How Do They Afford That?We’re rapidly approaching the back to school… and every family knows it can be a very, very expensive time of year. There are a million things to buy, from uniforms and shoes through to books and technology. Join Canna Campbell - a financial planner for 20 years - and Fear & Greed's Michael Thompson as they look at ways to save a bit of money, and send the kids back to school without sending yourself broke.
The information in this podcast is general in nature and does not take into account your personal circumstances, financial needs or objectives. Before acting on any information, you should consider the appropriateness of it and the relevant product having regard to your objectives, financial situation and needs. In particular, you should seek independent financial advice and read the relevant Product Disclosure Statement or other offer document prior to acquiring any financial product.
Canna Campbell is a Corporate Authorised Representative and Corporate Credit Representative of Wealthstream Financial Group Pty Ltd ABN 35 152 803 113 Australian Financial Services Licensee AFSL 412079.
Welcome to How Do They Afford That, The podcast that peaks into the financial lives of everyday Australians. I'm Michael Thompson. I'm a writer and the co host of the podcast Fear and Greed business news. As always, I am with financial planner Canna Campbell, founder of Sugar Mama TV, the financial literacy platform that is just about everywhere that it is possible to be YouTube, podcast, books, Instagram, threads, TikTok, keynote, speeches and more. Hello, Canna, how are you? I am? Well though we are approaching back to school.
Oh, I'm fully a bit exhausted.
And it is an expensive time of year. It really is that there there are a million things to buy.
It's so overwhelming that you've.
Got uniforms, shoes, and you got books, and you've got technology. So today we are going to look at how to save a little bit of money and send the kids back to school without sending yourself broke. Why is this time of year, the back to school season, so financially overwhelming for families?
Well, it's the perfect storm, perfect storm expenses. You're coming off the back or we're all coming off the back of Christmas, you know, holiday season. There may even be a bit of a hangover from you know, the Black Friday sales and we're in being hit with this new list of purchases, and you know there's it's a long list, you know, uniforms, shoes, sneakers, sporting equipment, books, technology, It just goes on and on, and then you've got the pressure deadlines and you know, nothing like deciding you need to get some school shoes and going to your local school shoes shop and seeing the mass of parents all stressing, you know, on a hot, humid summer's day, you know, where the pressure to get it right, to make sure they turn up to school in their first day with absolutely everything they need in their school backpack. You know, it's a huge amount of pressure and throwing some unexpected costs, like you know, certain supplies that they need for an extracurricular activity, like a musical instrument.
Oh yeah, I had not considered that those things are expensive.
Really expensive. And then if you want to go and rent them and they or may not be available, you know, these can really throw you off guard.
Yeah, I'm assuming again making an assumption here that the best way, because we know that the return to school is coming, so you budget ahead of time, if that is possible. And I say that knowing that we have not done that ourselves, so I was saying you should do that. Don't listen to what I've done.
You know. So look, the best thing is to start early, as you said, Easier said than done, you know, especially when you're so busy, you know, and you've got more than one child. You know, you've got to think of everyone's different needs. And you know, I know my son has a very different list to what my daughter has, who's starting her first year of school this year, so you know, and also think if we start early, we can also make the most of the sales, you know, the boxing day sales, and have a list, a checklists, write down everything you need, separating it from must haves versus would like to have. You know, my kids want, you know, brand new pens and pencil cases, even though we've got probably fifty of them already at home. So it isn't a good also opportunity to include the children as well, but it also gives you a sense of order, yeah, because you can just refer to the list, And.
A lot of schools they provide a list, don't they.
What you need.
I mean, it is the standard kind of back to school list, and then you kind of almost need to sit down and cross check it with what you already have.
Yes last year point which strong from me.
I'm sorry, I just habit of yours. I have started doing this a lot, haven't I, Because now we've been doing this show for so long that I feel like, in some cases, oh no, this is dangerous, isn't it. I feel like in some cases that I almost know what you're about to say.
I don't know what you're going to say.
I was not going to say that just then. I was. I was about to say something else almost that I know this almost better than you do. And then I realized that that is actually an act. And you were displeased with me a few weeks back when I said that I was pretty much just a de facto financial planner. Now, having spent so much time in the studio with you, the eyebrow went up and the forehead was furrowed, and like, oh goodness me the displeasure. Yes, in the studio.
