Jessica Quindlen: Welcome back to the Sound Cents Podcast. I'm Jessica Quindlen. Today we're discussing back-to-school budgeting. It's that time of year kids are going back to school of all ages, and so I wanted to make sure that we were able to discuss some ways that we can save money in this hectic time.
On this episode today, I have Nate Juvera, our Community Education Events Lead. Hello, Nate.
Nate Juvera: Hey, how's it going?
Jessica Quindlen: It's good. How are you?
Nate Juvera: Great, great.
Jessica Quindlen: Good. And Katie Griffin, our Community Education Supervisor. Hi, Katie.
Katie Griffin: Hi.
Jessica Quindlen: All right, so let's get started. It's, it can be very overwhelming going back to school.
You need supplies and clothes and first day outfit new hair, who's my teacher? All of those things. Where do you even begin to financially handle all of this?
Nate Juvera: Yeah, that's a great question. I honestly think it really starts with looking at the budget, so lucky for all of us, school doesn't start at a different time every year. Knowing that those things are coming up maybe you start to take away from something else in the budget to add to school supplies. And clothes and all of those things.
Another thing to think about is looking at selling old clothes. One tip I'll give you with this, I can't say I've personally experienced this, but my wife, she'll sell clothes to a local store here that has like baby and young kid clothes. And things like that.
Jessica Quindlen: Awesome. So I know that there are schools who, have a requirement of a certain amount of supplies. They may have a, a really long list for the kiddos to bring in. How do I get all of this?
Katie Griffin: So I love this question because when I was in school, I lived for the supply list.
Jessica Quindlen: I love it
Katie Griffin: All summer. I would be so excited, I cannot wait to get this list of all these supplies and go shopping and get organized. Yes. And for whatever reason at. 12 years old, I was tied to this certain larger office supply store.
Okay. I won't name any names, but they're a little bit more expensive. But I was like, I, for whatever reason, I have to go to this store.
Jessica Quindlen: Of course. Yeah.
Katie Griffin: To get all of my supplies and Just put an apology out to my parents now because that was a lot more money going that route. But that's not the only route to go to get all of these supplies.
So there's so many other options available 'cause it is a lot of stuff that kids have to gather to get ready for school each year. So check places like the Dollar store or you know, check out different coupons. Like I know clipping coupons can be a tedious task. But it's worth it if we're trying to, to save some money.
So keeping an eye out for those. And then checking for any type of sales, like any holiday sales. Typically school is starting back around Labor Day, so seeing if there's any Labor day sales, but then checking throughout the entire year also.
Jessica Quindlen: Even like July 4th in the summer. Yeah. It might feel a little early for school, but I'm sure there's some great stuff going on then.
Katie Griffin: Yeah. I'm sure I wasn't the only kid that was planning all summer. For what kind? Of supplies I was gonna gonna get to get and get it organized with but if, if the kids are a little bit older, you know, maybe it's more supplies for college.. Those are bigger items. Gonna be more expensive items. Check Facebook marketplace or check different garage sales and you even like Goodwill or something like that.
To find some secondhand items that can it'll be a lot less expensive than, than purchasing brand new can save a lot of money that way. And then if you're in a neighborhood with a lot of families. Then check in with the other families and see if you want to all pitch in on buying bulk items.
Jessica Quindlen: Oh, I love that.
Katie Griffin: So you're gonna save some money in that way. And then all the, the kids on the street can kind of split up those supplies and then they can have like a little supply party.
Jessica Quindlen: Would that have been all your dreams come true?
Katie Griffin: Right? Yeah. I'm, I'm trying to manifest this. But then lastly, you know, if anybody is struggling to get these supplies together reach out to the teachers, you know, whoever the teacher is. For, for that year, teachers do have to provide a lot of their own resources, unfortunately. So reach out to them and say like, Hey, I'm kind of struggling on this thing. Do you have any ideas or do you know where I can go? Like, they might have some go-tos that they could recommend to find certain items.
Jessica Quindlen: Awesome. I love that. All right, so back to you Nate. Yeah, so of course we have our lists, we have the things that we need. But as a shopper myself how do you fight the temptation to buy the things that you might not need or your kids might not need?
Nate Juvera: Yeah, that's a good one. One idea is waiting for labor day sales or different holiday sales.
Another thing I think about with this is buying monthly to where you're not spending as much upfront. I also think about off season things, right? I find the best deals on like winter clothes when winter's over, right?
So, you know, when kids are getting outta school, start looking for those clothes that they may need when they go back to school. Mm. So instead of buying it right before school starts, maybe it's kind of starting to buy some of those items after that school year.
Jessica Quindlen: Oh, I love that.
Nate Juvera: I think, too, just making a list and sticking to it, right? So what are those like essential things that they're gonna need, and then what are some things that maybe they can wait till, halfway through the year.
Jessica Quindlen: I love that. Anything else to add to our back to school budgeting?
Katie Griffin: I will put a shameless plug in for another podcast episode we have on credit card rewards points. And so be on the lookout for that one. But that's something that you can use for purchasing these items. So if you have a credit card that you're using for your day-to-day purchases.
Depending on what type of rewards, points or cashback it gives, you know, keep that in mind that can help cover some of these expenses. And lastly we've mentioned a couple times about planning ahead and, you know, planning throughout the entire year. So I just wanna stress that importance of just knowing your budget and knowing what expenses are coming down the road so that throughout the year you can make it part of your budget. I know all of these, like school expenses are gonna come up at this time of the year. So the year prior to that making it part of the budget, setting some money aside and savings if you're able to, just to help alleviate that cost because it, it can be a lot all at one time, if we're not planning for it.
Jessica Quindlen: Awesome. That brings us to the end of our show. Nate, Katie, thanks so much for being here. It was great to have you both.
Nate Juvera: Absolutely. Yeah. Thank you for having us.
Katie Griffin: Yeah, thank you.
Jessica Quindlen: Thank you for listening to Sound Cents from Ent Credit Union. Be sure to follow our podcast as well as rate and review us. I'm Jessica Quindlen. I will see you next week, same time, same place.
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