Forward planning for back-to-school expenses

The start of a new school year is always an expensive time. New uniforms, school stationary, school fees etc. The list goes on!

Now is a good time to start planning for these extra expenses so you are ready and stress free, come the new school year. Trying to fit back-to-school costs into your budget right after Christmas and holidays aren’t fun for anyone.

Some things you could do now to start preparing are:

·         Keep an eye on your local community pages and the op shops for second hand uniforms. Sometimes the schools themselves have second hand uniforms available too. Kids grow like weeds and they don’t need to have brand new uniforms which we all know, cost a lot!

·         Shop from home – I have noticed with my own children that sometimes they come home at the end of the year with school books that haven’t been written in and stationery that hasn’t been used. This is a great money saver for when you get the stationery list.

·         If you can, start putting away some money each week to help cover any school/camp fees that might pop up at the beginning of the year and even throughout the year. It is never fun to be presented with a permission slip, for a camp that costs more than you can fit into the budget, in that moment. Forward planning will help the stress levels in the long run.

·          Now, those dreaded devices we are all expected to pay for these days. There is no real way around this apart from trying to save what you can before it happens. If it is something that is just simply not in your budget to pay off over the school year or in a lump sum, the school will have devices available for the kids to borrow. There is no sense in putting yourself and your family into financial hardship in order to buy a device.

Hopefully these tips can help you to start preparing for the new school year. Somehow, over the years school has become a massive expense. An expense we can’t even avoid! Just remember, even if you can’t afford a brand new uniform or a brand new device, you are doing an amazing job and your children are still going to get a great education regardless of what “gear” they have, and one day they will look back and see how hard you worked to make it all happen for them.