A Simple Back-To-School Budgeting Strategy

The strategy is simple: Include the kids.

During this recession, it seems as though many budget-conscious families are looking for a way to limit the spend-fest that distinguishes back-to-school shopping. There are plenty of ways to save on this yearly event, but one way to help ease things for parents’ pocketbooks is to set a budget—and require the kids to pay for anything that exceeds it.

Over the years this tack has worked well for Janet Barton, of Tremonton, Utah. Only the youngest of her four children is still in high school (“Once they’re 18 and out of the house, they’re on their own for school clothes”), but she says that requiring her kids to make their own choices, and even contribute their own funds, has not only spared the budget at back-to-school time, but has taught her children to be savvier shoppers overall.

“Every year, we gave our kids $100 to spend on new school clothes,” Barton says. “This year my youngest will get his $100, and that’s it.” If her children wanted to spend more than that amount, they did it on their own. “If the kids bought the brand names or more clothes, they had to save up and use their money.”

Barton says that she tried to teach her children the value of looking for good deals. “You can get one brand name shirt, or you can get three of these other shirts, that look just about the same.” While this worked with two of her sons, Barton says her youngest son is more fashion conscious. And, she adds, her daughter almost always had to have the name brand. “But that’s fine. You make your own choices. And you spend your own money.”

As part of trying to instill bargain-conscious habits in her children, Barton made sure to take them to the sales. “We went to the mall, true, but we also looked for the great deals. When most of my kids were school age, and we lived in Idaho Falls, Idaho, JC Penney (Stock Quote: JCP) had the best sales. Now I guess we’ll go to Kohls, Ross, Marshalls or TJ Maxx (Stock Quote: TJX). The choices for less expensive clothing have certainly improved over time.”