This post contains affiliate links at no additional cost to you. Thank you so much for supporting Pennies Into Pearls by using my links! Keep reading to learn more about my back to school shopping list.
When it comes time to start checking off your back to school shopping list, those receipts add up super fast! Be careful!
Don’t get carried away! As you walk into the stores or start searching the internet there is a single important tip that you need to follow to make sure you don’t go over budget!
Just like with your grocery shopping on a budget, you can not start shopping without a back to school shopping list that has an estimated cost for each item!
Related Articles:
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- How to Start a Budget That You Can Actually Stick With
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- A Mom’s Favorite Money Savings Grocery Shopping Tips
Start With Setting A Back To School Budget
I have a personal question for you. How much can you set for you back to school budget? That all depends on your family budget.
Do you have any unaccounted for cash this month you can use? Are you able to give up something in your budget this month (eating out, personal cash, fun cash)? Maybe you are a rockstar and you already have the cash pulled aside for this exact purpose!
Base your shopping for you back to school list based off those numbers. Don’t freak out if your budget is coming in on the low side! I have a bunch of tips in my video to help you stretch those back to school bucks!
If you are feeling frustrated with your current budget for this year, use that as motivation to put away a little money each month, starting today, to use for next years back to school shopping list!
4 Tips for Back to School Shopping
- Set your budget! This is an important step so I felt the need to repeat myself.
- To help you stretch those back to school bucks shop the sales (I use Shoptagr to track everything on our list and stack any available coupons or rebates.
- As always, adjust your back to school shopping list depending on what you already have at home.
- Don’t buy fall clothes just yet… Buy a few new t-shirts and shorts (maybe three each) for the first few weeks of school. Take advantage of low prices on summer clothes and stock up in one or two sizes up (depending on how fast your kids grow) for next spring.
Fall clothes will start going on sale and on clearance in October. Save some cash now to stock up in the fall.
My First Time Mom Mistake
I made a first time mom mistake when my daughter was in kindergarten. I went crazy at the sales and stocked up on color pencils, markers, pencil boxes, notebooks, and anything else that was on sale.
Guess how much of what I bought was actually on her teachers list… maybe one or two things. Turns out her teacher didn’t ask for much. We ended up putting the supplies to good use but I don’t want you to spend a single dollar that you don’t need to.
11 Essentials of a Back to School Shopping List
Now that you have the cash in hand (literally in hand or digitally in your checking account) it’s time to go back to school shopping!
Every teacher is going to have their own list of needs for their class and that list is going to be unique to each classroom. Which is why I wanted to create a back to school shopping list that makes sure there is no Pearl Mom left forgetting any of the basic essentials that every elementary age kid needs. There is no mom who has time to run back to the store a million times!
Stick to this back to school shopping list of essentials and make sure to fill out the estimated cost per item. That way you know before you head to the checkout if what you are buying fits within your budget. This step also helps you know how much your goal purchase price should be per item.
DOWNLOAD your FREE PRINTABLE Back To School Shopping List by clicking the image below.
Thanks so much for stopping in and I will talk to you soon! xoxo
smoretraiolit
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