Speaker 1: Episode sixties six Tips to avoid overspending on back to school.
Speaker 1: Welcome to the Brugal Friends podcast, where you'll learn to
Speaker 1: save money, embrace simplicity, rights, and liver rich your life.
Speaker 1: Here your host Alison and Jill back to school. Hey,
Speaker 1: Hey guys, this is Jill and I have Allison here
Speaker 1: with me. Hey Allison, Hey Jill. How's it going good?
Speaker 1: For those of you who maybe haven't been following along
Speaker 1: for our past couple of episodes, Allison is our stand
Speaker 1: in co host, so excited about this. Jen is currently
Speaker 1: out on maternity leave. But don't you worry. We have
Speaker 1: got a fantastic co host here, Alison Baggerley from Inspired Budget.
Speaker 1: So she has brought a really fantastic person efective to
Speaker 1: the past couple of episodes, and we are excited to
Speaker 1: do another one. How are you feeling, Allison? I am
Speaker 1: feeling great. I'm so excited. I'm like sad that Jen
Speaker 1: isn't here with us, but I'm so happy that I
Speaker 1: get to be here, that she gets to be at
Speaker 1: home snuggling a baby. So I think it's the definition
Speaker 1: of bitter sweet. Probably yes, yes, I miss her too,
Speaker 1: But this has been this has been super nice. Yes,
Speaker 1: it's nice. It's fun. It is this fun frugal friendship. So,
Speaker 1: and I'm excited about today's episode two because we're talking
Speaker 1: about back to school. I'm sure if there are kids
Speaker 1: currently listening this is a dreaded thing for the parents,
Speaker 1: maybe not so much. But Alison, with your background and
Speaker 1: being a teacher and a mom, I'm super excited about
Speaker 1: the perspective you bring to the table. Yes, I'm excited.
Speaker 1: I was reading through the articles and I was like,
Speaker 1: m I have some thoughts on this for a few
Speaker 1: of the things so awesome. Well, before we get into
Speaker 1: that first award from our sponsors, also brought to you
Speaker 1: by buses. That's right, this episode is brought to you
Speaker 1: by those big yellow beacons of hope and glory. Risk
Speaker 1: your precious little treasures off to be educated. Well you
Speaker 1: wave goodbye to them from your bedroom window. Yellow buses
Speaker 1: the national symbol of the end of summer entertainment, responsibility
Speaker 1: and allowing parents everywhere to remain in their pajamas until
Speaker 1: at least eight thirty am. Oh, yes, you know my
Speaker 1: favorite thing is Well, actually, as a teacher, this wasn't
Speaker 1: my favorite thing, but now that I'm done teaching full time.
Speaker 1: My favorite thing was seeing like all the busses bus
Speaker 1: drivers in training, you know, like a week or two
Speaker 1: weeks before school, they like run their routes and they're
Speaker 1: just driving around all these busses and just empty busses,
Speaker 1: and I'm like, ha, it's coming coming, hop and Gloria
Speaker 1: is back. Yeah. I mean for the rest of us
Speaker 1: who aren't in school, it just means the beginning of
Speaker 1: a longer commute. It's always nice in this summer when
Speaker 1: the buses are off the road. But I get it.
Speaker 1: I mean, it's got to be the next best thing
Speaker 1: to magic to just put your kid on a bus
Speaker 1: and go about your day. Yeah, not needing to provide
Speaker 1: the transportation anyhow. Speaking of back to school, we're going
Speaker 1: to get into some of these articles, and the first
Speaker 1: one is from money Crashers and they give us sixteen
Speaker 1: tips on how to save on back to school supplies.
Speaker 1: I was shocked. So I don't have kids, in case
Speaker 1: you haven't been paying attention to that end does have
Speaker 1: fun with that, uh, And you do, Alison, But I
Speaker 1: was shocked at how much it can cost. So this
Speaker 1: article says that UH an annual index chart that has
Speaker 1: been tracking the average car cost of back to school
Speaker 1: supplies found that it costs on average one thousand dollars
Speaker 1: to send a single child back to school. Now I
Speaker 1: think they are including in that cost of school supplies
Speaker 1: as well as extracurricular activities, band, sports, clothing, all of that,
Speaker 1: but still that's more than I'm sure you're spending on
Speaker 1: your child or possibly everybody at Christmas time. So this
Speaker 1: is a half de blow to the budget if this
Speaker 1: is the amount that you're spending. So we want to
Speaker 1: talk about how to minimize that. What are the essentials?
Speaker 1: So what did you like in this article, Alison or
Speaker 1: some of the tips so well? One thing I liked
Speaker 1: is that they reminded people about the costs that you
Speaker 1: don't think about, because when I think of back to school,
Speaker 1: I think of okay, new clothes, new shoes, school supplies.
Speaker 1: But I like that they talked about extracurriculars because you know,
Speaker 1: if you have a child Dots in high school or
Speaker 1: middle school, they need physicals and if that's not covered
Speaker 1: by your insurance, that's an extra cost um. A lot
Speaker 1: of times some school districts will offer free physicals. I
Speaker 1: know that's what we did growing up, but bands, like
Speaker 1: I remember because you know, my husband's a band director,
Speaker 1: and I had a coworker whose son was in band
Speaker 1: and his daughter was in band, and he made a
Speaker 1: comment to me last year at the beginning of the
Speaker 1: school year that was like, oh, yeah, we just took
Speaker 1: out a loan to for for band. And I was like,
Speaker 1: ha ha ha, you're joking, right, And he was like, no,
Speaker 1: we just took out a small loan for band. And
Speaker 1: I was like, goodness, gracious, and every part of me
Speaker 1: was like, no, you have to save up for that,
Speaker 1: And then the other part of me was like, oh,
Speaker 1: my gosh, how much is it for two kids in band?
