Beating Broke

Personal Finance from the Broke Perspective

How to Manage the High Cost of Back-to-School Expenses

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Do you remember the back-to-school excitement?  Your parents likely took you out shopping for new clothes and new folders, pens, pencils and other supplies.  While you couldn’t wait to get out of school in June, you were equally excited (at least temporarily) to go back in August or September.

Yet, now, many parents may dread the back-to-school season because of the financial burden.  Yahoo! recently reported that the average back-to-school price tag for a high school student is $1,402!  That includes the cost of back-to-school supplies, musical instrument rentals, sports and field trips.

If the high cost is concerning you, especially if you have more than one school-aged child, there are plenty of ways to save.

Back to School Supplies

manage back to school expensesWhen it comes to back-to-school supplies, there are several cost-cutting measures you can take.

Shop the sales.  Target, Walmart, Office Depot, they all offer back-to-school supply sales.  Cherry pick the best deals, and you won’t have to pay much for school supplies, especially when you can get notebooks for .05 a piece!

Check out the dollar store.  Your local dollar store will have school supplies at a fraction of the cost of retail.  This is a great one-stop shopping place to go if you don’t have the time to cherry pick sales.

Clothes

Buying your kids new clothes for school can really eat into your budget.  Try these strategies:

Take inventory first.  Before you buy any clothes, take inventory.  You and your child can look through her closet and see what clothes are still in good condition.  You  may find you have very little to buy.

Stagger your purchases.  There’s no rule that says you have to buy all your child’s back-to-school clothes the week before school.  Buy some jeans and long sleeve shirts before school.  Then, in October or November when the weather cools, buy some sweaters.  Stagger your purchases based on need and sales.

Buy second hand.  Another option is to buy second hand, either through a consignment store or a place like Goodwill.  You can also try joining and buying from Facebook groups selling the brands of clothes you like.  You’ll save a bundle!

Extracurricular Activities

Extracurricular activities are important for your children’s development, and in the high school years, participation also helps to round out their college application.  Yet, extracurriculars can be expensive!  The key is to find ones that your child enjoys and that you can afford.

Look for free extracurriculars.  Especially when children are younger, look for things that they can do for free.  When my son was young, choir was free, but after school gym cost money every month.  He joined choir, and then later he also joined Art Club, in part because it was free.

Choose one extracurricular.  As your kids older, choose one extracurricular activity that they excel at.  Have your child focus on that one.  Then, you only have one expense to pay versus three if he was on a sports team every season.

Have your child become a teacher.  Has your child been taking piano since she was five years old?  If she now has 10 years’ experience, she could start offering lessons to younger students to help pay for her own lessons.  There’s nothing wrong with a high school student helping to pay for her activities and interests.

Combine these strategies, and you’ll find your back-to-school expenses are much more affordable.

What are your favorite strategies for saving on back-to-school items?

Frugal Multi-Cultural 4th of July Party Suggestions

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The 4th of July is just around the corner, and with it, the official launch of summer.  A favorite American pastime, a barbeque 4th of July party offers you the chance to enjoy the weather and the company of friends while enjoying tasty foods.  If you don’t have much money to devote to entertaining, consider moving beyond the traditional favorites of hamburgers and hot dogs and trying some of these unique, cultural party food ideas.

Main Meals

Frugal 4th of July–Fajitas on the grill.  Buy some lower cost steak, chicken breasts and shrimp.  Season them, grill them, and then mix them together so each fajita contains a mix of the three meats.  Grill some onions and peppers on the grill, slice them, and make a fajita bar complete with tortillas, shredded lettuce, guacamole, onions, peppers and meats.  Of course, you can choose to use only one or two meats depending on what is on sale at the grocery store the week of your party.

For a solid review of which grills have the best value, consider checking out: smokeygrillbbq.com.  Its a nice little review site that I found last month – worth a read if you get a chance.

–Taco bar.  Prepare a few different taco fillings with homemade seasoning including ground beef, chicken, and a vegetarian option such as black beans.  If you have a bit more money to spend, buy some lower cost steak and also offer steak tacos.  For variety, offer flour and corn tortillas.  Then let your guests choose their main fillings, type of tortilla and their toppings.  (Perhaps choose from shredded lettuce, cheese, refried beans, tomatoes, onions, guacamole, etc.)  If you want to be even more creative, consider making your own pico de gallo.

–Pulled pork.  Be your own pit master and search the web for the myriad of homemade bbq sauce recipes.  Create your own bbq sauce and delight your guests with delicious, homemade pulled pork.

