Smart Money-Saving Ways to Cut Down Cost on School Expenses
When it comes to your kids, you want nothing but the best for them. You send them to top-rated schools and keep them cozy and entertained during the holiday break. It’s common knowledge that when you have children, it’s expensive to take care of them – especially if they are in school. But despite this, nothing beats the happiness and joy these little ones give to you and your entire family. To combat financial stress brought by school expenses, here are some smart money-saving tips you can use.
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To save a significant amount of money on back-to-school expenses, it is vital to determine what these costs are. Below are the priciest expenses that you will face at the beginning of the school year:
- Uniforms
- Stationery
- Textbooks
- Extra-curricular activities
- School contributions and fees
- Transport fees: petrol costs or bus money
These expenses are mandatory unless you want to send your children to school using a paper bag and let them write on a piece of cardboard. But of course, no parent would ever want that. To help ease your budget and cut down a few dollars off of these expenses, here are some tips that can help you.
- Look for things that you already have – rummage through everything that you have at home and gather all the stationery and books of your children. With this, you don’t need to purchase things you still have.
- Purchase the important things only – there’s no need to purchase a brand new uniform for every single day. You just need at least 2-3 pieces of uniform and your children would have enough for the week.
- Divide the costs wisely – don’t buy unnecessary things until you need them. This will help you prevent spending a large sum of money on things that will just sit inside your home until they are needed.
- Purchase big clothing – no, this doesn’t mean that you have to buy gigantic clothing pieces for your children to save some money. Instead, when you buy clothes and shoes, make sure that they are half a size or a bit bigger than the actual size of your kids.
- Buy second-hand school items – whether its textbooks or uniforms, buying second-hand items is an incredible way to save money.
- Don’t bring your kids when you go shopping – shopping for back-to-school items with your kids is an expensive move. Kids have their way of persuading parents to buy things that they want but are unnecessary. To save yourself and your wallet, let them stay at home instead.
- Don’t purchase high-end stationery – though they look cute and pretty, they are usually the first ones that get stepped on and damaged so cross them out of your list. Take note that pens and notebooks don’t have to be expensive, as long as they serve their purpose for your kids, they’ll work.
- Label your children’s school things –From backpacks, water bottles, and pencil cases to textbooks, uniforms, and lunch box; everything that your children brings with them to school. With this, they’ll be returned to you in case they get lost so you don’t have to buy another one.
Tips on how to save money throughout the school year
Once you are done with the initial purchases, you need to manage the ongoing school expenses of your kids next, like transportation, school lunches, and extra-curricular activities.
If your kids take the bus or any public transport to school every day, see to it that they use a concession card to avail of cost-efficient fares. Concession cards cut the price of the rides in half among kids. Some schools offer a scheduled school bus service, so you might as well reach out to your school and arrange the perfect transportation option for your children. On the other hand, if you are a super dad or mom and you regularly fetch your children to school, hands down to you, and here are several tips on how you can save money on fuel:
- Supermarket discount vouchers – once you drop your kids off to school, you’ll probably head over to the supermarket next. Keep all the receipts that you have since they can cut down a few cents off your petrol cost.
- Rewards cards – get a credit card or petrol rewards card. They offer huge discounts of as much as 7 cents for each liter of fuel, as well as gift cards, flyer points, and cashback for every point earned.
- Drive smart – accelerate smoothly, don’t bring unnecessary weight, eliminate roof racks, close windows when driving on the motorway, follow the speed limit, turn off the air-conditioner when not needed, and regularly check tire pressure.
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