Back to school time: pencils, books, and an argument with your teen about a pair of $150 sneakers. How do you get him ready for the school year without breaking the bank? With every store advertising super deals on must-have items and kids begging for pricy designer duds and electronic gadgets, it’s easy to get caught up in a spending free-for-all. This year, play it smart with a few lessons in savings-savvy back to school shopping.

Lesson One: Buy Used Textbooks

College is a time of excitement and new possibilities. A time to learn and expand your horizons. And, it’s a time when unsuspecting freshmen (and their parents) are whacked with textbook prices that can reach into the hundreds. If you’ve got college students on your shopping list, encourage them to check out websites like amazon.com or half.com – often, you can find the same literature anthology for a fraction of what the college bookstore charges. It’s a good lesson in savings for both of you.

Lesson Two: Be Tech-Savvy

This time of year, your local newspaper is overflowing with brochures from every big-box electronics retailer in a 50-mile radius, each offering competitive prices and steep back-to-school discounts on all things electronic. If you can afford it, there’s nothing inherently wrong with buying your child a laptop to help with her homework, but, remember to keep it simple. Don’t opt for major upgrades – they’re mostly unnecessary and can drive the prices back up again.

And, it’s important to set boundaries: Is a new MP3 player really a back-to-school essential? Play it smart and don’t let the sales (or your child’s claim that she’ll absolutely die without one) get the better of your bank account.

Lesson Three: Shop Close to Home

Very close. Before you head out the door and hit the stores, take stock of what your kids actually need. Go through your kids’ closets and see what fits and what can take another year of wear. And, make sure to scour the house for school supplies: If you’ve got boxes of pens or glue sticks in your home office, there’s no sense in rushing out and spending money to buy more.

Lesson Four: Hold Off on Seasonal Purchases

Sure, that Hannah Montana backpack will make her the coolest kid in the 6th grade, but, it will be even cooler when the price drops in October. After the back-to-school rush ends, most stores banish backpacks, lunch totes, and other essentials to the clearance aisle, where you can pick them up for a steal.

Lesson Five: Get out of the Mall

If you’re looking for budget-conscious fall fashion finds, you may want to avoid your neighborhood shopping mall. Instead, try discount stores, outlet centers, and even garage sales or thrift stores. Sometimes, you can find the same name-brand items that your child just “has” to have at a price you can live with. And, to really maximize your child’s wardrobe, check out the next lesson:

Lesson Six: Keep it Simple

You were young once, too – and you have the embarrassing family photos to prove it. There’s you at Thanksgiving ’88 in your stirrup pants and funky hairdo; that family reunion in ’92 when you were going through your flannel-soaked “grunge” phase. Trends come and go, and they’re not always cheap. Protect yourself from high prices (and your kids from cringe-worthy Kodak moments) by purchasing simple, affordable clothing that won’t be out of style by the time you cut the tags off. If your kids really want to experiment with trends, set a spending limit for indulging fads, or let them use their own allowances to do it.

Lesson Seven: Clip Coupons

Now is the time to start collecting coupons for things you’ll need throughout the school year. Lunches and snack foods, markers and glue for school projects, and the ubiquitous, teacher-requested box of Kleenex – before you buy, peruse your newspaper or coupon mailers and start stockpiling coupons for the things you’ll have to buy later.

Lesson Eight: Teach Responsible Spending

Some lessons can’t be taught at school. Use your back-to-school shopping as an opportunity to teach your kids a much-needed lesson in smart spending habits. After all, if your son sees you whip out your credit card every time he wants something, he may do the same thing one day. Involve young adults in budgeting for school clothes and supplies; if they have allowances or part-time jobs, ask them to pitch in for high-dollar must-haves.

Copyright © 2008 Reality Media Inc.

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 28th, 2008 at 4:30 pm and is filed under budget, savings. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.