Speaker 1: You know, to get those instruments up front and all
Speaker 1: the supplies and everything. So I think that, you know,
Speaker 1: I like that it brought attention to those things that
Speaker 1: you don't normally think about whenever you you're back to school,
Speaker 1: back to school costs, and I think that that's when
Speaker 1: it gets more expenses and when your kids are older. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's not just the notebooks. I remember in high school
Speaker 1: needing that calculator or whatever it was, and now I'm
Speaker 1: sure cell phones do it, but holy moly, those calculators
Speaker 1: were like a hundred and which felt like I was
Speaker 1: buying a car, I know, and then like my brother
Speaker 1: and I were just a year apart. My mom was like,
Speaker 1: isn't there any way you can share? And my brother's like,
Speaker 1: I'm not sharing my calculator with I had to like
Speaker 1: meet up in the hallways and switch it off by
Speaker 1: our locker, Like that would not have gone over well,
Speaker 1: that would have been the frugal way to do it. Yeah, sure,
Speaker 1: I'm sure I tried to share my sixteen year old
Speaker 1: self didn't want to spend a hundred on a calculator
Speaker 1: Texas instruments. Yeah, but it's interesting you and I, Allison
Speaker 1: were talking before before we started recording, just from your
Speaker 1: experience of being a teacher and some of the things
Speaker 1: that this article talked about in what is expected and
Speaker 1: that you're pressed on all sides because parents are trying
Speaker 1: to get out of it, but if the parents don't
Speaker 1: purchase it started cool even mentioned that teachers are purchasing
Speaker 1: things with their own money. Yes, I've bought pencils. I
Speaker 1: bought pencil sharpeners before, like those are really big. It
Speaker 1: also says, um, I can't remember if it was this one. Oh, No,
Speaker 1: it's a different article that I disagree with that we'll
Speaker 1: talk about later. But you know, like because I've run
Speaker 1: out of pencils as a teacher, where I have to
Speaker 1: like middle of the year asked parents to bring pencils,
Speaker 1: or I buy my own pencils. I buy my own
Speaker 1: pencil sharpeners, erasers, um. So it's it's almost like if
Speaker 1: you don't provide it, usually the teacher will buy it.
Speaker 1: I've done things where I buy extra extra supplies for
Speaker 1: kids that show up and have no supplies, so you
Speaker 1: have to have something, so that comes out of that
Speaker 1: came out of my own money. Or if I had
Speaker 1: leftover supplies, if I hoarded enough supplies from a previous year, right,
Speaker 1: so you learned to hoard as a teacher. If I
Speaker 1: could hoard enough supplies from the previous year, then I
Speaker 1: could have supplies for the kids that came in the
Speaker 1: following year that didn't bring any school supplies. Minimalists at
Speaker 1: a maximalist in the glass room exactly pretty much. I
Speaker 1: mean it, it was crazy how I would hoard, because
Speaker 1: you just never know if you're going to get what
Speaker 1: you need. And so that's what I used to do. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean, it's it's interesting because this article talks about
Speaker 1: how like now parents are expected to bring scissors and
Speaker 1: glue and markers and disinfecting wipes and germ X, and
Speaker 1: they're like, you should have to bring that. That's what
Speaker 1: the article what I feel like it's saying. But then
Speaker 1: my teacherself, it's like, well, yes you should, because we
Speaker 1: need those things. We would it's yeah, Like so it's
Speaker 1: funny how I have like this very conflicting view because
Speaker 1: I think parents should bring them because I'm a teacher,
Speaker 1: and I'm like, but we really do you some guys
Speaker 1: like we we disaffect all the time, especially during flu season,
Speaker 1: and if we didn't have those, like your kids would
Speaker 1: be a lot more sick. Sure, and it does help
Speaker 1: to share the burden of that. That is the frugal
Speaker 1: way for all parents to bring in some of these
Speaker 1: things for the entire year. I do. I do think
Speaker 1: that there's some great tips though in this article. I
Speaker 1: particularly liked number one, which says do a supply sweep,
Speaker 1: meaning go throughout your house and collect the krayans, markers, pencils, pens, papers, notebooks, binders,
Speaker 1: all of those things. See what you have, but not
Speaker 1: just with those supplies, but also clothing. Go through the
Speaker 1: closets and see what do you have, what still fits,
Speaker 1: what doesn't fit, so that you can really get an
Speaker 1: inventory of the things you actually need. And I will
Speaker 1: say I even remember as a kid going to buy things.
Speaker 1: I wanted the new thing. I wanted the pretty new
Speaker 1: pencils and the nice pencil case, and the notebooks that
Speaker 1: didn't have any pages written on them. But reality is
Speaker 1: is that if you want to go about this in
Speaker 1: a frugal way, you can use a notebook that has
Speaker 1: two pages that are already written in it. You can
Speaker 1: use a pencil even if the eras or is half
Speaker 1: used already. Just these areas where even on the small things,
Speaker 1: you can save if you just are willing to be
Speaker 1: able to use some things that still have life in
Speaker 1: them but they're not brand new. Christie plains right. And
Speaker 1: I think that's a lot easier to do for like
Speaker 1: younger kids, you know, like especially if your kids are
Speaker 1: like really they don't care. You know a lot of
Speaker 1: them don't care. Um. One of the tips that I
Speaker 1: really liked was checked the dollar store. I think that
Speaker 1: the dollar store is something that people really over a
Speaker 1: look and sometimes you can get multiples of something for
Speaker 1: a dollar, so you know, maybe two packs of Kleenex
Speaker 1: for one dollar, especially if like Kleenex, you don't have
Speaker 1: to like you don't have to buy the name brand.
