Preparing for back-to-school expenses: Five tips for parents
Parents whose children have already completed their education have much to be happy about. They can now say goodbye to expenses for projects, educational tours, school uniforms, and daily allowances.
But for those who’re still supporting students, it might help to plan out your expenses to ensure you’ll be on top of your budget when the next school year opens. For starters, here’s a breakdown of expenses for those who’re sending students to school for the first time this year:
Parents also need to struggle for two more years for their high school students with the implementation of the K-12 Curriculum. That being said, it makes perfect sense to create a budget as early as now. Start finding ways to pad up your wallet. Or, you can also employ these strategies to prepare for back-to-school expenses:
1) Reuse or recycle old school supplies. Instead of buying new items, you can take out the blank pages of your old, unused notebooks and compile these up to create a new notebook. Use old calendars to cover books and journals.
2) Create a shopping list in advance. Once you’ve recycled and reused all available resources, it’s time to list all the school supplies you really need to buy. It’s also best to include an estimated price for each item. Shopping with a list at hand helps you stick to your budget and avoid putting unnecessary items in your shopping cart. If ever you’ve made unplanned expenses, it will be easier for you to track how much you’ve overspent.
3) Save up as much as you can. Continue doing extra work during the summer break. Although it’s also good to encourage children to do the same, it’s important not to pressure them to work. Just let them see the value of frugality.
4) Take advantage of promos and back-to-school sales. Keep updated with the sale schedules of malls and stores. With enough cash on hand and a shopping list, the next best thing to do is watch out for on-sale items. Then, check if these are on your list and start shopping.
5) Prepare for the worst. Know all the available financing options you have as early as now. You can start researching about the different personal loan choices on the market today as you might like to apply for one when the going gets tough. Loansolutions PH is the country’s leading financial solutions concierge, providing Filipinos with the whole gamut of loan options from different providers. You might like to visit their website, loansolutions.ph, and use the 3-Step Application form to make your application a lot easier.
Although sending someone to school does require money, it is actually an investment. They’re just students now, but in the future they’ll be earning for themselves. So it’s still worth the effort. With these strategies, you should be able to prepare yourself financially for the expenses of your student this coming school year. Discipline and planning are the keys to control your money and direct it on important things.
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