Parents should skip the back-to-school shopping sprees

Going back to school after a long summer is a momentous event, and if you’re like most Canadian parents, you’ve probably already done some back-to-school shopping.

But did you need to? Back-to-school shopping is a just gimmicky marketing spin by retailers that is designed to pressure parents into spending money. Instead of heading to the mall or looking online, consider giving the back-to-school shopping a pass.

A Harris Poll for NerdWallet, conducted in July, found that 92 per cent of parents will go back-to-school shopping this year and almost half – 47 per cent – expect to spend $500 or more for kids in kindergarten through to grade 12. Considering a pack of pens costs about $7, is the other $493 really necessary?

School supplies such as stationary, binders and backpacks top the list of things parents will buy their kids every fall. But do they need new ones each year? Start by having the kids pull out their supplies from the last school year and see what they can reuse. The highlighters probably still work and half-used notebooks shouldn’t go to waste. Backpacks and lunch containers certainly have a few years of life in them.

Let your kids start the school year and within a few days you will have a better idea of what they actually need. Teachers are pretty good at giving the kids a list of supplies, especially in high school when kids might need a specific type of calculator or art materials.

Consider too what your child’s school will provide. Sometimes schools will give kids note books, for example. You might not know this before the first day of school so hold off and see what they come home with that first week.

As your kids get older, clothing and shoes are a big part of back-to-school shopping. The marketing message says to stock up for the school year, but maybe it’s just the first-day-of-school outfit that you might need to shop for.

If what they wear on the first day doesn’t matter to your student, then you’re off the hook. But if it’s something they care about, have fun getting them something new – just don’t go overboard.

It can be a mistake to load up on jeans and sweaters in August because it’s possible that by November, your child has changed their mind about what they want to wear. And, of course, kids grow incredibly fast, so there’s the chance that the clothes will no longer fit them by Christmas.

The bottom line is this: It’s much better to buy their clothes and shoes as they need them – instead of when the retailing industry says they do.

The danger of this annual hype is that you might find yourself getting caught up in the excitement and do some impulse buying. So much of overspending comes down to impulse buying, a fact that retailers use to their advantage. Stores are set up to test even the most disciplined shopper.

To avoid overspending, have a list in hand and actually use it. Resist the temptation to buy the new water bottle just because it’s a great colour. And don’t fall for the buy-one-get-one (BOGO) sales. If your child only needs one pair of jeans, only buy one pair of jeans. When you get to the checkout, take a minute to look at your cart and remove the things that were not on that list.

For some families, shopping for back-to-school is exciting and a good way to generate positive vibes on Labour Day. But it could be time to find other ways to create positive feelings about the first day of school.

You could start a back-to-school tradition to mark the occasion. Maybe that’s having waffles and whipped cream for breakfast on the first day, making homemade pizza the night before, or going out for ice cream to celebrate the end of the first day.

It doesn’t take much to make an event special and it definitely doesn’t need a lot of money.

Anita Bruinsma is a Toronto-based financial coach and a parent of two teenage boys. You can find her at Clarity Personal Finance.