Speaker 1: You don't have to buy the name brand on these
Speaker 1: school supplies, So just get whatever is cheapest and send
Speaker 1: it in. Um. Teachers will just be happy that you're
Speaker 1: sending in something, even if it's not the name brand.
Speaker 1: I will say that a lot of places have these
Speaker 1: great back to school sales where you can get you know,
Speaker 1: no books for like ten cents or folders for a penny,
Speaker 1: So keep an eye on those sales. Typically people get
Speaker 1: there early and they sweep through it. But when you're
Speaker 1: talking about if you have three or four kids that
Speaker 1: you're sending back to school, and you can get notebooks
Speaker 1: that are normally a dollar fifty for ten cents and
Speaker 1: they need six, Like I know our school supply list
Speaker 1: they needed to bring six composition notebooks. You know, that
Speaker 1: could be sixty cents versus six dollars, So it really
Speaker 1: does add up. Be on the lookout for those sales
Speaker 1: papers because they will come and like I know, as teachers,
Speaker 1: I would go up there and I would stock up
Speaker 1: like I would take like twenty of something because I
Speaker 1: knew I would have kids come or we would run out,
Speaker 1: and so I would stock up that way as a teacher.
Speaker 1: And now it's like, okay, as a mom, I need
Speaker 1: to stock up that way. Sure, And along those lines,
Speaker 1: we also recommend garage sales thrift stores. I have seen
Speaker 1: so many school supplies at garage sales. Again, it might
Speaker 1: be a used binder or a notebook that doesn't have
Speaker 1: of all one fifty pages in it, maybe it now
Speaker 1: only has a hundred. Whatever the cases, garage sales can
Speaker 1: be great areas to purchase some of these school and
Speaker 1: office supplies, as well as clothing. Certainly, if you can
Speaker 1: find clothing for your kids, there's so many yard sales
Speaker 1: that have kids clothing at them. If not, thrift stores
Speaker 1: are just abounding with it. So consider that too as
Speaker 1: you're doing some of this back to school stuff. I
Speaker 1: also really liked and I was not aware of this
Speaker 1: and probably because Pennsylvania doesn't offer it after I did
Speaker 1: a little bit more research, But different states will do
Speaker 1: sales tax holidays, which is certain times of the year,
Speaker 1: usually right around back to school time. It seems to
Speaker 1: be specifically for this time of year where they will
Speaker 1: waive the sales tax up to a certain amount on
Speaker 1: certain items. And again it's back to school stuff, it's
Speaker 1: some electronics, clothing, shoes, and so we'll we'll link to
Speaker 1: the two the website that they referenced in here with
Speaker 1: the different states what they offer when they offer it.
Speaker 1: But just for instance, Connecticut offers uh no sales tax
Speaker 1: on clothing the third week in August. Florida does no
Speaker 1: sales tax on clothing, school supplies and books the second
Speaker 1: week in August. The list goes on and on, but
Speaker 1: that's an example. So even to be planning your back
Speaker 1: to school shopping around those sales tax holidays. Yeah, and
Speaker 1: I wonder, I wonder. I don't know if this is true,
Speaker 1: but I wonder if you could buy the things online
Speaker 1: and still not pay the sales tax if you buy
Speaker 1: it during that time. I don't know if that's the case,
Speaker 1: but I remember growing up and Texas announced the sales tax,
Speaker 1: like I was in school, probably elementary school. Whenever they
Speaker 1: did that in Texas, I think it was and oh
Speaker 1: my goodness, like it was so exciting. That was Those
Speaker 1: were like my big memories of back to school shopping
Speaker 1: was you know, we load up in the car with
Speaker 1: my mom. My mom was like, we're getting it all
Speaker 1: on these days. This is it. You can't get anything
Speaker 1: that's not on these days because we're not hand sales
Speaker 1: tax on the sex stuff. And we'd go around the
Speaker 1: store to store and it was exhausting, but many fun
Speaker 1: memories like Black Friday all over them. But like, yeah,
Speaker 1: but back to school version and I mean and they
Speaker 1: and they A lot of stores will coordinate their sales
Speaker 1: with that same time, so you know the stores are
Speaker 1: having sales and then you don't have to pay sales tax,
Speaker 1: and so you can really save money that way. I
Speaker 1: think that the tempting thing to do, though, is that
Speaker 1: you get sucked in, and you know, don't be don't
Speaker 1: be tempted to buy something that's not necessary or not
Speaker 1: on your list, because you'll be tempted. And so it's
Speaker 1: having that ability to say no, which is also on
Speaker 1: this article, is say no, it's okay, Like your kids
Speaker 1: don't need every brand new thing. They don't need the
Speaker 1: cutest things, and holy smokes, if they do. They also
Speaker 1: mentioned having them work for it, whether that's through chores
Speaker 1: or if they are an older student who who does
Speaker 1: have a job or able to get at least a
Speaker 1: summer job, that some of these things that they want
Speaker 1: that aren't necessities they can contribute to, which continues to
Speaker 1: help in perpetuating the frugal community in this mindset, when
Speaker 1: there's that connection to oh, this cost real money and
Speaker 1: how badly do I actually want this thing? I did?
