There are ways families can reduce that astronomical amount. Here are back to school savings tips to hopefully lessen the financial pain when it comes to school supplies and food. If you’re looking for back to school clothes shopping savings tips, click here.

SAVINGS ON SCHOOL SUPPLIES

* Ask for paper bags at the grocery store.

Middle school and high school students often need to cover their books. Don’t buy book covers. Use paper grocery sacks follow this YouTube video tutorial that shows you how to do it with a Trader Joe’s bag.

* See if your school offers any deals.

My daughter’s elementary and junior high schools have both offered a deal where parents can purchase the school supplies in advance. We write a check in May and pick up the box of supplies in August. The price works out to be less than what I would spend. Even if it was a little more, I’d probably go that route anyway to 1) save the time and gas on the shopping trips and 2) lessen the chance of my child wanting to make extraneous purchases.

Speaking of extraneous purchases:

* Stick to the list.

Get only what is on the school supply list unless you are absolutely certain that your child needs it. (Chances are highly likely that if it isn’t on the list, your kid doesn’t need it.) Review with your child the difference between wants and needs before shopping.

One other option would be to give them $5 for items of their own choosing not on the list. And that’s it, when it’s gone, it’s gone. (I may add this just because I understand loving school supplies.)

* Wait, if you can.

Just like with clothes, school supplies will be on sale in a couple weeks. You can stock up then for items that you use at home like crayons and construction paper, and buy a lot of them. They don’t expire.

* If you shop at Target, use Cartwheel.

Cartwheel is a Target app on your phone that let’s you access Cartwheel only offers. There’s a barcode on your phone that the cashier scans at checkout to apply the offers that you have selected. Cartwheel currently offer 20% off of Crayola crayons, markers, and colored pencils, as well as Sharpie highlighters. You can get 10% off of Bic pens. This is in addition to other coupons and in store sales.

SAVINGS ON FOOD

* Buy in bulk and make your own snack packs.

Buy your snack items like goldfish, graham crackers, pretzels, etc. in large quantities and then put your kids to work putting the into snack size plastic bags. The price when you buy in bulk is considerably less, and even very young kids can help portion them out. Make more of these than you think you’ll initially need. They go fast, but the items also don’t expire quickly.
Also, stash some snack packs in the car. Someone (possibly even yourself) will invariably be hungry on the way to practice or lessons or a game, and having something to tide them over will save you from having to make an pricey fast food stop.

* Stash some dinners in the freezer.

If you don’t already have some go to meals in the freezer, double up on the next few dinners. Freeze the extras and know that you have them on hand when you need it on a busy night when activities and homework are taking over. You’ll save money not going out or ordering pizza.

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To get prepared for a great new school year without breaking the bank, here are some back to school money saving tips when shopping for clothes, which account for the largest chunk of an average family’s back to school expenses, according to the NRF.

* Shop your kids’ closets first.

Go through what you already have and see what fits and what does not. The best way to do this is take everything out of the closet and drawers and go through it all. Turn on some upbeat music your kid loves to keep things happy and to keep up the pace. Once you’ve taken inventory, you may be surprised at how much you already have.

Then make a list of what you still need to get, and stick to that list.

* Organize your children’s closets.

It is so easy for shirts to get pushed to the back or the corner or get stuck between other items and then quickly be forgotten. If a child can see all of their clothes easily, it makes it harder to cry, “I have nothing to wear!” Similarly, be sure to donate anything that does not fit. Get it out of the way to make room for what you do have.

The added bonus is that this will hopefully make getting ready in the morning or laying out outfits the nights before easier.

If you want to take it a step farther, make a list of outfits. Kids often don’t realize how many items go with other items. You don’t have to have a lot of items to have 10 different outfits, and that gets you through 2 weeks of school days. Hang on to the list, or even tape it to the inside of the closet door to remind you both what the available options are.

* Hold off on your shopping.

Just because school is starting does not mean that you need to purchase an entirely new wardrobe for your child for the coming nine months. Even if that is what retailers tell you, it’s simply not true. Resist the urge to go crazy. We buy a back to school outfit and one additional outfit, and that’s it.

There are numerous reasons for this. First, it’s still warm out and presumably your kid has decent summer clothes (they haven’t been running around naked, right?) so those will likely still work. Second, wait until your child has the lay of the land at school. They may love something in the store but peer pressure can be powerful and if they refused to wear it two weeks after purchase, that’s money down the drain. Third, your child will grow. They all get bigger and you should keep the in mind when shopping. I admit that I have purchased winter clothes in the summer and then the kid hit a major growth spurt and blew flat past that size. Never wore those items, and it was a complete waste of funds. Learn from me and save the money.

Finally, while the clothes are on sale now, they will be even more on sale in a few weeks. My only exception to this would be if your state has a sales tax holiday but even then, it’s likely the the discounts in the future will be at least 25%, which is going to be more than tax. Good things come to those who wait.

* Ask store associates if there are any other savings opportunities or upcoming sales.

If you do have to shop now, talk to the employees. Sometimes they will have a coupon they can give you. At Justice last week, they said that everything would be an additional 20% off on the weekend. We held off a few days and returned during the sale. The amount we saved made the return trip worth it, but that’s a personal decision.

* Consider shopping online.

If you and your child have a hard time resisting the adorable accessories, fun shoes, and great displays, you’re not alone. Stores are designed to make you buy more than you need or intend. Shopping online can sometimes make it easier to avoid the distraction and stick to your list. It can also be a calmer environment and keep you from agreeing to something awful just to get out of a store to save your sanity.

Check back tomorrow for more back to school money saving tips for school supplies, food and more.

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