Side Dishes

Having spent the majority of your money on the main meal, consider these low cost side dishes.  Choose the ones that best match what you are serving as the main meal.

–Deviled eggs.  Even in today’s economy, eggs average 10 to 15 cents a piece, making for a very low cost side dish.

–Japanese potato salad.  Potatoes can also be very cheap.  If you want a new, creamy twist on potato salad, consider making Japanese potato salad.  Your guests will most likely enjoy this newer version of an old classic.

–Corn on the cob.  At some road side stands and farmers’ markets, you can find corn on the cob for 10 to 15 cents an ear.  Consider going beyond the traditional and instead making some Mexican corn on the cob popular at food stands.  Either add olive oil and red pepper, or add a blend of butter, mayonnaise and cheese.  Again, search a site like food.com to find a variety of recipes.

If you have a small entertainment budget, consider some of these meal ideas.  Most of them will require less meat per person than the traditional hamburger, and your guests will love the variety.

photo credit: Signe Karin

Stretching Your Produce Budget Further

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Anyone who has made a simple budget has struggled with making their food budget fit with the rest of the budget.  If you attempt to eat healthy, one of the biggest components to a food budget is the produce.  Stretching your produce budget can be somewhat difficult.  Growing seasons are short, and the cost of produce keeps going up.  But, there are a few things we can do to stretch that produce budget, and make it a bit easier on your overall budget.

  1. Stretching your produce budgetStock Up on Sale: buying your produce on sale allows for you to stock up when the item is cheaper, then store it until you need it.   Canned produce is really easy to store.  Frozen only requires a freezer.  And if it’s the fresh stuff, there’s a few things you can do to store a surplus when you do pick it up in season and on sale.
  2. Canning for stockpiling: When you’ve got a surplus of produce, one of the best things you can do is can it to preserve it for another day’s use.  Canning only requires a few pieces of equipment, and a little time learning the process, then you can be off to the races filling your pantry shelves with preserved fresh produce to use later in the year when produce is much more expensive.
  3. Freeze it: Every year, around the end of summer, corn pops up in the backs of pickup trucks and in the farmers markets.  Compared to the rest of the year, it’s really cheap, and it tastes so good!  Unless we want to eat nothing but fresh corn, though, the season is fleeting, and we’re left with no other corn but the commercially canned or frozen corn you can get at the supermarket.  It’s just not the same.  Last year, we bought a whole bunch of corn (4-5 dozen), shucked them all, then cut the kernels off and combined them in a huge stockpot with some butter, a little bit of salt, and a little bit of water, and then cooked it for a little while.  Once it was done, we let it cool off, and then filled quart size freezer bags with the corn and froze it.  Now, if we want a little taste of that sweet summer corn, we just grab a bag, heat it backup and eat.  We did similar things with pumpkin, squash, zucchini, and a whole bunch of other summer fruits and veggies.  All it takes is a little bit of prep time and the freezer room to enjoy the flavor of fresh produce all year round.
  4. Grow it: If you already grow a garden every year, this might seem like a no-brainer of a tip.  But, growing your own garden can be an excellent way to stretch your produce budget out.  Last year, we enjoyed an abundance of tomatoes, potatoes, carrots, onions, jalepenos, cucumbers, and even an eggplant or two from our tiny container garden.  This year, we’re planning on consolidating down to a smaller selection in hopes that we’ll have some extras that we can can as well.
  5. Find a Farmer’s Market: Buying your produce from a local farmer can often be just as cheap as buying at the supermarket.  In some cases, if you order ahead, you can get a deal on bulk orders of produce which is great if you are planning on canning any of it.  It’s also fresher since it only had to make the trip from the farm down the road instead of the farm across the country.  It’s not always a great way to stretch the produce budget, but if you want high-quality produce that will last longer before spoiling, it’s a good place to check out.
  6. Pick it Yourself: A reader on twitter commented that I’d forgotten to add the u-pick farms.  I hadn’t really forgotten them, as they just don’t exist in my neck of the woods and the cost to drive to the nearest one would negate the savings.  But, if you have a u-pick farm nearby, it’s an excellent way to get out of the house, pick a ton of fresh produce (fruits usually) and save a pretty big chunk of change.  Many of the farms only charge about 1/3 of the cost at the grocery store!

Extending your produce budget is important, not just when there are droughts, but as a way to provide healthy options for you and your family to eat year round.

What do you do to stretch your produce budget?