5 Back to School Shopping Tips for Your Kids
When it comes to letting your kids help you shop for school items and clothes, kids will go crazy because they see things they want and don’t understand that it may be too expensive. Here are some tips to share with your kids so that they can get the most out of their allotted money for their back to school shopping.
1. Give your kids a limit and let them know what it is. If your kids are younger and don’t really understand the monetary value of things, let them know the amount they are getting to spend based on things they know; such as prices of candy or number of items they can get at the dollar store. Do make sure that each of your kids has the money to purchase all the items on the list of things that they need with a little extra for clothes and upgrades for fancier items like pencils with decorations instead of plain yellow.
2. Make sure that your kids know all the things that they need for school so that they know what their responsibilities are. This makes it easier for them to make choices on designs of items they like and what sort of money they have to spend to spend on the extras they like but may not be necessary like new backpacks, designer clothing and fancier upgrades on items they need for school.
3. Let the kids make the choice of where they want to shop. Give them a few options that are still within your budget. This lets the kids feel like they have an option of where they are going to do their back to school shopping. When they make a decision of where they want to go, show them the ads so that they have an idea of what they might be spending more on and what items they can get cheaper.
4. Help your kids to separate their wants from their needs. While they may think they need a new backpack, if the one they had last year doesn’t have any rips and the zipper still works, then it is still in good working condition; making a new backpack a want and not a need for this school year. This is important for your kids to know so that they get all the items on the list that they have to have like notebooks, pens and pencils.
5. Try to get the kids to agree to pool their money on items that they all need and can be bought in bulk. This will give them more money to spend on the items that they want like designer jeans and fancy shoes over things that they are just spending extra on because they want to be different. Sometimes decorating your own notebooks and things instead of buying them designer is much better.