The school supply list comes home in July. Then it's new sneakers, a backpack, maybe a laptop if your kid is heading to middle school. None of it feels optional, and it all lands in the same few weeks.
Families with kids in elementary through high school are planning to spend an average of $863.86 this year on clothes, shoes, supplies and electronics, according to the National Retail Federation. Across the country, that adds up to a record $43.3 billion. It adds up in pieces, a backpack here, new shoes there, all landing in the same few weeks your regular bills are due.
Most of the overspending happens before you even get to the register. It happens when you make three separate trips because you forgot half of what you needed the first time.
Sit down once. Write out everything each of your kids actually needs, by category: clothes, shoes, supplies, electronics. Check what you already have from last year before you add anything to the list. A backpack that survived one school year probably has another one left in it.
Decide what you're willing to spend before you're standing in the aisle. A number in your head is a lot easier to stick to than a number you figure out after the receipt prints.
If you have more than one child, set a cap per kid, not a one lump number for the household. It makes it easier to catch when one child's list is running high.
You don't have to cover $863 in one shot. If school starts in a few weeks, start setting aside a set amount from each paycheck now instead of waiting for one big trip.
Even $30 a paycheck for the next few pay periods adds up before the first bell rings. It's the same idea as saving for a bill you know is coming. You're just doing it on a shorter runway.
Retailers pack their best back-to-school deals into a few windows each summer, usually weeks before school actually starts. Most shoppers say they plan to use those sales specifically for school purchases, according to NRF.
Buy big-ticket items, like electronics and shoes, during those windows. Save the smaller stuff, like notebooks, pencils, folders, etc. for whenever you see them on sale. You don't need to buy everything the same day.
You don't have to buy a full year of supplies on day one. A lot of teachers add to the list once school actually starts, and some of what you buy in July won't get used until spring.
Buy what's needed for the first week. Notebooks, a backpack, the basics. Hold off on the rest until you know what's actually being used, and buy it as it comes up.
Most states hold a sales tax holiday sometime between late July and mid-August, usually covering clothing, shoes and school supplies under a set price. ABC News put together this year's dates by state, so it's worth a quick look at your state's department of revenue site to confirm what qualifies.
Stacking a tax-free weekend with a retailer sale is one of the more reliable ways to cut the total. It's also why, per the same NRF survey, 62% of shoppers had already started buying by early July this year, ahead of major sales events like Prime Day and Target Circle Week.
It's tempting to split a big purchase into four smaller payments, and plenty of families do it. A survey from Omnisend found nearly half of households plan to use buy now, pay later for back-to-school shopping this year, up from 39% last year.
The risk is what happens if a payment gets missed. LendingTree's tracker found nearly half of buy now, pay later users say they've paid a loan late in the past year, and a missed payment can turn a $50 backpack into a bigger bill with fees attached. If you do use it, treat it the same as any other bill; build the payments into your budget instead of treating the purchase as free.
Rain can't shrink the supply list, but it can help you plan around it instead of getting surprised by it.
Set up a savings goal in the Rain app for back-to-school and move a little from each paycheck toward it starting now. Spending Trends breaks down what you're spending by category, so you can see in real time if the shopping trip is tracking with what you budgeted.
And if a bill or purchase lands before payday anyway, Rain lets you access wages you've already earned to cover the gap. It's free if you can wait a day or two, or a small fee if you need it right away. There’s no interest, no credit check and no loan to worry about.
Set up a savings goal in the Rain app for back-to-school before the sales start.
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