We'll stop stealing, and we have that issue, all right, So please just go on. Talk of stealing. What can you steal it from? The office. Just kidding, I'm looking infestationary, just kidding. That was not Do not go and steal from the office too. If you get kids need pens and manciles, but obviously look at what you've already got at home. The arts and crafts often will have all the highlighters and rulers and you know, scissors and things that you need. And then obviously set a budget, you know, a realistic budget. You know how much you want to spend on uniforms, books, supplies, text sporting equipment, all those things. And then as you're buying those things, track go okay, all right, we've already spent one hundred and twenty dollars on two pairs of school shoes or you know, school shoes and gym shoes. So keep a running tab so that you know exactly what you're spending and this helps avoid over spending as well.
Let's talk about uniforms, shall we, because uniforms like are the one thing that you really can't avoid generally, and they are really really expensive often if you buy them on mass.
As well, well, not necessarily, so you know, buy wisely. So for example, my kids thrash their shoes, so I will actually spend a bit more on better quality shoes and they last so much longer. And then I'll know, okay, I will skimp on socks, and often I will say, you don't have to buy everything from the school. And this is actually a stip I'm stealing from you match where you can actually go to stores like Big w in Best and Less and Kmart and Target and buy the school socks there, and buy the school pants they're the school skirt there.
Anything that doesn't have the school logo, yeah, you can get it elsewhere. Get it somewhere cheaper.
Much cheaper. And then you know, there's obviously the second hand clothing shop, which I am a big fan of. You know, I will stock up there, and then obviously there's the sales. But also what I will do is with my children is I don't buy it all at once. You know, kids grow and then they have growth spurts, So don't go and buy a year's worth of clothes at the beginning of the year. You know, think about, okay, we'll hang on. Let me just get the summer stuff for whatever the temperature is at the time. It's appropriate now, and then later in the year we'll buy the winter stuff or when the temperature starts to change, because they may have had a growth spurt. As you go and be super organized and buy everything, it may not fit them, or do what I've done in the past is bought it too big and it still doesn't They haven't had that growth spurt enough to actually fit them. By the time it does fit them, it's warm again. So buy what you need for the short term to get you through for the next three months and to help stagger those expenses, and mix the old with the new. You know, hand me downs are great, and you mix up, for example, what can be reused throughout the year as well, so keeping things in good condition.
I really like that idea of mixing it up so that you might buy one or two kind of new items from the uniform shop at school, and the others you might buy some secondhand ones and if it's school photo day, you send them in the new nice one and the rest of the time just go for the secondhand.
And then label everything with their name because they will. Everything gets lost. The amount of lunchboxes, water bottles, hats, jumpers, oh my god, hats. Hats.
Hats are just like they're just currency. At school let's get passed around. Aren't they just frisbee.
Across the playground and then you never see it again?
Extraordinary? What about though? I mean that all makes sense, particularly kind of when we are dealing with things like uniforms and stationary and books and things like. You can often get secondhand for a lot of those things, and relatively inexpensive compared to what I'm about to talk about, which is technology. And when you have requirements for school that might be say a laptop or a calculator. These things. I don't know whether they still require you to buy a calculator now. I remember in high school we had to buy the certain Cassio one on Yeah indeed, and everyone had the same one. Are there's strategies to save on tech purchases like these?
Definitely, so shopping sales and then also shopping on those cash back websites like cash awards and shop backs, so you at least getting some money back. Your office works is brilliant. They'll match anywhere else and sometimes they'll even beat it as well. If your business, yes, oh wow, And then I think if you show you got an ABN, you might go to get it further discount. But then also buying refurbished or second hand tech, which you could actually do through Amazon as well. You know, you're buying a used iPad that's been fixed, looks almost brand new, and you're buying it for a significant discount. And that's also great for children that do tend to lose things, or things tend to get broken, or they're going to outgrow it. That's something I would highly recommend. It is what I've done with my key as well. And then obviously looking at other brands. You know, Stephen Finnick did a brilliant episode on what brands to potentially go for to get better value for money.
