8 Ways single parents can stick to their back-to-school budget to save big

Another back-to-school time! Be ready for the early mornings, lots of homework, and new school supplies which can take out a whole lot of your bucks. Especially, for single parents, it's quite challenging to meet the entire family expenses, since there is only one income. Single parents need to be extra watchful when the season of buying comes to them such as -back-to-school, Halloween, Black Friday, Christmas, New year's eve and so on. So, when your budget is tight and back-to-school season arrives, you might be thinking about big ways to save while shopping school supplies for your child. However, with some simple strategies you can definitely get success on your back-to-school buying and save big! Trust me, and read the whole article!

1. Look critically

Make a list of the school supplies first, then look close around your home for any supplies that can be used this year. Stock up pens, pencils, copies, notebooks which were hardly used and mark with a line “not required” in your list as well. Take an inventory into your kid’s closet to find out if the footwear and new school dress are actually required before hitting the store.

2. Search for second hand items

Children are growing up too fast. So, you can buy second hand items to save some money on frequent clothes shopping. To find gently used clothes, you can visit your local consignment store as well. To find gently used clothes you can visit your local consignment store as well. There are many online shops who are best for such items such as: thredup.com, RecycleYourFashions.com, Poshmark mobile app etc. You can sell off your kids’ gently used clothes while browsing these websites as well.

3. Keep your eyes on sale

Generic stores, outlets, brands will target the back-to-school time to announce their biggest sale and promotion on school supplies, clothing and so on. So, try to catch offers as much as possible in order to save your dollars. With some little effort you can even save more while taking the advantages of weekly ads, printable coupons as well. Download the CouponSherpa.com and other similar apps to get offers.

4. Grab the summer clearance offer

To make more place for the fall collections, most of the retailers offer up to 70% discount on tops, short sleeves polo tees, dresses, shoes etc. When you know that your teens are crazy fans of sleeveless polo t-shirt, then get the full advantage of the biggest summer sale and buy clothes which can also be worn in fall season as well.

5. Organize a back-to-school swap event

Try to get connected with other single parents who have kids with the same gender as yours. Invite them to participate at your annual clothes swap event. This is one of the effective ways to trade your toys, gently used clothes, supplies and get things as well. Thus, you’ll be able to save bundles of money.

6. Craiglist.org is always there for you

Craigslist is a popular website for buying good items at a lower price. So, you should get the advantage of your Internet pack to save money on back-to-school supplies. You can get used sport equipments at favorable price as well.

7. Try some DIY

Often parents spend a lot on prepackaged items such as: juice boxes and mini pudding packs which are very expensive. But, you can make your own containers or use reusable containers to pack your kid’s lunch everyday. Use cookie cutters to cut the peanut butter sandwiches into shapes and surprise your kids as well.

8. Deal the meal beforehand

Kristie Sawickis, the writer and owner of Savings Dollar and Sense, said, "One way I keep my grocery budget in check is by creating a weekly menu. "It only takes a few minutes, but it keeps me from buying things unnecessarily."

If you make the weekly menu plan, then you can easily minimize the food waste and save big on your kid’s lunch. So, plan properly and keep the veggies fresh in order to reduce wastage.

Read more: Back-to-school shopping - Cool tips to save on what your kids need

Final words

According to the experts, everybody should try some tricks in to save money and this includes kitchen utensils to your kid’s napkins. They said, “Don't waste money on plastic utensils and paper napkins that get thrown out after only one use, If you throw away bags and bottles, you're basically throwing your money in the garbage!"

So, let your kids use the cloth napkins made by you and buy reusable snack and sandwich bags which can be washed in the dishwasher. I know, all these things are very simple and you might be thinking that these are less effective ways to save money. But remember, all these are small efforts which can make a big difference to your wallet while managing all such expenses.