Involve kids in back-to-school shopping
- Melinda Hill, OSU Extension Wayne County
- July 26, 2024
- 614
What would your child do with $20 and the list of school supplies they need for the upcoming year? This might be an opportunity to discuss basic money management and prioritizing the items they might want and need.
We can talk about each shopping trip as a teachable moment concerning money and how we use it. Here are some tips you might use before heading to the store to help children understand how to best use the money we have with the choices we make.
—Look at your budget and make a decision about what you can realistically afford. Avoid using credit cards unless payment can be made at the end of the month to pay the total amount; otherwise, the interest quickly adds up. If you’d like to use a back-to-school calculator, visit www.practicalmoneyskills.com/resources/financial_calculators/education_college/back_to_school.
—Divide the money amount among your children, depending on the age and list of class requirements; it may not be an equal amount. Then help them make their shopping list.
—Talk about wants and needs. For example, I need a backpack, but I may want one with my favorite character on it. What will I give up or trade for the one I want? This works best when we as parents don’t rescue them from poor choices. We can remind them, but letting them experience the consequences of their choice is a great life lesson.
—Prioritize the list so they purchase the items they have to have first and then can save for the additional things they want. Help them make a plan for how they can earn the extra money to get the things they want. Realize this is an important life lesson. We all have to make compromises and work for the things we want.
—Use the sale ads to get the most for their money. See if the stores price match or if there are coupons available. Add up the totals at different stores to see where is the best place to shop and if it is really beneficial to make trips to multiple stores. How much will you save?
—When it comes to the clothes, do the same thing. Here’s the budget: What do you need? What’s in your closet that you can wear from last year? What can we add to it to make new outfits? What can we wait to buy until next month? Are there garage sales or trading with other families to make “new” outfits to get the school year started? If you haven’t tried thrift stores, you might want to check them out as there can be some great finds for all ages.
Practicing the skills of evaluating where we are at the present, listing our wants and needs, then planning for the future purchases, helps children understand we may not always be able to get what we want all the time. Make your back-to-school budget shopping a new tradition. Keep track of expenses and notes in a notebook to see what worked well with your children and what didn’t. What teachable moments were successful throughout the year?
As our children grow, the budgeting becomes even more important so they can begin to understand the “cost of life.” We all want our children to become independent, successful individuals, and they can achieve this with money-management coaching throughout their life.
Melinda Hill is an OSU Extension family and consumer sciences educator and may be reached at 330-264-8722 or hill.14@osu.edu.