Write stuff...Yvette Fitzgerald and her children sort out school equipment. Photo: Lee Besford
There are many ways you can ease the stress of meeting all those back-to-school expenses, writes Bina Brown.
School bells around the country are starting to ring for the first time this year but for many parents the alarm bells started weeks ago.
Whether it is the cost of the recommended school pack or realisation that the children have grown so much in the holidays they require new uniforms, the back-to-school expenses dramas have already begun in many households.
The Australian Scholarships Group general manager of communities, Warwick James, says managing education costs and planning to meet children's education expenses begins with getting organised, prioritising, planning and budgeting, focusing your energies on high-ticket items where you'll gain the greatest benefits and shopping around.
He says being prepared is the best way to control your finances. Use lists to plan and start sooner rather than later.
If you prioritise your needs and expenses - your goals - you can then plan how to meet those goals through the preparation of a budget.
James recommends assessing what you already have that can be recycled for different purposes and children.
A regular contributor to the Simple Savings website, Yvette Fitzgerald, saves hundreds of dollars by recycling her children's stationery each year (see panel).
Another Simple Savings contributor saved more than $500 on school uniforms by not buying new items. She had four children returning to school and their uniforms still fitted but had become faded and tired looking. Instead of new shorts and skirts, she spent $11.95 on dark blue fabric dye and rejuvenated them to look as good as new.
James says that when it comes to buying goods, focus most of your energy on finding the best deals on your highest-cost items such as uniforms, computers, software and internet access and textbooks. "Shop smart by shopping around - buy it new cheaper at discount stores or online, buy it second-hand, or swap to meet your needs," he says.
The process is a personal experience for each family but James recommends involving all the family in back-to-school preparations and making bargain hunting a fun responsibility for each family member.
"It is a subtle way of introducing or reinforcing budgeting skills and financial responsibility in children - two really valuable skills for adulthood," James says.
Lifeplan's Matt Walsh says many parents get a nasty shock when they realise the cost of new textbooks and supplies needed at the start of a new school year, following hot on the heels of Christmas and summer-holiday expenses.
"They are right to worry," he says. "Education is one of the fastest-rising components of the consumer price index and over the past 15 years education costs have risen 120 per cent compared to just 47 per cent for headline inflation figures. However, some families have taken control of the annual back-to-school expenses by putting in place a budgeting and savings process separate to the day-to-day family budget."
Walsh says some simple steps that can help ensure there are funds available when needed to pay for those extra bits and pieces - such as textbooks, sport equipment, musical instruments, and even travel costs or extra tuition - include setting achievable and realistic savings goals as early as possible.
Walsh says a good way to save is to put aside money you won't miss, such as pay rises or lump sums including bonuses or tax returns.
"The idea is to put this 'extra' money straight into an education fund before it is absorbed into normal expenditure," he says. "For example, use the government's baby bonus to kick-start the investment."
Another idea is to encourage other family members to give birthday and Christmas "education donations" instead of toys or games. Over Christmas and the holidays, children get more toys than they know what to do with but a $50 investment into a plan will buy a number of textbooks in 12 years' time.
Keep receipts
Keep your receipts for any eligible education expenses. Families may be eligible to claim up to $794 for high school children and $397 for primary school children.
Claimable items include stationery, textbooks and computer equipment and uniforms purchased after July 1. Items not eligible under the scheme are school fees, musical instruments or sports gear.
For a full list and how to claim, see australia.gov.au/educationtaxrefund.
Savvy back-to-school strategies
With three children at school, bookkeeper Yvette Fitzgerald has worked out some savvy ways to save money on back-to-school stationery. At the end of each year Sion, 13, Nicholas, 11, and Elyse, 9, bring home leftover pens, pencils and paints.
They go into a box in a cupboard until mid-January when Yvette starts to focus on the school list.
"I go through the box and check what can be reused," Yvette says.
"I hand each kid the list the school gave them and we work out what we have to buy and what we can use again.
"It has become a bit of a family tradition and we have fun doing it together."
Out of three used coloured pencil sets she has made a new one, as well as salvaging countless unused glue sticks, lead pencils and sharpeners.
Suddenly the "to buy" list, which could potentially add up to hundreds of dollars, is reduced to a set of watercolours, a couple of rubbers and some contact to cover books.
"I only buy exactly what I need, saving a fortune this time of year. Even the pencils and stationery that are not good enough to go back to school get reused at home," she says.
