That’s right my friends, back to school is quickly approaching and I mean quickly.  For some of us, our kids head back to school in August, others it’s early September, either way it’s happening soon!

Back to school has always been a little daunting for me, but especially now since I have a high schooler and a middle schooler.  This stuff gets expensive! Thankfully, I am frugal shopper and I have learned the ways to save money on these necessary expenses.  If you too want to save money on back to school, check out these 6 tips for saving on back to school.

1. Clean out your closets.  I know, i know, you have enough to do, but seriously, clean out your kids’ closets and you may just find that they need less stuff than you thought.  Additionally, you may find stuff in great condition that you can sell to offset the costs associated with BTS shopping.
2. Thrift shop.  I’m a lucky mama, because my high school age daughter loves thrift shopping.  I take her to higher end thrift shops such as Plato’s Closet for her jeans and tops and we even head to Goodwill sometimes to check out their half-price tag deals.
3. Shop Clearance.  Clearance and sales racks are your friend!  I love hitting these racks and then combining them with coupons when I can.  My favorite are the JCP $10 off $25 coupons that come around often.
4. Only buy the minimums.  I like to hit the clearance racks and buy just a couple of outfits since the first part of the school year is always nice weather anyway.  Then once the weather starts to cool down, I will do a little more shopping. They don’t need an entire year’s worth of clothing all at once.
5. Shop all summer long.  I know we are halfway through the summer right now, but it’s not too early or late to get started now.  Buy a little bit at a time and it is far less painful on your budget.
6. Use coupons.  Use coupons online and in store to grab the best deals.  Once it comes time for back to school I like to shop at Staples weekly and grab their rock bottom deals and nothing else.  This week for example, composition notebooks are just $0.50, down from $3.29. Next week it’ll be a different rock bottom deal. Many stores do this too, so be sure and check them all out.

Public school buses parked in a line with doors open

I know, I know!  Summer just began and we really should be focused on what we are planning to do for our summertime plans, but the fact is, back to school will be here before you know it and for me, as a mom of 3, that means lots of money to be spent.  That’s why I am getting an early start to see how can I focus on not spending an arm and a leg sending the kids back to school.

If you are in the same boat as me and you are ready to change up those shoestring budget school shopping days, check out these 5 tips that will help you save money on school shopping:

1. Go through closets.  I know that school shopping is just part of the tradition, but changes are your child doesn’t need quite as much stuff as you might think.  Be sure to go through their dressers and closets before you head out to shop.
2. Start early.  While this in itself doesn’t necessarily help you save money, it does help you spread the spending out a little bit which can be quite helpful, especially when you have multiple children.
3. Shop clearance.  Who cares if that cute shirt was technically from last year’s collection?  It’s half price now! Seriously SCAN those clearance racks for deals!
4. Shop second hand.  Take your kids to high end discount thrift shops such as Plato’s closet or even check out the Goodwill stores and consignment shops in the nice part of town.  You will likely find some really great deals there! My local Goodwill store often sells overstock items from Target, so you almost always see brand new clothes and other items on their shelves.
5. Shop online.  By now we all know that we can save money by shopping online, right?  Seriously there are online thrift shops and lots of other online retailers that you can shop through.  Plus, many of these retailers offer promo and coupon codes that can help bring your costs down further.

With the school year back in full swing for most of us, I thought we could all use a good reminder of what we shouldn’t be sending to school in our kids’ lunches. Whether for expense or for health reasons, you should keep certain things out of their lunch bags.

Here are 6 things to avoid packing in your kids’ lunch this school year.

1. Soda. Kids simply don’t need soda, it is as simple as that. Many kids and adults alike are chronically dehydrated due to the current popular diet which includes lots of soda and way too little water. Send them with a water bottle instead of soda. If they “need” flavor, send them with infused water.
2. Juice boxes. Again with the sugary drinks. While I do recognize that juice is often better than soda, it doesn’t even compare to water.
3. Candy. Candy is okay after holidays or on special occasions in my opinion, but other than that, steer clear of this kind of junk food. There is no health benefit, it’s bad for their teeth and kids don’t need that mid-day sugar rush than crash. Send them with fruit instead.
4. Pre-packaged meat and cheese meals. Pre-packaged meat and cheese meals are full of sodium, nitrates and preservatives. None of which are good for you. Make a homemade veggie and cheese meal instead.
5. Peanut butter sandwiches. You should skip out on peanut butter sandwiches for 2 reasons. One, many children are now allergic to peanuts, so it is always good to avoid putting those kids at risk. Also, many store bought peanut butters are full of sugars and other additives. Stick with all-natural peanut butter or try an all natural hazelnut spread.
6. Chip bags. I’m not against chips per say, but it really is a waste of money to buy individual chip bags. It’s cheaper to buy a big bag of chips and bag them up yourself.

