| Before you head out to the big-box store for pencils this weekend or browse websites for the best three-ring binders, stop and read Antonia Mufarech on how to avoid overspending while school shopping. Plus: Wood construction confronts the mold problem, and answers to the puzzle in the August print issue. If this email was forwarded to you, click here to sign up. For families with school-age children, back-to-school time also means back to spending. And it's already here, with classes underway in much of the US and the rest trickling in by early September. Many parents are being cautious this year, planning to spend an average of $586 per child, down $11 from 2023, according to a Deloitte survey. But that's not always easy. With ads and influencers constantly flooding our screens with images of their hauls, we're often left wanting more. "We live in an incredibly hard time as consumers, because we're marketed to 24/7," says Haley Sacks, 33, who dispenses financial advice as Mrs. Dow Jones to her social media followers. Even as parents focus on necessities, 85% of the Deloitte survey respondents said they could be influenced to splurge on an item that would lift their kid's self-esteem—or make school seem a bit more thrilling. With that in mind, Sacks shares some ways to save and make this a teachable moment. - Look at what you have. It might be tempting to grab your school's supply list and just get everything. "Your kid probably went to school last year—and the year before and the year before that," Sacks says. First take inventory of what you have, because even products that are on sale aren't free, but stuff you already own is. Items don't have to look old: Rip off the used pages of a notebook, and wash that backpack to give it a fresh feel.
- Use a browser extension. According to the National Retail Federation, 57% of consumers will shop online for back-to-school items this year. Sacks recommends using a browser extension, such as Honey and Rakuten, that will show you historical prices. For things you don't need immediately, you may feel less urgency to buy, because a given "sale" isn't necessarily a great deal.
- Think beyond sales. Some states have tax-free days, which can be a great opportunity to save on big items like computers. The particulars vary by state, but you can save about 7% to 9%, Sacks says. You can also pay with prepurchased discounted gift cards or use a student email to get discounts from companies such as Apple Inc. If you do come across a sale, keep in mind that a truly good deal means a 30% to 50% discount–not 5% or 10%. And waiting a day before you pay can help you decide whether you really need to make the purchase.
- Get your student through the first day. Arriving with new sneakers and a fancy backpack can definitely give a kid a confidence boost. But they'll probably forget about that feeling a week later. Sacks suggests refraining from buying everything at once and telling your child to revisit their "wants" in a few weeks. "If you can get them through that first day, then likely they're going to forget about it," she says, "because no kid really asks for supplies in October." Even better, think of ways other than buying things that might bolster their self-esteem.
- Say no (to your kid, and yourself). The Deloitte study found that parents who shop for themselves while shopping for their children are likely to spend 1.4 times more. It's important to keep in mind that you're setting an example. "If you know your kids are seeing you impulse-spending and not living within your means, then that's what they're going to do, too," Sacks says. "Money behavior is taught by age 7. So if you think they're not picking up on it, they have—and they are."
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