Article: Back To School Shopping On A Budget

Posted By Paul

I was reading an article in the newspaper talking about how many children and teens are developing frugal shopping habits because their parents are encouraging them to stretch their back to school budgets.

There were kids talking about how they were avoiding clothes that had the brand name right on them and were focusing more on trying to get as much for their dollar as possible by checking out the clearance rack and so on.

It was exciting to hear about children developing good spending habits early, and I noticed that the common thread among the children in the article was that they were given a spending limit by their parents and therefore were motivated to stretch their dollars as far as they could.

As a new parent I think a lot about how I might instill good values (including good spending habits) in my child. When I was in my tween and teen years I was never told: "You can only spend $100 on back to school clothes this year." I was told something like: "Let's go to the store, we need to go and get you some shoes and a winter coat."

Of course I remember that I really disliked clothes shopping (still do) so if my folks had told me something like "You have $100 to spend on back to school clothes." I probably would have just asked to wear my ratty jeans one more year so I could spend the money on comic books.

However, many teens are more concerned about clothes than I was, so I think it's a great system to provide your child with a spending limit so they can start to understand the benefits of making their dollar go farther.

Here is the article in full:
Frugality is cool in back-to-school shopping