Written many years ago (2009) when I had two kids in High School and 1 in University. The sheer volume of money spent and trips to prepare for school was withering.
School (aka Skule) starts soon and thus it means back to school sales are in full swing (in fact they are almost over, I can find a lot of Halloween Candy right now, but we can talk about that later).
Back to school is a huge drain on most families funds (any family with kids from age 5 to 21, at least), and the things that “need” to be bought keeps expanding and adding up.
What kind of expenses, you ask?
- Paper, pens, and pencils, OK we needed paper when I was a kid, so that isn’t too bad.
- Student Fee $20
- Yearbook $35
- Lab fees for science courses
- Athletic fees
- Gym fees
- New clothes ($100-$300 per child)
- New athletic shoes
- Binders, yes, we used those too.
- Ink for your computer’s printer, OK now we are in a new world. ($50 for sure)
- A new printer, because last year’s printer jets were clogged. ($50 at least)
- Bus passes, yes, I have to pay for my kids busing to school (that’s about $130 a month)
- A new computer because the kids’ computer is really crappy (OK that is optional but if your child is going off to University you are going to be paying this for sure). Maybe they need a home computer and a laptop as well?
- Furniture if your child is moving into a house at the University (that is not furnished)
- Cost of dropping your child off at school (that ain’t cheap if you have a run of over 500 km)
- Meal plan costs, lunch costs, etc.,
- Book costs for University students
- Oh, and all those tuition fees too!
- Cell phone costs
You get the picture, this explains why September is actually the biggest spending month of my fiscal year.
More rants will follow about this subject, but please feel free to add more expenses I may have missed as comments too!
