For many parents, September is often dreaded because its ushers in the back-to-school expenses. Yes, it’s the time to pay school fees, buy new school supplies and ultimately struggle with kids who may not be ready to resume school after long days of summer holiday. How do you manage all the bills? A new school year doesn’t necessarily mean everything must be new and you must break the bank. Manage back to school expenses by reusing items from last year’s school supplies. Keyword “REUSE’ ‘and you can do that without feeling any guilt.
Here are supplies you don’t necessarily have to spend money on this new school year
Backpack
Stores have new beautiful and inviting backpacks that are sure going to catch your child’s attention if you take them out on shopping, but you know what? Stores will always have new backpacks with never seen designs every back to school season. How long are you going to keep changing backpack every year? Now the idea is except your child’s backpack is shredded, nothing stops you from using it for several years. This is one reason I consider high quality backpacks that are built to last/. If this is what you have and they are still in shape, go ahead and use it and save that naira for something else
Lunchbox and Water bottles
Lunch boxes and water bottles are generally reusable and that should not make the school supply list this time except for extreme reason. The price may not be over the top as such however, there’s no point buying what’s not needed or what you already have.
Books
You may never need to include this at all as the old ones can be made new again. How can you do this? Depending on how many leaves you buy for your kids, a times they barely exhaust the sheets and you can simply tear out the used parts for them to make it look new, you could also check out the ones used by siblings and cousins… what do you think? it’s just an idea.
Uniform
The same applies to uniform, vests and underwear. If the uniform is still in good shape, reuse it and take it out of the list.
Shoes and Socks
Put your back to school supplies on a budget by focus on only important things that you have no two options for. Except the shoes are old and the socks are torn, you might just need to spend time washing and cleaning those sneakers to make them look new and back to life.
So, go check those last year’s items that are still in pristine condition and consider reusing them before rushing out to get another. This way, you are not only saving money, you are also subconsciously instilling some financial literacy skills in your child.
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