I was going to mention this because this was last year that he spoke to us, and we split it into two episodes because there was so much to cover. And in the second of the two episodes, we talked about laptops and about this idea that you do not need to necessarily have a MacBook Pro, you don't necessarily need the top of the line computer, that there is a whole bunch of different brands out there that might cost half the price of say of a MacBook or less then and depending on what the requirements are, that you might be able to get away with something that is of good quality. This is still good quality technology and you are paying brand new half exactly well less. Yeah, so go and listen to that one. It's definitely if you search through our playlist, search through the back catalog of apos so it's with Stephen Fenneck is the ultimate Guide to affordable Technology. I believe part two as the tip. We'll take a quick break in a second, but I just wanted to ask first about multiple children. If you've got more than one kid in the household, it's just prohibitively expensive, isn't it. And yes, hand me down certainly help, but still it is just an expensive time of year.
It is oh look hamd me town's Well, I've got a son and then two girls, and he's did it at a different public school my daughter's going to go to. So the hand me downs unfortunately doesn't work in a household this is this year. Maybe when my youngest goes it will obviously help. But hand me downs obviously are great. But you know, think of the community, like I've got friends whose kids go to the same school as my son, and I let them know when I've got a bunch of stuff the rocker's out grown, I'll put it up in a bag and put it on their front doorstep. And you know, when things do go missing or get swapped or lost or stolen, it's not the end of the world because you've got a bag of t shirts or shorts or skirts that you can quickly grab and go, and your child's not turning up to school missing items. And that takes off the stress and pressure for children going to school, which is filled with so many mixed emotions and things like buying in bulk, you know, with other families. Yeah, a great idea. You know, if there's something you need, speak to your friends. Ago, I found this resource, but we need to buy a minimum of ten or a minimum fifteen. Find the other parents that are in the same boat.
That's a great idea. So you're forming a co op exactly. It's a cult, a school cult. Yeah, I love this. All right, quick break. We'll come back and want to talk then about kind of involving kids in the process, some of the long term habits, and also how to approach some of those big recurring costs like school fees, and how to kind of factor those into the family budget. We'll be back in a second, can we are talking about heading back to school and ways to make it a little bit more affordable, just to manage the cost because a lot of the costs are actually unavoidable, like school fees, for instance, there's really no way around it if you are sending your child to a school that a private school for instance, where there are private school fees to pay. But even to public schools, there are certain fees that you do need to pay throughout the year that are technically voluntary contributions. But I mean it's obviously better if you can pay those and do your bit to help out. How do you manage those in a budget friendly way?
So if you're on type budget, what I recommend you do is open up a separate savings account and nickname it school expenses, so that you know what the purpose behind that account and to get distracted or attempted to go and blow it and put a little bit in that account each week or each day or whatever you can afford, so that you can help build up and take off the stress and pressure. Then I'd also recommend you, know, especially for those extra curricul activities, because they can be you know, the straw that breaks the camel's back. You know, it's amazing different places, different activities, and different costs. So for example, we were looking at some swimming lessons. When I shopped around for swiming lessons, I was blown away by how they range in prices from different age groups. And I saved a fortune. And I think I said about three hundred dollars by switching my children's swimming lessons or two of them to a different location.
Oh wow.
Yeah, I was quite blown away by the difference in prices. But then my son's age group was actually very competitive where he was, so definitely shop around and also think about like logistics of your days because obviously you don't know if you've got to leave work the cost of that or transport or petrol driving kids around that also comes into it as well. And that's obviously again coming back to the community. Can you share the load, we'll do pickoff, you do drop off, you know, having the snacks in the car and things like ready to go. But then also thin things like payment plans. Some schools may offer an installment plan available to help ease the financial burden and instead of getting hit with a quarterly bill, they might allow you to pay monthly or fortnight if you don't ask, you don't know, and seeing what options are available to get on the phone, speak to the school, explain your situation, and see what do you have in place.
I like those I mean, that's a great idea, but I really like those tips about the extra curricular activities like swimming and those that you can actually shop around. You're not just necessarily being funneled into one option for these things. Is that one of the mistakes then, because I wanted to talk to you about the mistakes that parents make in the back to school shopping, and I'm assuming one of them is assuming that there is no other option, that you can't shop around when you can.
