Summer vacation is the fun time of the year. Every student enjoys and relaxes by playing and engaging in indoor and outdoor activities.
Back to school season or the beginning of the school year is a time to meet new students, make new friends, and buy new books and supplies. However, it can be stressful for parents to manage the expenses. Parents worry about the uniform, stationery, and other school essentials. All the processes can put a strain on your budget. If, being a parent, you are trying to save some money, you are not alone. Every parent goes through the same stressful condition but going back to school should not be expensive.
Brain and Behavior Research Foundation state that “Back-to-school time is in full-effect, nervousness, a sense of excitement, and stress that arise in both parents and children.”
In this post, we have put together top savvy money-saving back-to-school tips for parents to make the situation stress-free.
Top Money-Saving Back to School Tips for Parents
Here is the list of practical ideas and strategies to save money when your children return to school.
1. Prioritize Needs over Wants
Children have a long list of essentials they want when back to school. It is parents who will assess their needs over wants. As a parent, it is easy for you to avoid wasteful purchases like expensive pairs of shoes, backpacks, and fancy stationery, and so on.
To save on some money, prioritize only the essential needs like buying only one particular expensive item and buying other essentials at a reasonable cost, and cutting off less important items from the list.
2. Set your Budget
It is a great idea to spend some time deciding your budget before school re-opening. You can then shop around to see the items on your budget then decide the essentials. Moreover, you can encourage children to participate in the process. It will teach them a valuable financial lesson that they can adopt in their practical life ahead.
3. Shop Around and Compare Deals
Shopping around and comparing deals from different shops can bring you great benefits you never know. You can opt for a local dollar store to get some inexpensive items and get some additional savings. This way will help you to find some back-to-school sales. You can also teach your child the method of managing money wisely.
4. Save Money on Private Van
If your child’s school is not far from home, you can use this strategy to save some money. You can encourage your child to walk or cycle to school by telling them that it will save money and keep them fit. Walking will bring more health benefits rather than going in the van for convenience and comfort. It can save you money. Besides, if the school is away, you can find another local parent whose child can share the journey.
5. Save Money with Healthy Lunch
There is nothing healthier than homemade lunch. At the same time, it can save some of your money. It is a good idea to keep control of your child’s eating habits. You can go for what your child likes to eat more. These healthy snacks are ideal for your child’s lunch box.
6. Purchase Used Textbooks
Purchasing used textbooks is another money-saving idea. The books that are in good condition with slight use are cheaper than brand new ones. If the textbooks are in good condition, you can always use them. You can check your local book shop for used books and spend some extra cash on other essentials.
7. Make a Back to School Shopping List
Making a back-to-school shopping list can help you avoid overspending and misuse of money. It is easiest to create the plan for the most important essentials by focusing on needs and creating a budget accordingly. It does not mean to stick to the list you have made but stick to your budget by fixing the amount for each item.
8. Check Money-Saving Apps and Websites
Who does not love to save money? Everyone wants to save money and utilize it in the best manner. So, in this case, take help from money-saving apps. You can download these money-saving apps before back-to-school shopping.
ShopSavvy
It is an amazing app that can help you to get the best deal. You can match the best prices of items within your budget.
Flipp
Flipp app is one of the most fantastic apps that combine and shows your all favorite stores’ weekly ads in one place.
Ibotta
It is the app that offers cashback on purchases that you can receive from your Paypal account. They offer you $10 for signing up for Ibotta.
Groupon
It is another money-saving app that provides the best deals and coupons.
Hollar.com
Another effective site offers a back-to-school list with valuable deals on everything you buy, from pens to backpacks.
9. Prefer to Shop Personalized Items
Items like stationery, including pencils, colored pencils, highlighters, and more, are necessary to buy. But they can use these personalized items for a long time, so you can save money. You can always label your child’s stationery to keep them, or else they can mix them up with their classmates.
Related: Top Ideas to Begin Saving
10. Use Stock Available at Home
It is another best idea to check the items in your home stock and reuse them if in good condition. You need to look around your home carefully to check what essentials your child can use. You may use some previous year’s essentials to save money.
11. Buy Stationary in Bulk
Buying stationery in bulk quantity is another excellent way to save money. It is possible if you have more than one school-going child, buying in bulk is cost-effective than buying stationery items individually. Specific stores offer the best sales deals for bulk orders; you can check some on local stores.
12. Use Amazon App to Check Prices Instantly
Another effective way to save some money is to use the Amazon app to check prices to find the lowest price possible. It does not mean that Amazon consistently offers the lowest price. But it provides the lowest price for about 80% of the products. It is the best way to find out whether you are getting a good deal or not. If you find the Amazon price reasonable, you can order directly there to get your required essentials.
13. Encourage Kids to Buy on their Own
It is an ideal approach to teach your child to spend his pocket money profitably. You can make their mind to at least buy one item on their own that may be a pair of sneakers or backpack.
Having them spend their money on their school essentials will make them more cautious and less careless. They will have more concern about taking care in fear of losing them or using them poorly.
It is an effective strategy to teach your child the value of money and how to spend money. It will make your child financially conscious.
Conclusion
Many parents do not plan about shopping for the coming school year. Back-to-school shopping is a stressful part of every parent’s life, but you can make it easy by adopting the best ways to save money and planning before time. So make this critical time easy by following the savvy money-saving back-to-school tips for parents.