Speaker 1: In this article, they did mention this to consider holding
Speaker 1: off on new clothing. Even though a lot of stores
Speaker 1: are running sales. Consumer Reports has found that usually the
Speaker 1: best times to buy are actually in September and October,
Speaker 1: despite the sales that are being run in July and August.
Speaker 1: It's apparently seems as though the market is a bit
Speaker 1: better to purchase. Prices are better September October, So they
Speaker 1: suggest either holding off altogether until a bit more into
Speaker 1: the fall, or consider buying one new outfit for that
Speaker 1: first day of school and then purchase the rest come
Speaker 1: September and October, which also help kind of along the
Speaker 1: lines with what you're saying, Allison, you know that one
Speaker 1: day of here's the sales, get everything you need. It
Speaker 1: can be dangerous if you spend your entire budget on
Speaker 1: that you know one day, when then you finally get
Speaker 1: into school, it's like, oh, I actually do need that calculator,
Speaker 1: and now I need to buy this, and now I
Speaker 1: need to buy that. But then you've spent your whole
Speaker 1: budget on that first day of shopping, and it mentions
Speaker 1: how that second or third day of shopping once you're
Speaker 1: actually in school can be what really breaks the bank.
Speaker 1: So if you're able to hold off on a lot
Speaker 1: of things, that could help to even suss out what
Speaker 1: are the actual needs here. Absolutely anything else in this article,
Speaker 1: Allison that you thought were good tips. Um they talk
Speaker 1: about do a supply swap where you coordinate with friends
Speaker 1: and neighbors, so you swap with other people. I think
Speaker 1: this is great, even even if like you sell them
Speaker 1: for very cheap. But I think of you know, when
Speaker 1: you're getting into high school and you need those calculators,
Speaker 1: or you need those very specific school supplies for specific subjects.
Speaker 1: If you have someone that's older that's already gone through
Speaker 1: that class, if you could have them loan it to
Speaker 1: you or even pay for a very you know, a
Speaker 1: lot lower rate than you would pay in a store,
Speaker 1: just for some of these supplies that are very specific
Speaker 1: like I'm thinking like pro tractors and things like that.
Speaker 1: You know, do they still use protracts. Yes, we use
Speaker 1: protractors and hear it in Texas, but we don't use
Speaker 1: them in fifth grade. So if you're you know, if
Speaker 1: you're a neighbor's kid just went through fourth grade and
Speaker 1: you need a pro tractor, you know, say like, hey,
Speaker 1: protractors on the list. You know they're not using it
Speaker 1: at home, you know, like, don't throw away your pro tractors.
Speaker 1: People reuse them on the hunt for pro tractors. Oh,
Speaker 1: you know you've arrived when that's happening. Yes, So I
Speaker 1: don't know. I'm just thinking, like, no one's going to
Speaker 1: use their pro tractor again, at least on their fourth
Speaker 1: grade one, Like never again, not if you've got a
Speaker 1: Texas instrument calculator. No more need for a protract Like
Speaker 1: school ends and the kids like, let me clean out
Speaker 1: my backpack this protractor. I'm gonna play with this all summer, Like,
Speaker 1: no on to someone who's gonna need it the next year. Yeah,
Speaker 1: along those lines. If your kids are do go to
Speaker 1: a school that requires uniforms. They even mentioned that some
Speaker 1: schools will will offer a swap at the school for
Speaker 1: the uniforms, so you know you're gently used uniform you
Speaker 1: could donate back and then those might be offered for
Speaker 1: free or at a reduced cost to those who are
Speaker 1: in need of that. But then also considering if it's
Speaker 1: more of a standard uniform khakis or certain color shirt,
Speaker 1: that those can those don't have to be bought through
Speaker 1: the school. You can go to Walmart, a thrift store, target,
Speaker 1: wherever and get those things. I know that my sister's
Speaker 1: kids go to a private school and the shirts are
Speaker 1: the ones that have the logo on them, but the
Speaker 1: pants don't, so maybe it's just buying the shirt, the
Speaker 1: vest and then going elsewhere for your belt, shoes, khaki's pants,
Speaker 1: all the other things. So definitely get creative or even
Speaker 1: along the lines of the swap, even if you don't
Speaker 1: do it through the school, through other parents of some
Speaker 1: of the hand me downs that that you can go
Speaker 1: back and forth with. It's a great idea. And last
Speaker 1: but not least, I do want to give a shout
Speaker 1: out to our college students that might be listening to
Speaker 1: this or parents of college students. Textbooks, Holy smokes, they
Speaker 1: are so expensive and usually not planned for cost right
Speaker 1: we know that it's coming, but college students aren't future
Speaker 1: thinking like But I do want to say so having
Speaker 1: gone through many different schools, I went to like five
Speaker 1: different universities, I have my bachelor's degree and my master's degree.
Speaker 1: So coming from a place of experience, you do not
Speaker 1: have to buy the newest addition, just loud and clear,
Speaker 1: no matter what they say on that syllabus, don't do it.
