Tag: back-to-school shopping

Take Advantage of Kids’ Back-to-School Time

Posted on by Jordank

Many parents will be sending their kids off to school over the next two weeks, making for a bittersweet moment whether they’re heading to kindergarten or college. But what most parents don’t realize is that when summer ends and the offspring leave the house for at least part of the day, the demands on their own time will ease.

Without the kids constantly underfoot, needing rides or foraging for food, parents will have additional hours during the day to pursue their own career, learning and life goals. If you are in this situation and want to make the most of this newfound freedom, you’ll need to plot out a few projects for those extra hours.

Time management is the first step, Project Me says; without a plan, those extra kid-free hours will evaporate fast. Start by listing the things you would like to do with your extra time, such as going to the gym, starting a new work project or going back to school yourself. Identify your most important tasks, put them on a daily schedule and get started.

Decluttering is an excellent option, the site says. Step back and take an objective look at your space, create a plan of attack (doing one room at a time, for example, or targeting a number of bags and boxes to donate to ClothingDonations.org), and dive in. When each step in the task is complete, reward yourself! You’ll be much more likely to complete it if you have your eyes on a prize.

Back-to-school clutter likely needs organizing, says All Parenting’s “20 Things to Do When your Kids Go Back to School;” many areas may be cluttered with new clothing, backpacks and homework. Household cleaning tasks probably took a backseat to summer fun, too, so now’s the time to catch up on deep-cleaning the refrigerator, ceiling fans, baseboards, bathrooms and floors.

A digital decluttering can also help you get organized for the season ahead. Go through all of the summer photos on your phone(s) and camera(s); download them to a safe place and print the best ones out for framing and display. And while you’re at it, clean up your desktop and delete the mobile apps you haven’t used in months.

Whether you’re a stay-at-home parent or work full time, you’ll find that having the kids at school will free up a little bit of your time. Plan on making the most of it!

Thrift to Save on Back-to-School Costs

Posted on by Jordank

Most schools across the country will be starting the school year in just a few weeks — and you can tell, since the back-to-school promotions have begun in earnest at the chain stores. But if you really want to save money, you don’t have to buy everything brand-new at a Target, Walmart or Gap. Back-to-school time is one time of year when it pays to shop at the local thrift store.

If you have young children headed back to school, chances are good that they have grown out of the clothes they were wearing last fall. Good news! Thrift stores are full of lightly used clothing and school uniforms that either fit someone’s kid until recently or didn’t get worn much at all. A lot of it is desirable, big-label stuff, points out The Well-Kept Wallet, that’s getting sold at a fraction of its original price.

If you live in a northern climate, you can get the jump on winter shopping, too. When people donate used or disused clothing to charities such as ClothingDonations.org, they often eliminate items such as sweaters and winter coats from their closets in the season they need them least — and that means you can score great deals well ahead of the onset of winter weather — and long before the selection gets picked-over.

One parent writing in The Penny Hoarder reports that she was able to outfit her two daughters, both in elementary school, for less than $40 by visiting thrift stores and rummage sales strategically. The children helped her shop on most trips, she says, and likely learned to appreciate a great value at the same time.

If the kids are headed off to college, a thrift store can be an even greater resource. There, you can find items such as desks, bookshelves, coffee tables, lamps and small appliances at bargain prices, as well as the bed linens, dishes and other household goods every college student will need for the first time when moving into a dorm or residence. The thrift can also be a great source for office supplies and backpacks.

Buying at a thrift store supplied by donations to ClothingDonations.org has the added benefit of saving you money while helping fund programs for veterans. And remember, you can contact ClothingDonations.org at any time to schedule a pickup of the clothing and other items your own kids have grown out of or just don’t use anymore. Somebody will be able to use that stuff, but to you, it’s just clutter.

Including clothing, electronics, shoes and school supplies, families will spend an average of $688 on each child during the back-to-school season, according to an annual survey from the National Retail Federation (NRF), and $970 on every college student. But you can keep those costs down — way down — with a trip to the thrift store!

