They caused it to weigh a ton.

I am referring to the Sunday paper and those million inserts selling items that you need to have for back to school.

The cool $484 you’ll drop getting ready for the big day is pretty weighty too. That number comes from a study by the Marketing to Moms Coalition.

While about 20 percent of parents can buy directly from their kids’ schools, the other 80 percent are on their own. Even those parents in the 20 percent group need to buy supplies to keep at home for homework.

Somewhere, we’ve just got to save some money. This is one year where many kids will need to be making do and not every item will be shiny and brand new. It’s certainly a good life lesson that we can and should be careful with our funds.

Here are some tips on how to do just that.

• Shop with a list. Some school systems have a list by grade. Some individual schools have a list by grade. Others depend upon each teacher to recommend the necessary supplies. If you are new to the school or simply don’t know, look online on the school’s website or call the school and ask. If your school isn’t open yet, call the school board office and ask.
• If you won’t get the supply list until the first day of school, then only send your child to school with a notebook, some looseleaf paper, a pen and a pencil. Don’t let them talk you into buying expensive notebooks or organizing systems until you find out what they really need.
• Have a hunt around the house. If you have little ones, they may get excited about “playing” school. Open drawers, cupboards and last year’s backpack to find rulers, children’s scissors, glue sticks, pencils and half-used notebooks. Use what you have first before buying new. (That’s a handful of mostly new pencils I came up with at my house.)
• Does the backpack seem sturdy but dirty? If the zipper works and there aren’t any rips, then try washing it- it could save you from buying a new one. Check to see if it has a cleaning label in it. I’ve had good luck spraying it with stain remover and washing it with laundry soap in the washer. Due to the fact that it has zippers that snag things and may have ink in it, I wouldn’t wash it with any clothing. Hang to dry.
• If it is sturdy but a seam has split open, you can probably have it sewn at your local shoe repair shop.
• Use those ads from the Sunday paper. Concentrate on the stores near your house. Gas is too expensive to drive all over town to save 10 cents on a notebook. Compare items on sale to your list. Find the ones with the best price from each ad.  This makes a great game and lesson for kids to help hunt for the best prices.
• Have a shopping day. Take your list. Stick to the list.
• Establish rules of spending for back-to-school with your children. If they know the rules up front, there will be less fussing at the store. For example, you could spell out how many shirts you will get and at what total cost but they can have some say-so on colors and styles. It isn’t so much what rules you have but that you have them before you ever get in the car to leave the house. Organizing shopping rules helps you save as it helps you resist impulse or guilt spending.
• Need bookcovers? Make your own. Ask for your groceries in paper for a week or two and use the big brown bags. Cut them open, lay them flat and you’ll find enough sturdy paper to cover a book. Or, search in the house for supplies you already own. How about left over wrapping paper or left over wall paper? Have too many gift bags stashed from many occasions? They often have cute art and can be cut to fit a book.
• Label everything! Who can afford to have to replace PE shoes, jackets and bookbags?  Get a permenant marker while you are out shopping. Label everything!
• Buy extras. Yes, I know this is about saving money but the deepest discounts on school supplies always seem to be before school starts. Notebook paper at 25 cents a pack doesn’t seem to appear later on in the year. If you have the cash now and find a super-duper door-buster sale, buy extras of the things you know you will consume all year long such as pens, pencils, notebook paper and so forth.

   

Are you looking for more ways to organize kids? Check out my E-book “Growing Up Organized: A Mom-to-Mom Guide.