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Saving Money while Back-to-School Shopping · Talking FACS

• 0:01
  Welcome to Talking Facts.
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  What you need to know about family food finance and fitness.
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  This nationally recognized award winning podcast is hosted by the University of Kentucky Family and Consumer Sciences Extension Program.
• 0:16
  Our educators share research knowledge with individuals,
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  families and communities to improve quality of life.
• 0:25
  Hello and welcome to Talking Facts.
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  What you need to know about family food finance and fitness.
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  I am your host,
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  Mindy mccauley Extension Specialist for instructional support with family and Consumer Sciences Extension.
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  We are housed in the Martin Gatton College of Agriculture,
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  Food and Environment.
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  My guest today is Kelly May Senior Extension Associate for family finance and resource management.
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  Welcome,
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  Kelly.
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  I'm Mindy.
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  It's great to be here and we're going to talk about that.
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  Dreaded s word that kids have to think about when this time of the year rolls around,
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  but school is getting ready to start,
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  isn't it?
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  Oh,
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  it's dreaded.
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  It's exciting.
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  It's all those things.
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  It is all those things.
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  That's right.
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  And probably going back to school is one of the big expenses that families have to deal with as they look at their annual budgets.
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  So let's talk about that to school,
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  um,
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  shopping and how we can maybe make it not quite so painful on our pocketbooks.
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  Great.
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  I think,
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  um,
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  having a plan of attack certainly is a good idea to get you started.
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  It's always good to plan before you shop and that's if you're buying large things or small things.
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  So even the,
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  the small school supplies,
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  it's good to have a plan.
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  You might want to check the supplies you have at home.
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  So,
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  inventory what you already have.
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  So you might have things in your home office or in your kitchen or,
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  um,
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  things that were used last year that aren't all used up,
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  that could still be used like calculators,
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  rulers folders.
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  Maybe a backpack.
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  Depends on how hard on it they are.
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  Right.
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  Exactly.
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  Uh,
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  also another thing to think about is clothes like we,
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  we tend to think got all those little things that the school puts on the list.
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  But chances are they probably have some sort of dress code and they expect your Children to wear outfits every day.
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  So,
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  you might need to see if your kids have grown and if what they have still fits,
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  um,
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  still meets the dress code.
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  If anything needs to be replaced,
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  if your kids have outgrown clothes and they are gently used.
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  You may be able to sell them to a consignment store for cash store credit.
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  So that tickles me because my boys wore things hard.
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  And so we never got to sell anything to a consignment store.
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  But there are Children who aren't quite so hard on their clothing.
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  So that,
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  that is definitely a great option.
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  Depends on the item.
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  If it's a holiday dress or something,
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  maybe it doesn't get quite as worn as,
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  as the favorite pair of jeans.
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  Exactly.
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  If you budget is tight,
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  contact your school's family resource or youth services center to see if there are local school supply drives planned in your community.
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  Or you can buddy up with other families who have similar age kids and swap out some items so they'd be new to you and that could work for clothes or the,
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  um,
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  supply items.
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  Oh,
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  I love that idea because kids love new clothes,
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  whether they really are brand new or not,
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  don't they?
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  They do.
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  So when you make your shopping list,
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  um,
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  how do you decide what is most important?
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  Oh,
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  it's a good idea to prioritize.
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  And this is also a good opportunity to talk to your kids about the difference between wants and needs.
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  You knew I was going to slip that in there.
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  Um,
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  sometimes we can't have both.
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  So sometimes we have to choose and so prioritizing can help and that can be a good discussion for,
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  for you and your kids to have so that they know why this item is more important than that item and why we have to,
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  um,
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  make those choices.
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  I laughed when you talked about once and needs because my granddaughter and I had this conversation just last week and she's three.
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  So it might have been a little early for the conversation,
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  but she got it because she said so if I need it,
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  I ask mommy and daddy and if I want it,
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  I ask you,
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  that's,
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  that's about right.
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  Keep in mind your budget too,
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  back to school expenses are probably not part of your regular monthly budget.
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  You're probably not buying these things every month.
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  So it,
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  it's an occasional expense and you may need to fit it into your plan.
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  So maybe you don't have to buy everything right away this month,
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  winter coats and snow boots and things like that.
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  Maybe you can put those off for a little bit and plan ahead to work those into a later month budget.
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  So once you get to the store and you're ready to do your shopping,
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  uh,
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  what do you do?
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  Are you good about following a budget or,
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  or following your list or do you find that you go off script a little,
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  everybody's a little different and you have to know yourself.
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  And so I always say when I talk about budgeting,
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  I say honesty is important and we have to be honest ourselves.
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  So if we know that slick display is going to distract us,
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  maybe we need to kind of put our blinders on,
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  so to speak.
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  It's a good tip to compare prices online before shopping especially if you're buying something expensive like a tablet or a laptop.
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  Um,
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  you know,
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  your,
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  your larger items for sure.
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  Um,
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  you can shop retailers who offer discounts or sales except coupons or have customer loyalty programs.
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  Sometimes that can be a help and you can consider buying generic or store bearing products.
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  I know the kids don't always like that tip.
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  Um,
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  but it can make a huge difference.
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  A lot of time,
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  the same quality product with a different logo on it can be a vastly different price.
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  Also hang on to your receipts,
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  especially for those large items just in case if they aren't needed,
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  maybe they can be returned as long as you haven't used them.
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  It's always a great idea because I don't know how many times I've wanted to return something and not had the receipt.
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  Well,
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  in earlier,
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  you talked about wants and needs.
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  And so here's a tip for that too where um maybe the parent is laser focused,
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  but the child not so much if you know,
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  you have a child who's going to want to help choose some items and maybe they aren't items on the list,
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  uh set a designated amount and make it a little shopping lesson for them.
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  So they get their little amount of money,
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  they can pick a thing or two and they can learn some of this process as well.
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  It's also fun for them and it's a great way to start the process of learning how to budget.
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  Right.
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  Do we have any other tips for our back to school shoppers before we wrap up,
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  um,
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  maybe buy in bulk.
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  Uh,
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  if it's something like,
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  you know,
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  you've got five kids and,
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  you know,
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  you're gonna need 100 pencils,
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  maybe.
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  Go ahead and buy the box and save a few for next year.
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  Things that won't expire,
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  paper,
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  pencils,
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  other goods.
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  A lot of us buy tissues and things like that for the classroom.
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  If your school has required reading and you need those books,
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  they don't provide the books,
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  you can check your local library.
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  A lot of libraries have those books on hand in,
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  in multiple quantities or talk with students from the grade.
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  Uh Other parents might have already bought those books and they're already read,
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  they no longer need them.
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  So maybe you can kind of reduce reuse,
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  recycle that way.
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  Yeah,
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  we don't have to save that tip for college,
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  do we right there in,
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  in high school,
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  middle school or elementary school if necessary?
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  And my last tip is to budget ahead.
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  So,
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  you know,
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  there's going to be more expenses for school.
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  It's not just the notebooks at the beginning.
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  Uh,
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  there's gonna be that fundraiser and that homecoming thing and the school project at the last minute and probably a graduation at some point.
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  And you might want to budget ahead for all of these great things so that you're ready when the time comes.
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  Uh Those are all great tips,
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  Kelly.
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  I do know that it is important to make sure that our Children have what they need and can function appropriately in school.
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  So we want to set them up for success.
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  Exactly.
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  So that is why we're here,
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  Kelly.
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  Thanks so much for taking the time to share with me today.
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  Thanks for having me.
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  I appreciate it.
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  If you are just tuning in,
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• 8:12
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