Budget Mondays 8/12/2013

Monday – 8/12/2013

It’s Monday – a painful day for most people, yours truly included. Sometimes it is made even more painful as we remember just how much money we ended up spending over the weekend.

Budget

It’s one word that can make people cringe, angry and sad all at the same time; a rare occurrence indeed. There are plenty of reasons for this – people are told at work that their budgets are being cut, or that their ideas cannot be funded because they are not in the budget, and in our personal life, our budgets don’t usually quite match up to our desires.

This edition of Budget Monday focuses on something that is inevitable as tax season, and sometimes, almost as painful – back-to-school shopping. Whether you are getting ready for the first day of high school, getting your kids ready for the first day of middle school, or are getting yourself ready to go off to college, the issue is the same. Starting school can be painful enough, but when you start looking at how much it is going to cost you to get ready for school, it can make it that much worse. With that in mind, here are a few tips to help stretch those back-to-school dollars that everyone can use.

• Wait, and buy your back to school supplies after school has started. I cannot tell you how many times, yours truly would stock up on back-to-school supplies, only to find out that I needed different supplies. Save yourself the frustration and expense, and wait until you know exactly what you need. In addition, many stores discount their back-to-school merchandise almost immediately after school has started – additional savings.

• Put together a list of the items that you need, and stick to that list. Once you have the list of items that you need, you can get started being creative in your shopping. Go online, check Wal-Mart or Staples, or simply dig through your closet and see if you have supplies left over from last year. The extra legwork might result in some real savings.

• This is more for the “dorm crowd,” but could certainly apply to back-to-school shopping at all levels. Reuse, recycle, and reinvent your items and make them seem new, or even chic. New accessories can revitalize older outfits, and spray paint can make old end tables look new again. Be creative!

I have attached a few links that include these tips and more.

Happy Reading!

https://www.dormco.com/Articles.asp?ID=310

http://budgetdecorating.about.com/od/DormDecorating/a/Diy-Dorm-Decorating-Ideas.htm

http://www.wikihow.com/Purchase-All-Back-To-School-Items-on-a-Budget

http://www.greatschools.org/back-to-school/supplies/1515-budget-shopping.gs