Speaker 1: They want to three additions previous. You are okay, even
Speaker 1: you type A folks, don't worry about it. Two to
Speaker 1: three editions sooner. Now if it comes with you know
Speaker 1: the special log on that you need to purchase with it,
Speaker 1: still do your research on some ways around this, either
Speaker 1: whether that's through rental or I have done this, emailed
Speaker 1: my professors and asked how much are we actually going
Speaker 1: to use this? Are there other platforms with which I
Speaker 1: can run these statistical tests whatever without needing this specific software. Um.
Speaker 1: My professors, every single one that I've emailed on textbook
Speaker 1: questions have been super gracious and understanding of students wanting
Speaker 1: to cut costs in this area. And I have not
Speaker 1: had a single professor say, no, you need this addition.
Speaker 1: Most of them are like, yeah, I gotta put that
Speaker 1: into the of this because it's the agreement that we
Speaker 1: have with the book publisher. But certainly you can get
Speaker 1: addition number two, not addition number six, so just keep
Speaker 1: that in mind. And also all linked to some of
Speaker 1: the discount book websites that I've used in the past,
Speaker 1: Um check a Books, Amazon Rentals, so there's some really
Speaker 1: fantastic options. I have spent literally a fraction of the
Speaker 1: cost on books, so I made this my baby to
Speaker 1: be like, Nope, I am not spent a thousand dollars um.
Speaker 1: So I'll linked to that too for for folks that
Speaker 1: might be interested in that. Anything else on this for you, Allison, No,
Speaker 1: I think we covered all that. Yeah, we did. Let's
Speaker 1: move on. So this next article comes from Miss Millennial
Speaker 1: magazine Miss Millennia Magazine, So she talks about three tips
Speaker 1: to avoid overspending. I will say we disagreed with this
Speaker 1: article bit more than the Swan, but we'll get into that.
Speaker 1: We're not afraid of controversy, you know us. Uh So
Speaker 1: how to kind of think about spending on back to
Speaker 1: school supplies and we'll just there's only three so we'll
Speaker 1: go back and forth on it. So go for it, Allison. Okay,
Speaker 1: So the first one was to enlist your phone for help,
Speaker 1: and she's talking about how there's basically apps for everything
Speaker 1: that can help you with your shopping. So they have
Speaker 1: different apps to offer coupons, um and get you know,
Speaker 1: like even just using like ebates, scenes like that, you
Speaker 1: can find ways to save money and spend less whenever
Speaker 1: you use your phone to help you. Uh in the
Speaker 1: in the whole shopping costs and everything like that. Mm hmm, yeah,
Speaker 1: I've even I can't remember if it made it into
Speaker 1: the podcast or not, but on a previous episode with
Speaker 1: with a Guest, he was telling us about shopping at
Speaker 1: Target and how every single time he goes to Target,
Speaker 1: he'll go onto the website and look to see if
Speaker 1: it is cheaper on the Target website. And he says,
Speaker 1: literally every time he goes, there's a couple things in
Speaker 1: his cart that he could get cheaper through the Target website.
Speaker 1: So all he does is take it up to the
Speaker 1: information desk and they give him the price that he
Speaker 1: could have gotten online. Oh yeah, oh yeah, you don't
Speaker 1: even I mean, you can just take it to the cashier.
Speaker 1: What I did in Target is I with the Target app,
Speaker 1: and then hopefully they change this is if you turn
Speaker 1: your location off and you scan it, it'll give you
Speaker 1: the online price. But if you turn your location on
Speaker 1: and it registers that you're inside that target, it gives
Speaker 1: you the price that's inside that target. So literally, I
Speaker 1: know it is. It is actually kind of creepy because
Speaker 1: I'm very sad, and so I really hope that like
Speaker 1: they changed this as soon as possible, because there have
Speaker 1: been people that like, when you walk outside the store,
Speaker 1: the price goes down, but then when you walk inside
Speaker 1: the store, the price on your app goes up because
Speaker 1: it registers that you're inside a target. My friend and
Speaker 1: I tried it out, and I had my location on
Speaker 1: and we both scanned an item and mine was the
Speaker 1: store price and her location and her app was off
Speaker 1: and it was a lower price, and we were standing
Speaker 1: right next to each other scanning the same item. So,
Speaker 1: and your target app, turn your location off, because then
Speaker 1: you can literally go up there and I literally I
Speaker 1: just screenshot, you know, the lower price, and I show
Speaker 1: it to them and they adjust it right at the register. Yeah,
Speaker 1: every time I'm at a store, I will look online
Speaker 1: as if I do find that I want to purchase something,
Speaker 1: I'll look online for coupons and usually I can find
Speaker 1: one just by googling, you know, coupon to such and
Speaker 1: such store. So definitely utilize that that little thing you've
Speaker 1: got in your pocket. Number two on this was utilizing
Speaker 1: your student I D or your child student I D.
Speaker 1: So this is something I never grew up with, but
Speaker 1: maybe it's something that's new now. Maybe for high school students.
Speaker 1: I don't know if this is the key for middle
Speaker 1: school or elementary, but definitely middle school ers I live,
Speaker 1: they have they have to wear their I d s
Speaker 1: every day at school. Oh wow, okay, so new things
Speaker 1: new on the horizon. So basically what they're saying is
Speaker 1: with a student I D, whether that's a kid in
Speaker 1: middle school, high school, or college, there are tons of
Speaker 1: student discounts that different places offer if you look into it.
Speaker 1: So in some places this could cover public transportation, uh,
Speaker 1: some different bus fares, discounts at local stores or restaurants.
