Thrifty Thinking: School Shopping

It might seem a little early to think about school shopping, but as you'll see from the tips below, it's a good idea to think about it all year long. Last year, according to National Retail Federation “Back-to-School” spending (combined K-12 and college spending) reached more than $83.8 billion. The average parent with children in grades K-12 spent approximately $688.62 on their children -- serving as the second biggest consumer spending event for retailers behind the winter holidays.

TheCalifornia Society of CPAs is the nation’s largest professional, non-profit, state professional association representing more than 40,000 CPAs in the area of tax, audit, accounting and consulting services such as personal finance. They offer the following steps parents and students can take to save money on back-to-school:

Step 1: Take an inventory. You might already have on hand some of the supplies--pens, pencils, notebooks--and don't need to buy them again.

Before you head to the mall, have your child clean out his closet. Need ... or want? A key personal-finance question for people of any age is: "Do I need it or do I just want it?" Armed with the list they made after going through their closets, get your child to clarify which items on the list are surefire needs.

Parents are often hesitant to say "we can't afford this" for fear of upsetting their child or because they don't want their child to go to school with less than other kids have. Instead, focus on your budget, and on the long-term goals you can attain by sticking to it. Don't be afraid to say, ‘we don't have endless cash for this stuff.’

Tell your children that if they come in under the budget limit, they can have the money to spend on some of those "want-but-don't-need" back-to-school items, like that pair of designer jeans.

Don't change your budget limit as you shop. If you're letting your children have $200, then that's the amount and don't waiver. Also, if they owe you money, make sure they pay it back. Make it real, because in real life, if you don't pay your car payment, you lose your car.

Setting a budget means you avoid the leakage issue. You drip out $20 here, $20 there. The children know they can keep coming back to the well and it keeps dripping. What have you taught your child? You've taught the child there's an entitlement program.

Step 2: Spread purchases out over the year, instead of buying an entire year's worth of outfits upfront. Besides, while fall fashions are now full price, they’ll be on sale in a few months--at significant savings to you. Don't charge school supplies if you won't be able to pay off your credit card when the bill comes in. Otherwise, the finance charges can wipe out any sales tax savings.

Step 3: Lower-income households should contact the school. Find out if there are any local programs in which businesses or other organizations donate school supplies.

Step 4: Use this time of the year to teach your children to withstand peer pressure to spend. Children are constantly tempted to spend money but aren't born with the ability to spend it wisely. Your child needs guidance from you to make good buying decisions. You can teach your child to think carefully about purchases by explaining that you will not buy him or her something every time you go shopping because his/her friend has the item. This will encourage your child to save up for something he or she really wants rather than buying something on impulse or because of peer pressure.

Step 5: Set up an allowance for your child.

With school starting, now's the time to set up an appropriate allowance for your child for the upcoming school year. If you have a teenager, ask her to track her purchases for a few weeks, then, estimate what her monthly expenses are. Then, decide what portion of that you're willing to pay for.

Step 6: Do additional research.

The California Society of CPAs has created a free Web site of articles, tools and resources to help consumers.