I’m super-dee-duper excited that one of my very best friends from middle and high school, Lady Erin is guest posting today. And what better topic than saving money when you have a high school student in the house. Lady Erin’s daughter has recently begun to tread the waters of the high school and she has some great saving strategies that together they’ve hatched to make the most of her experience without breaking the bank. I love these money saving tips! As a side note, I remember just about 6 or 7 years ago when Lady Erin told me the only way she and her husband would purchase a new car was by using cash, I thought she was crazy. 🙂 Little did I know, she was just further along the road than I was. Needless to say, this chick knows what she’s talking about, is frugally fun, and doesn’t do debt.
My oldest daughter is beginning high school this year. Along with the social and cultural shock of this new world comes sticker shock. My experience with my two daughters is their activities, needs, wants, and supplies get more expensive with each passing year! My youngest daughter is four, and the soccer season set me back $50. When my oldest turned 14 and joined the club team, the soccer season gouged $1500 out of my checking account. Of course, the Barbie laptop is no longer appropriate, and she needs her own school computer. Brand names have become a larger percentage of her closet, and she can no longer get by with one back-to-school pair of tennis shoes.
How do I save a little bit of money so one of these days she can go to college and still avoid most arguments at back-to-school time? By doing the following:
- Set a “Back-to-School” Budget – I announce this budget at the earliest stages of back-to-school planning. As she’s cleaning out her closet and organizing her clothes, she can think about how she needs to spend this money and balance this with what she wants to buy. She can think about buying $100 Abercrombie jeans and a $75 pair of boots or several pairs of jeans at Kohl’s and the boots. We keep a running tally of our budget, and she knows I’m going to stick to it!
- Shop Smart – To make the most of this budget, we shop smart. Plato’s Closet, Goodwill, and other consignment stores are great places to buy jeans! Just last week, we bought a pair of Hollister jeans at Goodwill for $3.50. That barely put a dent in our back-to-school budget.
- Realize You Don’t Have to Be the One to Pay for Everything – My oldest daughter babysits for several families and babysitters in California are paid pretty well! Last year, she decided to save her money and buy her own MacBook Pro. So, she saved up $1200 and the day after Thanksgiving when it went on sale (I’ve taught her well) she bought her very own laptop. This saved us $1200 and taught her some valuable lessons about setting goals and the value of a dollar. Plus, she takes great care of this computer!
- Volunteer – I’ve found many of my daughters’ activities give discounts or perks for parents that volunteer. I volunteered at the recent high school registration, and I was assigned to the school photo station. One of the perks of this assignment was free school pictures! This saved me $40, and I was able to help with the registration process. Score!!
- Check Freecycle – Since you are a follower of the Queen, I’m going to assume you are familiar with Freecycle. (If not, go to Yahoo groups and search for it.) Many specific items can be found, for free, on the Freecycle network. Recent posts in my neighborhood have asked for and offered PE uniforms, graphing calculators, and printers. I was able to help with the printer request, so this cleared some space in my garage and gave a family a printer for school projects.
Hopefully, some of this information will help you save money when it is time for high school, or any grade really. Now, if any of you have any tips for dealing with high school boys and drama, I’d love to hear them!
Fantastic Money Saving Strategies, Lady Erin! We greatly appreciate your wisdom. I certainly echo Erin’s points to make it a priority to teach your children (no matter their age) about budgets, making and spending their own money, and coming along side them to help finance big purchases instead of bank rolling everything. Your children will NOT learn about money unless you teach them. I take that back. They will learn about money – just the lessons culture, the credit card companies, lenders and their peers teach them. And such lessons are not valuable (unless they have really cool friends). Choose to be an active part of their financial future.
If you are interested in guest posting on the Back to School Bonanza, please e-mail me! I’m particularly looking for posts sharing tips to saving with a student in Middle School, Shoe shopping tips, and sports/extra curricular savings!
www.queenoffree.net
