nicer items that spruce up his or her wardrobe.

If you live in an area where the start of school is still rather warm, wait till late September or October to buy trendier clothing and shoes, as they will go down in price by then. Either way, you might want to read our articles on Teens and Saving (here and here) because there is a lot of valuable information on buying on a budget, as well as websites that give coupons and discount codes on all sorts of clothing and gear, year-round.

Shopping ahead

Our children are constantly growing. Keep that in mind and shop end-of-season clothing sales to buy them basic clothes for next fall and winter; if your son needs some basic item of clothing now, and it’s on sale, buy another, one or two sizes bigger for use when he grows. Sooner or later he’ll need that one, too.

The most important gear

There’s one piece of school gear on which you should not make concessions, ever: the backpack.

Don’t look to save on a backpack. Your kid will be wearing this bag to school every single

day for months on end, filled with books and notebooks and a variety of things that’ll weigh him or her down.

So, keep in mind your child’s needs and buy properly fitted backpack that has a lifetime warranty if possible. Lifetime warranty backpacks are pricier, but a lifetime warranty –which you should save some place easy to find later on- usually means that the backpack is sturdier than average and you’ll get a replacement if it ever breaks.

As your child moves from grade to grade, keep in mind his or her size and needs and update backpacks periodically.

Make the world a better place: reuse

There was something else in Seattle that caught my attention, and it’s that Seattleites are big on recycling. Swaps and sales and making old things into new things are all huge in

there.

Keep this in mind when looking at the usable clothing and gear that your kids have

outgrown, or when looking to buy some things. Consider making a clothes swap; sell on Craigslist and other local sites to get some cash back on little-used stuff, and also consider those sites if you feel comfortable buying used gear. It’s good for the planet and the pocket.

Finally, anything that you don’t sell, please give to others with kids or donate to your local charities.