Declutter Before Back to School

Posted on by Jordank

Most young people will return to school in just a few weeks. In many regions, school starts as early as mid-August, and that means there’s no time like the present to not only shop for the new clothes, textbooks and gadgets they’ll need for the upcoming school year, but also make room for those items by cleaning out some of the old stuff they won’t.

If your kids are still young, that’s great — you can help them form a foundation of habits that they can use throughout life. “Four-year-olds aren’t super-great declutterers, but they can certainly look through a pile of their drawings and pick out their favorites, or try out a pile of markers to figure out which ones are dried up,” says the Frugal Girl blog.

Help young children sort things into categories, and make “keep” and “get rid of” piles within each. Resist the urge to conduct the decision-making yourself; like everyone else, kids get attached to their stuff, and may be hurt if you make a call without their input. Instead, gently urge them to save only their favorites in each category (clothing, books, toys, etc.).

When they complete each segment of the task, box up the lightly-used stuff and contact ClothingDonations.org for a pickup. To keep things orderly, invest in some plastic bins to keep like items together, and reinforce the advantages of decluttering by pointing out how neat, clean and spacious their shelves and rooms become.

If your kids are already in their teenage years, the battle may be more difficult, says The Non-Consumer Advocate. Again, you should involve them in the decluttering process; it is not OK to arbitrarily clean and toss. Do, however, set concrete limits on how many of a particular item can be kept: X number of T-shirts or X number of games.

If you’re sending a child to college for the first time, you have a golden opportunity to declutter your home. You might have plans to repurpose his or her room, and even if you don’t, there’s likely a ton of stuff they won’t need during the transition into adulthood that you can store, sell, donate or throw away before they go.

As they pack for school, again: Create piles of items to keep, donate and trash. Almost any item of clothing your child doesn’t want to take to college is fair game for a donation, as are toys and games they’ve outgrown. Take this opportunity to have your child create his or her own bin of special memories, says the SpareFoot Blog, and store it in a safe place.

When your child moves out of the house for good, they can take that bin with them — and you can reclaim the space!

Back to School!

Posted on by Jordank

If you walk into nearly any store at this time of year, it’s hard to miss the telltale signs that kids will be back to school soon. Paper, pencils, folders and calculators seem to be everywhere, not to mention the stacks of shirts and jeans.

Did you know that August is the second-largest sales month for retailers? That’s great news for parents eager to take advantage of sales, coupons and online retailers for the best bargains as they outfit their children with the clothing and tools they’ll need for the school year.

Here’s a handy list of no-nonsense, money-saving tips to get your students—and their closets—ready for school:

  • What will your children need for school? Don’t just guess; take a trip through their rooms, dressers and closets to form an inventory for each child.
  • Empty drawers of any clothing your child has outgrown. Donate clothing that’s in good condition.
  • Determine if you can give some pieces of clothing new life with tie-dye. Are pants too short? Turn them into shorts or capri pants.
  • Develop a shopping list for each child.
  • Set a budget. Remember, there is a difference between wants and needs. If you can afford it, let each child select a splurge item.
  • When you are shopping, train your children to find the sale rack. Explain to them how these items, if they fit, can help stretch your budget.
  • If you have more than one school-aged youngster, consider shopping with one child at a time, and make it special by stopping for lunch or dinner on the way home.
  • Develop a shopping map to reduce driving time. You might be able to find all the clothing you need at one store. And, if you’re lucky, that store will offer school supplies as well.
  • Don’t forget that online retailers often run sales with no shipping charges. It’s another stress-free option if your child can’t tolerate long shopping excursions.
  • If your child likes certain name brands that are likely to bust your budget, check out closeout stores such as T.J. Maxx or Marshalls to reduce costs.
  • Looking to stretch your budget even further? Department stores will be reducing fall inventory with great sales in October. Consider shopping for part of your back-to-school list at that time.

Above all, make the back-to-school process fun and exciting for your child. Helping your child look well-dressed and ready to learn is a great way of highlighting the importance of school.

As you’re going through closets, separate out the clothes and other items your children have outgrown or no longer need or want. Then give us a call. We’ll come and take those used items off your hands—and you’ll be benefiting veterans in the process.