Save On Back-To-School Costs

The beginning of a new school year can be an exciting time, but back-to-school costs can stress parents and place a strain on the family budget. ASG Education Programs™(NZ), Australasia's largest independent not-for-profit organisation specialising in planning for children’s education, urges parents to do their homework when it comes to budgeting for back-to-school costs in order to save money.

"Feedback from ASG members indicates many parents are still reeling from the expenses of Christmas and the holiday period," says ASG's managing director, Terry O’Connell.

"Education expenses such as school enrolment fees and levies, uniforms, transport costs, lunches, and supplies add up and can send family budgets into the red unless parents put strategies in place to cope with the costs and then manage the ongoing costs.

"As the cost of children’s education continues to rise, implementing small savings disciplines can make a big impact on the family budget," Mr O’Connell says.

To help parents combat the back-to-school assault on the pocket, ASG has compiled tips to keep back-to-school costs under control and increase the financial literacy of the whole family.

Family involvement
• Involve all the family and make back-to-school preparations fun
• Encourage all the family to get involved in the back-to-school preparations and create a fun atmosphere so that budgeting and saving is an enjoyable activity rather than an exercise in deprivation.
• This encourages awareness of the costs associated with everyday items among your children and greater responsibility for their use.
• Help children understand that saving in one area can allow you to afford family rewards in another area, such as holidays.

Organisation
• Get organised and control your finances
• Writing lists is a great way to get organised.
• Identify the fees and costs associated with school for each of your children.
• Then identify their back-to-school needs. In general, children will have two sorts of needs for back-to-school - the list of requirements issued by the school, including textbooks and specific supplies and more general materials such as stationery items.
• Uniform and tool requirements such as PCs vary from school to school.
"By being organised before you buy anything, you're less likely to fall into the overspending trap. Make sure you have your list of the new school year requirements on hand," Mr O’Connell explains.

Prioritise
• Prioritise your expenses and your needs
• Cover immediate - and essential - needs like school enrolment fees and any special required items first.
• From your list of requirements, identify what are your must-haves before the school year begins and what you can postpone until later in the year.
• Check that everything on your list is a genuine need rather than a wanted item.

Inventory
• Make an inventory of what you already have
• Check what you already have that can be used from the previous year before you hit the shops.
• Set aside outgrown, but still usable items, for others in the family or for charity donation.
• Don't forget to check around the house to see if anything can be transferred from one use to another. For example, you might have pens and pads around the house that your children can use at school.

Develop a budget
• Having assessed the school needs of your children, develop a budget allocation for each and stick to it.

"Ensure your budget is realistic or you'll sabotage all your good work to date," says Mr O’Connell, "by involving teenage children in the budgeting process you'll encourage their financial awareness assisting them to handle money responsibly in the future".

Shop around
• Do your homework to ensure you are getting the best value for money on your purchases.
• Don't assume you are getting the best value from your school for buying books, uniforms or computers.
• Check out a few different sources and ask other parents for buying tips.
• If you have Internet access, you can shop around easily over the web.

"Work out what items you are prepared to pay top dollar for - cheaper versions are just as likely to satisfy their needs so you may be able to compromise," says Mr O’Connell

Buy it new cheaper
• Check out discount stores for great value on everyday items - you'll find lots of discounts at the back-to-school sales at the discount chains but a visit to your local $2 Shop may also prove worthwhile.
• Consider buying from several different stores as their advertised specials may represent a great buy but their prices on other goods may not.
• Join with other parents in your neighbourhood and buy in bulk as bulk buying can reduce costs to almost wholesale prices.
• Don't forget to check out online purchasing options over the web for bargains.

"More and more parents are becoming astute buyers using a variety of options available for purchasing new goods and access to the Internet is making savvy buying increasingly available," Mr O’Connell says.

Buy it second-hand
• Investigate second-hand bookstores, library and garage sales, school exchanges and co-ops, local newspaper advertisements and Trademe (www.trademe.co.nz) to purchase second-hand school goods for your children.

"Some people think buying second-hand has the stigma of lack attached to it," Mr O’Connell says, "but shopping second-hand reduces consumerism, can be great fun and is now one of the world's largest growing trends, as evidenced by the success of Trademe and other similar sites."

Uniforms
• Do shop around for school uniform requirements, just as you would for other purchases.
• Consider buying the more expensive items, such as blazers second-hand through school exchanges or co-ops or online.
• Put off purchasing all the uniform requirements at the beginning of the year - purchase the winter uniform later and the sports uniform requirements if your child makes a team.
• Reduce the number of items you buy as part of your child's school uniform, such as shirts and launder more frequently. You can purchase additional items as the school year progresses, if needed.
• Buy the more costly uniform items a size or two larger to allow growing room for your child.

"The purchasing of required uniforms can represent one of the most costly areas of expenditure especially for children attending independent schools where choice is largely restricted," Mr O’Connell explains.

General recommendations
• Check shops' return policies and/or guarantees before buying.
• Weigh up quality versus price. An item isn't a bargain if it falls apart after the first use.
• Go easy on the credit cards or any savings you make will be eaten up by credit charges.
• Record your spending and save your receipts so you can budget better for next year.
• Go simple - encourage your kids to walk to school and make their lunches.

ASG provides a range of education savings programmes that help parents plan for their children's future education using the benefits of collective mutual pooling, beginning from as little as $10 per week.

ASG began working with New Zealand families in 1990 and now has 30,000 Kiwi families planning for the future education of 40,000 children. Last financial year, ASG provided over $120m in member benefits, bursaries and scholarships to help assist member families with the costs of their children’s education.

ASG has extensive community relationships in New Zealand with the Royal New Zealand Plunket Society, Life Education Trust, KidsLine ( the youth arm of LifeLine), and is the naming rights sponsor of the ASG Parent and Child Show.

ENDS

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