Speaker 1: And even this was new to me. There is Amazon
Speaker 1: Student Prime, so it's a specific Amazon account for students
Speaker 1: that you can sign up for with your student I
Speaker 1: D and you get all kinds of access to discounts
Speaker 1: on school related items, education related items, whether that's textbooks
Speaker 1: or supplies, but also free access to Prime Video for
Speaker 1: six months, so especially for those older students, something to consider.
Speaker 1: And again we will link this in the show notes
Speaker 1: how you can get an Amazon Student Prime account. But
Speaker 1: great tip on that one. Yes, okay, So the third
Speaker 1: tip was no your backup plan, And um, I guess
Speaker 1: this is where we kind of disagree with the author
Speaker 1: because she starts talking about how, you know, back to
Speaker 1: school time can be expensive. It's there's no you know,
Speaker 1: there's no lie in that, that's absolutely true, and that
Speaker 1: if you spend so much, you might not have enough
Speaker 1: money to cover bills or unexpected repairs. And so then
Speaker 1: she talks about how if you can't afford those things
Speaker 1: and you're back to school supplies, that you know, maybe
Speaker 1: there are some payday loans that would be right for you. Yeah,
Speaker 1: clearly there was. There was a sponsor and an affiliate
Speaker 1: link connected with that which we got pay our bills,
Speaker 1: but and and payday loans. I mean, I'm looking and
Speaker 1: I'm I'm kind of looking at the art. Yeah, it
Speaker 1: does says this post may contain affiliate links. So I
Speaker 1: don't see an affiliate link for that. But maybe I'm
Speaker 1: just not looking hard enough. I don't know. But but
Speaker 1: she talks about how you know your furnace could break,
Speaker 1: and you know, there's just all these other things that
Speaker 1: could happen, and your child shouldn't go without. And I'm
Speaker 1: sitting here thinking I wouldn't without growing up, Like if
Speaker 1: we didn't, we didn't have the money we went without
Speaker 1: and it builds character. But I mean, I think that
Speaker 1: you know, if if you have a good financial foundation
Speaker 1: and you have a savings, you use your savings for
Speaker 1: those types of things, um, not a paid a loan
Speaker 1: with a crazy high interest rate and things like that. Yeah,
Speaker 1: this is why planning ahead, having a budget, having an
Speaker 1: emergency fund, and cutting costs where needed that and there
Speaker 1: are things that you don't need to buy new or
Speaker 1: spend money on. So before taking out a loan to
Speaker 1: go back to school or to participate in band, I know,
Speaker 1: let's reevaluate how how we're doing things before it gets
Speaker 1: to that point. And I do want to say my
Speaker 1: husband as a band director, and he has always said
Speaker 1: and I cannot I speak only for him, not for
Speaker 1: all band directors across the country, but he has always
Speaker 1: said money will never be an issue for a student
Speaker 1: playing band. So for him, he will never let money
Speaker 1: be a problem. He will always find a way, whether
Speaker 1: it's a long payment plan or a way to do
Speaker 1: a school own instrument, he will find a way to
Speaker 1: get a an instrument in that child's hands. He will
Speaker 1: negotiate with parents. So don't think that you have to like,
Speaker 1: it's okay to ask for hell number one and number two.
Speaker 1: Don't think that you have to go out and take
Speaker 1: a loan just to get just to get that. I mean.
Speaker 1: And and if you're hearing this now and school starts
Speaker 1: very soon, it might be too late. But in the future,
Speaker 1: you know, take six months or four months to save up.
Speaker 1: That's what we do. We set aside money for several
Speaker 1: months beforehand, and and we save up for those back
Speaker 1: to school purchases because we know they're coming. Yeah, future
Speaker 1: planning is key here. And also not assuming that it
Speaker 1: has to be done the way that it's being recommended
Speaker 1: to be done. Right, those things don't have to be
Speaker 1: purchased through the school. Check outside of that, right, textbooks
Speaker 1: don't have to be purchased through the university. You can
Speaker 1: brainstorm some other creative ways of purchasing these things. That
Speaker 1: isn't the exact way that you're being told to do it.
Speaker 1: You know, we got freedom us frugal friends. Speaking of
Speaker 1: fun and freedom and frugality. I think it's time for
Speaker 1: the best part of the week. What's that. It's time
Speaker 1: for Bill we that's right, it's time for the best
Speaker 1: minute of your entire week. Maybe a baby was born
Speaker 1: and his name is William. Maybe you've paid off your mortgage,
Speaker 1: maybe your car died and you're happy to not have
Speaker 1: to pay that bill anymore. That's Bill Buffalo, Bill, Bill Clinton.
Speaker 1: This is the bill of the week. Hello, is this
Speaker 1: thing on? I haven't used it in quite a while.
Speaker 1: My name is Jen, I'm a new mom and with
Speaker 1: my tiny baby always on top of me. My Bill
Speaker 1: of the Week is dedicated to him. But my bill
Speaker 1: is Bill Lawrence, the creator of Scrubs. Because when I'm
Speaker 1: stuck under a warm lump of human I have been
Speaker 1: rewatching the entire series of Scrubs from the beginning. Highly
Speaker 1: underrated show. Very recommend if you are stuck in the
Speaker 1: house and can't really move your arms or legs. So,
Speaker 1: uh yeah, thanks for letting me do a Bill, and
Speaker 1: uh I don't know. Maybe I'll talk to you guys
Speaker 1: again soon. Bye. Oh my word, I'm so excited that
Speaker 1: we got to hear from Jen. So she's still making
Speaker 1: an appearance despite being trapped under a baby, baby baby
Speaker 1: watching tvc That's that was always my favorite thing. It's
Speaker 1: like they're they're sleeping a lot. They're too young to
Speaker 1: care what's on TV. You don't have to worry about it.
