How to Make Back-to-School Preparation Easy

Today, I was browsing through the newspaper ads for sales and I noticed a lot of Back-to-school sales. I said to myself "Back to School already?" My daughter goes back to school on the 25th of August and that's pretty close. I want to save money and make it easy as I prepare my daughter go back to school. Here's what I'm going to do:

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Things You’ll Need:

• store flyers or weekly sales ads
• coupons
• computer to check your kid's school website and store bargains online

1. Make a list of school supplies. Usually schools send a back-to-school list for kids to take home on the last day of school. In my case, I don't so I can go by the basic school supplies needed in school or check my daughter's school's website. On the website, it listed the materials students are expected to bring with them. Asking parents who may have older kids in the same school is a good way to get an idea of what supplies to buy. You can also go to the website below where you'll find the basic list of school supplies for elementary, middle school and high school:
   
   
   https://www.huntington.com/forschools/backpackIndex_elementary.html
2. Time to review the list. I will go over the list with my daughter and need to figure out which supplies we need to buy and can be reused. Not
   only we will be saving money, I am teaching her the 3 Rs (reuse, reduce, recycle).
3. Sort time! There are school supplies that she still has from last school year that can be reused. All we need to do is go through her school supplies drawer and start sorting. Now that we already have a list of what we need to buy, I need to figure out a budget for school supplies.
4. Start looking for bargains. This is the time when we check and compare prices of school supplies. As I have mentioned earlier, I have started
   seeing a lot of back-to-school sale on weekly store ads. I need to keep my list with me at all times and start looking for bargains and clip coupons of supplies that we need to buy. I need to remind her too that she has a budget for school supplies and keep her shopping list within the budget.
5. Buying in bulk is not just for food and other household goods. One mistake that I made last school year was not buying in bulk. I've made
   numerous shopping trips after work for school supplies like binder papers, lead, pencils, etc. Now, I know it's wiser to buy basic school supplies that are used all year round in bulk. Buying in bulk will save me money, gas (unnecessary trips) and energy.
6. Get organized. I will ask my daughter to help me organize her school supplies shelf or container. This way, she'll learn how to be organized and know where to find her supplies and easier for me to control our inventory.
7. Backpack One big item for her every school year is her backpack. It always has to be fashionable. So, the budget that I should set in step #3 must
   include the backpack so that she'll learn how to set priorities and distinguish "I really need this" from "I want this for now". My advice to her is when she buys something, she always has to ask herself this question: "Do I need this or Do I just want it now?" She's been pretty good about it as she still has her Christmas and birthday money saved.
8. Clothes shopping. She'll love this as this is what she calls "real and fun shopping." Once again, I need to have a separate budget for clothes shopping. However, we have to go through her closet and check her clothes out. Does she really need to buy new ones? How many? Does she need new fall and winter clothes?
9. Transportation. My daughter carpools after school. So, I need to call the parents she carpools with and make the necessary arrangements
   (schedule and fees). Some kids bike to school or ride their scooter or skateboard. If this is the case, check your kid's bike, scooter or skateboard. Do they need a new one? Make sure the tires are in good shape and you have the necessary tools to maintain your kid's bike.
10. Have a budget for other expenses. Include extracurricular items such as PE uniforms, choir dress, cheer uniform, musical instrument to your
    budget. Other expenses like lunch tickets and field trips must be considered.
11. Create a calendar. Some schools provide a school calendar that shows their schedule for the entire school year. This is not enough though.
    There are activities that are not in the calendar they provide. Update this calendar throughout the school year.
12. Gradually change bedtime schedule. My daughter stays up really late during summer. Two weeks before school starts, I gradually change
    her bedtime per night.

Tips & Warnings

• Visit your kid's school website regularly.