How do you save money on your back-to-school shopping?
How do you save on back-to-school shopping?
Candice: I usually would make a list to make sure I don’t overbuy and I just buy the things that are needed. Because I don’t want her to think that money grows on trees, so I budget and hopefully she’ll learn to do the same thing as she grows older.
Hazel: There were always summer sales and that’s when I used to get the shoes a half-size larger – very important because they seem to grow terribly in the summer – and uniforms.
Gill: Whenever I shop, I look for school uniform throughout the year and always buy ahead. So if there’s a size two years older, I’ll buy it, maybe put the hems up and then can lower the hems when it fits the child.
Brenda: If it’s black or grey, which most of them are, you can get them in supermarkets. You don’t always have to go to proper school shops. And what a lot of schools are doing now, when children leave, they’re putting like a shop for … I know they are second-hand, but you can buy them second-hand from the shop, which is a lot, lot cheaper.
Avelia: Looking online or looking through all, you know, there’s all those superstore-type shops; they have lots of different things, so it’s sometimes just finding who’s got the best deal.
What is the biggest expense?
Candice:The biggest expense is the actual school uniform - jumpers for each school. They probably cost between £10-£15 for one jumper.
Maria:The biggest expense is… probably the shoes.
Gill: I think footwear is the biggest one to watch out for.
What are the hidden costs to look out for?
Isha: I didn’t realise there’s a lot more sportswear to buy. For everything, it’s different – rugby and hockey and everything. And it has to be the colour that they tell you, so it’s a specific shop, so you can’t go anywhere and buy it unless it’s that shop.
Candice: Things like school dinner costs. You kind of forget that you have to pay for that when they go back.
Hazel: When my children were at school, technology hadn’t hit us. But now with the grandchildren, I can see – with their smartphones and all the technical things, and everything is about £500 and they have to have one because their friends have one.
Use our back-to-school planner to help you set a budget for school essentials