Set a budget for school supplies including books, lunch, transport, uniforms, allowance etc.
How much can you afford to spend on this? You don't have to buy every single thing on the school list. Shop with a list, prioritise and stick to it.
This is a great time to communicate with children about the costs associated with their school needs.
Going through the school list with your child is an opportunity to teach some valuable money lessons. Talk through the difference between wants versus needs, value and values.
There is so much peer pressure that you cannot afford to ignore; teach them to understand that there will always be people that have more than them and that its ok. Take them along for some of the school shopping trips so they can compare the various prices themselves, and learn practical lessons.
If you’ve found yourself caught off-guard this year by school expenses, plan ahead for next year to ease the pressure. Set up a specific education fund to meet this goal that you contribute to each month so it’s not such a huge expense all at once.
Ideally we should all start to build our children’s educational fund from the time they are born. We will share thoughts on educational funding including Educational Trusts and insurance next week.
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