January is always back to school for Australian children and there’s a huge expense involved. About 98% of Australian school children wear a uniform to school. If you send your children to a private school, the expenses are even higher. Most kids will probably be up for a pair of new shoes at least once a year, if not more.

I’m certainly still a novice at the whole school thing, with my daughter starting her third year and my son his first but I’ve implemented a couple of money saving ideas that I thought I’d share. Although we’ve only got a couple more weeks before they go back, you can keep some of these things in mind for next year.

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1.  Wait until after the “Back to School” sales to buy your supplies

I started getting catalogues the week before Christmas for all of the “back to school” sales. There’ll be a huge influx of people going mad, rushing to the stores to make sure they don’t miss out on the essentials. Just after school has started, you’ll find things like lunch boxes, drink bottles, school shoes, stationery, school bags and clothing reduced even further. See if you can make do until then or ask yourself if you really need it after all.

2.  Buy second hand uniforms 

I was so keen to buy new uniforms for my daughter when she started school. She had sparkling, shiny shoes, crisply ironed uniforms. After the first art lesson, they were covered in splotches of paint (that is supposedly water based) even though they wear an art smock and the stains just don’t come out. Even though I hung my daughter’s uniforms in the shade, the fabric goes ‘pilly’ and my daughter chews ties and the collar on her school dress. After a good soaking in a pre-wash solution and a good iron, the second hand clothes will come up just as nice. Consider approaching school Mums who have older children and who might be passing down their uniforms. Hit the uniform shop up half way through the year to see if second hand supplies have been replenished. Families come and go throughout different times of the year.

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3.  Use birthdays and Christmas to give school supplies

Prior to the year your child starts school, think about purchasing drink bottles, lunch boxes, pencil case or school bags and gifting them to your child.

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4.  Repurpose whenever possible

Before I purchase anything, I look around the house to see if I’ve got something that can be used instead.  I’ll go to the thrift store to purchase it before I buy it new from a department store. I’m repurposing an old backpack for my son for school and covering existing logos with a cloth patch of his favourite, Lightning McQueen. He did get a ‘car’ shaped lunchbox for Christmas from Santa but I found an ordinary plastic container to work as a lunch box. Our climate is very humid and during the warmer months, the insulated lunch bags go mouldy. this makes it very hard to keep clean and dry.

5.  Reuse stationery from the previous year

My daughter didn’t have a ‘book list’ for her first year in school but the second year she did. She came home last year with plenty of stationery that will be perfectly good for her this year. Trying to work out whether to go through the school to purchase your book list or buy it yourself can be a tricky dilemma. In one way, you’re helping the school with fundraising. On the other hand, you could be doing yourself out of a few dollars and spending unnecessarily.

I’m going to hold off purchasing her book list for next year until after she has finished school. Don’t feel pressured into doing anything you don’t want to do. I know schools have deadlines but as a family, we have expenses. If I can re-use a few of her exercise books instead of having them here, lying around cluttering up the house, I’ll use them.

These ideas are common sense and you probably already know them. Back to school can be quite daunting for us parents and it’s going to be a new experience for new school students as well as their parents. We need to make this transition as smooth as possible and stress free in every way, especially the back pocket.