Speaker 1: You watch whatever you want. That's awesome, Jen. We miss
Speaker 1: you and we love your super creative bill of the
Speaker 1: week watching Scrubs, build a creator of Scrubs, just doing
Speaker 1: your thing, being frugal, staying home, nursing that baby. That's right.
Speaker 1: And yeah, we hope we hope to see you back
Speaker 1: here someday maybe again here here more from you, But
Speaker 1: enjoy your time while you have it. Yes, exactly. Well,
Speaker 1: if you all want to submit a bill of the week,
Speaker 1: visit Frugal Friends podcast dot com slash bill. You can
Speaker 1: record your bill of the week right there. Will get it,
Speaker 1: We'll play it. You'll get our organic response to all
Speaker 1: the creativity and frugal things you guys are doing with
Speaker 1: your lives. We love it, clearly by how loudly we
Speaker 1: scream Bill and onto our next favorite portion of this podcast.
Speaker 1: It's funny because even as intense as I say it,
Speaker 1: Eric always needs to edit it to make it sound
Speaker 1: more intense, but always on board with I love it.
Speaker 1: I think there was a time where you even put
Speaker 1: in actual lightning and thunder noises, which I hope that
Speaker 1: didn't scare anybody while they were driving or like their
Speaker 1: child that was listening. He just has fun while he's editing,
Speaker 1: and sometimes some weird things make it in there. Anyhow,
Speaker 1: during this Lightning round, we want to talk about things
Speaker 1: you don't need to pack, purchase to send your kids
Speaker 1: back to school with. So this one comes from patch
Speaker 1: dot com and we just picked our favorites out of it. Alison,
Speaker 1: go for what's one of your favorites. Flip flops. Okay,
Speaker 1: let's be honest. If your kid goes to PE every
Speaker 1: day or almost every day, they are going to need
Speaker 1: to pack a backup pair of tennis shoes. And I
Speaker 1: cannot tell you, as a teacher for ten years, how
Speaker 1: many students have walked up to me at recess or
Speaker 1: in the hallway and their flip flop has broken. And
Speaker 1: you know those things are impossible to fix. You've tried
Speaker 1: duct tape, you try safety pas. I mean though they
Speaker 1: when they are done, they are done. And then you
Speaker 1: have the thing of okay, what do I just give
Speaker 1: the kid like a plastic bag to put on their foot?
Speaker 1: Do we call their mom? What do we do? So
Speaker 1: you're gonna be called up there when the flip flop breaks,
Speaker 1: You're going to be called up there to bring sneakers
Speaker 1: for gym class. So just don't get them. Let them
Speaker 1: be the summer thing and buy your kid clothes so
Speaker 1: shoes only and not flip flops. Also, yeah, it's a
Speaker 1: safety thing to kids wear out their shoes like crazy. Anyhow,
Speaker 1: So good one, next one. Every single cute idea you
Speaker 1: ever saw on Pinterest, you don't need it. It's a
Speaker 1: fun idea, right like the little butterfly sandwich and ants
Speaker 1: on a log and all these things to make the
Speaker 1: lunchbox just look like it jumped off the page of
Speaker 1: a beautiful magazine. But this just adds added stress. Let's
Speaker 1: be real, and it's wasteful because how much bread are
Speaker 1: you throwing into the trash to make that sandwich look
Speaker 1: like a butterfly? Not to mention all the time in
Speaker 1: the morning that you could have probably just spent sleeping.
Speaker 1: You're making the sandwich anyhow, You just don't need to
Speaker 1: add all that extra stress and pressure to the beginning
Speaker 1: of the school year or to set your kids expectations
Speaker 1: up right that the first day of school mom was
Speaker 1: on point. What happened a lot of weeks I just
Speaker 1: got mugable, So just don't stress yourself with that. You
Speaker 1: don't need to purchase all the little gimmicks so that
Speaker 1: you can make everything just look super cute. Absolutely. The
Speaker 1: other thing you don't need to send kids back to
Speaker 1: school with are the super fancy pens and pencils. Number one,
Speaker 1: A lot of elementary schools do community supplies, so you
Speaker 1: might be buying all of these super fancy pencils and
Speaker 1: they go into a big community supply bin and your
Speaker 1: kids might not even get to use all of them.
Speaker 1: And secondly, you know, I have been there as a
Speaker 1: teacher and as a mom where your kid loses their
Speaker 1: favorite pencil or a student loses their favorite pen and
Speaker 1: in there's all the pointing of the fingers and there's
Speaker 1: the need to calm down. Whereas if you you know,
Speaker 1: it's like how much classroom time have I wasted trying
Speaker 1: to calm students down about their felt tip pins that
Speaker 1: have been lost. Like if you can't keep up with them,
Speaker 1: just don't get them, like keep them at home. I
Speaker 1: love the takeaway here is just don't have special things.