With many kids back in the swing of the school year and many still waiting to go back, now is a great time to have a little reminder of all of the ways that you can say thank you to your child’s teacher!  

Gift Cards.  Gift cards might just be the best type of gift to give teachers.  I always buy my kids’ teachers gift cards to local coffee shops as well as Amazon and Walmart gift cards for those times when they are having to buy school supplies for all of their students.

Personalized Gifts.  Everyone loves personalized gifts.  Making a personalized coffee mug or calendar is idea as they can use it at work and it doesn’t take up too much time.

Bring them coffee.  At the beginning of the year be sure to ask your child’s teacher how they take their coffee so that randomly throughout the year you can surprise them with a coffee to start their day.  There is no need to wait until Christmas or teacher appreciation day to tell them thank you.  It can be done anytime!

Organize a gift from the entire class.  Teachers can get completely overwhelmed with 20+ gifts being placed on their desk on the holidays or Teacher Appreciation day.  Why not get in touch with the other parents of the class and ask if they would like to go in together on a larger, class gift.  We did this one and ended up buying two high dollar gift cards.  We bought a $50 coffee shop gift card and a $50 restaurant gift card.  She was able to buy plenty of morning coffees for a while, plus she was able to go out for a nice dinner with her hubby.  

Volunteer your time.  I know you are busy, but teachers can really use your help!  If you have any flexibility in your schedule, you really should consider volunteering your time to help out in the classroom.  This helps the teacher to keep things in order during big class projects.  If you can’t donate your time, consider donating food and supplies for class parties, etc.

Back to school time is so busy that we often look for the easiest and quickest way to get stuff done, this often translates to meal times and packing lunches.  It seems like a pretty easy option to just pack up bagged chips and prepackaged meat/cheese/cracker meals for your kids instead of preparing them a healthy lunch, but is that what you should do?  Kids need the best nutrition possible to help them have better days and energy to learn and play.

So, how can you help?  Well, here are 4 tips for making sure that the kids eat healthy when the go back to school:

Preparing in advance. On Sunday, allow yourself an hour or two to prepare lunches for the week ahead.  This will save you from having to rush to put things together each morning.  

Buy good containers and lunchboxes.  Having good food storage containers and quality lunchboxes is imperative to having healthy lunches throughout the week.  You might even consider investing in bento boxes for the kids as they keep all of the foods very well organized.  Also, make sure that you get good ice packs for their lunchboxes so that you know the food will stay cold throughout the day.

Pack what the kids want.  Give your kids healthy options and find out what they prefer.  If you pack healthy stuff that they like, they will be more likely to eat it and be happy about it.

Use insulated, reusable water bottles.  Instead of sending your kids will sugary drinks every day, but them a good quality insulated water bottle and send them with cold water each day.  Kids will be more likely to drink their daily recommended amount of water if it is nice and cold and they don’t have to go to the water fountain.

Kids across the country are getting ready to go back to school. So instead of letting it sneak up on you, why not be prepared? So here are 4 tips on how to make preparing for back to school easier for everybody.

Get back into your schedule

Almost all kids take advantage of summer when it comes to bedtime, so it’s about time to start getting back into that routine. Another thing to get used to is mealtime. Kids always have a food schedule at school. There is a designated time for lunch for everybody every day. So find out what time they eat at school, and try to make sure they eat at that time every day.

Have all supplies ready and organized

It’s always a good idea to have everything ready ahead of time, and the sooner the better. Make sure you try to buy everything they need a month or two ahead of time. It saves money and the stress of last minute shopping. Plus keeping everything organized makes it easier to realize what you do and don’t have for the school year.

Do a tour of the school if you aren’t familiar with it

A tour of the school is always a good idea to do for anxious children. It can ease the nerves and help them feel more ready for school. It’s also a good idea for the parents to do because it can help you feel more comfortable with where your kids are gonna be on a daily basis.

Print schedules

If you have High school or Middle School children, making sure they know their schedule is imperative to ease the anxiety of the “what-ifs”. Printing the schedules out in advance is a great way to avoid these stresses. Kids may not admit it, but they like having a schedule for things. It almost always makes them feel better about going back to school.