mother and daughter smiling at the camera

Aug 13, 2019

Back-to-School Shopping with Greenlight

There are tons of guides out there with tips on how to squeeze the most out of your back-to-school budgets. 

In this post, we talk about how to bring your kids along for the back-to-school shopping ride. In fact, we think it could be time to put them in the driver’s seat — with some adult supervision, of course — to teach them first-hand about trade-off decisions.

Start with a back-to-school budget.

Put that budget in your child’s Spend Anywhere account within the Greenlight app before you start shopping. When the child themselves makes the purchases on their Greenlight card, they will feel more responsible for how the funds are spent. 

Deloitte’s 2019 Back-to-School Survey reported the average family will spend $519 per child on supplies, electronics, apparel and accessories for the new school year. Start there, or with a budget your family is comfortable with.

jacob spend anywhere calculation

Attack the school supplies list.

  1. Get your 2019-20 supplies and clothes list in a spreadsheet. (Find one of our favorites here.)

  2. Have your kids take inventory of what they already have and what they need for next year. Spreading out items on the kitchen table or bed can spark conversations on what’s essential to purchase new this year versus what’s nice to have.

  3. Make a plan. We recommend starting with school supplies before going into the latest clothes and sneakers.

Shopping online?

Tons of experts have taken the hard work out of bargain hunting. Goodhousekeeping, U.S. News & World Report and The Krazy Coupon Lady and have already published their best deals guides to the 2019 back-to-school shopping seasons. Have your kids review these guides and prioritize their most important items.

Sit with your kids and shop around online for name-brand items, and see if you can find them at a lower cost across Amazon, Walmart.com or other budget sites. You can mark the best prices on your spreadsheet.

Pro tip: Target started School List Assist in 2017. Just search for your school and Target collects all your supplies in an online shopping cart. Do your research with your child to make sure you’re finding the best deals. 

Ready to brave the stores?

The budget can be made or broken in the crowded aisles of Walmart, Target, The Dollar Store or your local shops. To avoid the crowds, we recommend early in the morning or later in the afternoon during the week.

Bring your spreadsheet with you and know how much is left on your list. 

Have your tech-savvy kids download Shop Savvy. It’s a Greenlight fan favorite. While you’re at the store, scan barcodes to see if you’re getting the best deal around, and mark the best deals off the list as you find them.

Have your kids handle checkout. While they use their Greenlight, they’ll feel more ownership of the items they purchased. And hopefully they’ll take better care of their things now that they’ve been in charge of their budget.

Balance your budget before apparel shopping.

Reconcile your budget in the spreadsheet before going shopping for clothes, so your kids know how much they can spend.

Make deals with them or trade-offs for things that may fall out of budget. Have them prioritize what’s most important for now — what do they need now, and what can wait until later in the school year?

Let us know how your shopping goes!

Post photos of your kids on social media using #mygreenlight.

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