Speaker 1: That's that's the point here. Just buy the cheap stuff
Speaker 1: so that there aren't any meltdowns, or if you have
Speaker 1: the special things, have a special place for them, like
Speaker 1: you're does get home, you know, I don't know. We
Speaker 1: don't need the exactly, we don't need the special things
Speaker 1: for the special meltdowns, for the special you know, losses
Speaker 1: and all of that stuff. So moving on from the
Speaker 1: fancy pencils and pins, what else do you not need
Speaker 1: to buy? Smelly markers? As in like smelling markers you
Speaker 1: know when you draw and then they're strawberry flavored. We'll see,
Speaker 1: that's the thing. They're flavored, which is all too tempting
Speaker 1: to eat, right, especially if you're using those smelling markers
Speaker 1: right before lunch and then it's like, oh my goodness,
Speaker 1: I just want to lick this paper. And children do, right,
Speaker 1: They actually do try to eat it. If not, they
Speaker 1: try and prank people with it. So again, to avoid
Speaker 1: uh ingestion of chemicals and pranks on other children. You
Speaker 1: don't need to spend the extra money on all the
Speaker 1: scratch and sniffs and strawberry markers and just all all
Speaker 1: the extra just it's also extra. Yeah. It reminds me
Speaker 1: of like lip smackers growing up. They smelled so good
Speaker 1: you wanted to eat them. Why can't it taste as
Speaker 1: good as itself? Not that I have eaten them, but
Speaker 1: you know, it's like all the different flavors and everything,
Speaker 1: Like there's the fear I licked my lips a whole
Speaker 1: lot more when I had some root beer chapstick on
Speaker 1: my way, and then it's like, why don't I just
Speaker 1: get some root beer? What the heck am I doing
Speaker 1: playing around with the fake stuff over here? Well, and
Speaker 1: I'm sure there's so many more that you all could
Speaker 1: come up with on the stuff that's just not worth it.
Speaker 1: And we can all hang out at the Frugal Friends
Speaker 1: podcast community group Facebook community group is a private group
Speaker 1: not that hard to get into, but join us. It's growing,
Speaker 1: it's powerful, it's a it's a force to be reckoned
Speaker 1: with This Frugal Friends group super fun. We're sharing our tips,
Speaker 1: so head on over there. Uh. And in the meantime,
Speaker 1: we're also doing this thing called a book club. And
Speaker 1: it's July right now, and we are reading Mom and
Speaker 1: Dad We Need to Talk by Cameron Huddleston, where she
Speaker 1: talks about diving into the conversation about finances and end
Speaker 1: of life and caring for parents. So super great topic.
Speaker 1: Get the book, and yeah, if you need a free copy.
Speaker 1: If you want a free copy, you can leave us
Speaker 1: a review on iTunes or sitchert and simply take a
Speaker 1: screenshot of the review and send it to Frugal Friends
Speaker 1: podcast at gel dot com. And we're going to select
Speaker 1: the winners at the end of the month for free books.
Speaker 1: And you know, there's just something special about getting something
Speaker 1: free in the mail, like you can't go wrong with it.
Speaker 1: So we would love those reviews, and we want to
Speaker 1: give away books for free, and where possible, we even
Speaker 1: send you a Frugal Friends bookmark which has our faces
Speaker 1: on it, so my face. Maybe maybe if you can
Speaker 1: get a couple of bookmarks and I can get like
Speaker 1: some pictures of myself and like glue them some Elmer's
Speaker 1: glue and glue them to the side of the bookmark,
Speaker 1: I'm so going to do that honorary limited edition bookmark.
Speaker 1: I love it. If we make it sound special, it's
Speaker 1: special if you want an example of a helpful review
Speaker 1: that could possibly win one of these books. Again, it's helpful,
Speaker 1: so obviously it's five stars. That's helpful for everybody, us included.
Speaker 1: This person. Love Hockley says fabulous Frugal Fun. I mean clearly,
Speaker 1: we love it because of the alliteration. We love alliteration.
Speaker 1: Frugal friends, fabulous frugal fund. I love the podcast. I've
Speaker 1: learned a lot, but laughed even more. Glad to hear
Speaker 1: people who love research as much as I do. It's
Speaker 1: a great length for my work day. Commute to the
Speaker 1: fantastic Love Hockley h we are so excited to be here,
Speaker 1: to be researching alongside you, to be making you laugh.
Speaker 1: That's fun too, So that that's just a little taste
Speaker 1: of the type of review you could leave for us. Absolutely,
Speaker 1: and I'm so sad. It's like bitter sweet. But this
Speaker 1: is my last week. But next week Jen is back.
Speaker 1: She's back, and she again hopefully we'll get to hear
Speaker 1: a little bit of Kai. Well, Allison. We want to
Speaker 1: stay in touch, So how can people continue to get
Speaker 1: more of your frugal goodness awesome. So you can follow
Speaker 1: me on Instagram at inspired Budget or you can check
Speaker 1: out my website inspired budget dot com. Um. I talk
Speaker 1: about how to budget better, make saving second nature, and
Speaker 1: pay off debt nice and it is fantastic. You've got
Speaker 1: some really great resources for people, free and low cost resources.
Speaker 1: UM constantly pumping out content. I love following you on Instagram,
Speaker 1: so well, thank you. Super personal to you. You let
Speaker 1: us into a snapshot of your life which feels really
Speaker 1: authentic and genuine. So well, thank you. Any One to
Speaker 1: touch base with Allison if you want more from her,
Speaker 1: Thank you and we'll see you all next week. Bye bye.
Speaker 1: Frugal Friends is produced, edited and mixed by Eric Syria