Back to Financial School Blues: 5 Tips on Starting the School Year Off Right
By energy_linguist, August 23, 2010, For Moms
New teachers, new class schedules, new headaches.
Welcome to the back-to-school blues, a chopping block for the long summer (for some of us not long enough) vacation and a new window of opportunities for your pocketbook to cringe with expectation.
New headaches for school season = new expenses for families.
With that in mind, I’ve compiled 5 simple tips to help alleviate some of the financial stresses of the approaching school year:
- Buy simple, reusable containers for your child’s school lunches. This way you’re reducing landfill waste and saving money on small purchases (sammy baggies) that will add up over time.
- Shop online at Discount School Supply
vs. braving the madhouse back-to-school sale events at your local department store. You’ll save gas and a whole host of headaches, not to mention have access to better variety and readily available inventory.
- Start early. Be sure to sign up for email lists at your favorite e-retailers so that you can be first in line for sales and promotions.
- Buy fresh produce, fruits and simple, healthy items and prepare just the right portions the night before for weekly lunches that avoid unnecessary waste. Despite the appearance of being more expensive, a variety of whole grains, fresh fruit, small snacks (raisins from a bulk aisle for example) can be re-used and creatively combined for healthy meals that last the entire week.
- Skip the juice boxes and serve water instead. Grab a reusable, BPA-free water bottle, shove some ice and purified water from the comfort of home into it, and you’ve got a much healthier alternative that doesn’t pull from your weekly grocery budget.
Of course, these tips barely scratch the surface as far as back-to-school savings, but a simple starting point will go a long way in setting the tone for the rest of the school year.
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