Back-to-School Shopping: A Teachable Moment

Back-to-school shopping is an annual event perfect for talking to your kids about budgeting and saving money, and the difference between needs and wants.

Kids need to be taught about why budgets matter or why spending more than you have budgeted should be avoided.

Make back-to-school shopping a fun and educational experience. Involve the kids from the very beginning. This will help lay the foundation for sound money management habits. Some of the ways you can make this experience a teachable moment are:

• Set a realistic back-to-school budget (including clothes, shoes, supplies, etc.).
• Give each child their school list and have them look at the store ads and price compare.
• Take a copy of your budget when shopping and let your child enter in all the actual expenses–paper works fine for young ones; teens might prefer to enter expenses in a cell phone.
• Encourage kids to consider ways to cut costs through sales and coupons and reward them for coming in under budget. Consider splitting the difference with them.
• Teach your children to comparison shop and to avoid impulse buying. If it’s not on the list, don’t get it.

The first year is the toughest, so don’t give up if it doesn’t go smoothly. Consider any “discussions” as a success that you’ve struck a nerve. You can build on this experience to begin turning over more purchasing decisions to your student as he or she matures, using entertainment and clothing budgets as an example. Just because school isn’t in session right now doesn’t mean your children couldn’t do with some real school learning right now.