I'd say leaving it to last minute is the worst thing you can do. It's like the amount of parents that and I will admit I am a leave it last minute type of person, but the amount of parents you see, and I use that an example of buying school shoes. It is stressful. There are so many people around you, then there's shoes have sold out in that particular size. The drama it causes and the anxiety causes I think you want to go to my school shoes ready? You know, for my first day of school, it's you just don't do it yourself. So not being organized, leaving it to last minute, shopping without a list is just leads to those impulsles, purchases, over spending, definitely ignoring the sales. You know, boxing doest sells a great opportunity to buy the things that you know you're going to need, and especially those expensive things like shoes and having a good pair of shoes that are going to last all year, and then obviously prioritizing the wrong brands, like just going, well, we'll buy the most expensive top of the range, because that will then mean it's good quality, not necessarily the case. You do your research. So there are a lot of things you can do innocently that just make it so much harder and so much more expensive for yourself.
And if you leave it to the last minute, you also lose your credibility. Then, when you are getting cranky at your kids for leaving their assignments and things to the last minute, I thought about that, and you want to be able to be kind of very judgmental and very kind of self righteous about this knowing that you were in fact not leaving their return to school to the last minute. It's all about credibility as a parent. Is the opportunity is here, isn't it to teach kids about money during the back to school process? How do you do that in a way that doesn't just make everyone cranky?
So include your kids, like make it fun. You know, the opportunity to go to school is a blessing. You know, this is where you are going to be and need to learn so many obviously obvious skills, but life skills. Are going to make new friends, So get on board with it, getting excited for them, you know, not having to pay for daycare anymore. That's also a great thing part of the excitement of kids going to school. So you know, doing the budget with our kids with Apple and Rocco, will be doing a list together and we'll be going to office works with a set feet and we have to work out how to get the most amount of value. So they're not going to do it online. I'm actually going to take them with me because I need them to see and learn and understand the difference between yes, you want every single Posca pen under the sun, but okay, you need highlighters. Is all the list says. Maybe we can think about that as a part of your birthday present.
So it's quite fun. Actually, I quite like a shripped off smoke.
It's true. There's a bit of me and it's in this as well.
And when you've got a like you said, all right, guys, it becomes a game like we've got x amount to spend here, we cannot spend anymore. We need to find a way to make this fit exactly.
And it's fun and showing them. You know, you can buy a packet if you buy a Biro pen, it's like four dollars fifty, but you can buy packets of Biros for like eight dollars and there's like seven different Biros in there. Like so spending time showing the kids like don't leave your last minute, allowed the time to go through the store and letting them get excited. Like I remember as a child getting my new pencil case and the pens and getting it all neatly organized. I felt some inspired and motivated and empowered, like allow this moment. Don't be a mad rush, panic, hurry field, anxiety and stressed and embarrassment, regret, and you know it's it on a hot summer's day like this is exciting and office work is open to a very later might I add, so you can be an evening activity.
There's a risk that families will be overwhelmed by this, are they? There is support out there for back to school and I'm about to do this again, aren't I? Where I accidentally steal something that you're probably about to talk about, But I'm going to do it anyway, because I don't know what you're going to say. But different states also have different things set up. Financial assistance that might help cover some costs of extracurricular activities like swimming lessons, sport, creative activities as well, and that if you just look on the state government website depending on where you are, and you will see the grants and the b assistance that is available. Were you about to say that, yes, I was all the.
Words that you did a brilliant job of it, and active Kids vouchers, creative Kids vouchers, transport and travel to school assistance, like there's so many different things, and obviously it varies from state to state, but it is worth jumping online and seeing what you're entitled to. And of course then there's you know, going to the school and looking at things like scholarships or fee waivers, or discounts for families in need, or discounts for when you've got more than two children at the school.
All right, let's bring it all the way back to where we started and we were talking about budgeting. Is that the best way if we are looking to the future, long term habits that we should be building a family can adopt to make the return to school perhaps a little bit less stressful, a little bit more affordable. Does it all come down to starting early, building your budget, putting it all together and making sure you're just setting aside a bit of money to make sure that when you get round to January there isn't a scramble financially and just physically trying to get to the shops.
Yeah, I would say that, and you know, I also would suggest that, you know, you declutter your home and look at you can reuse. You know, you have to buy a lunch box. We'll hang on. They might be you know, some top ofware containers that will read just as sufficient, or you might actually have a packet of colored pens. You don't need to go and buy a whole new packet of colored pens. You know, look around and see what you've got, and you know, shop off the season, so you might find it's better to stock up on a winter uniform, you know, potentially in summertime when it's on sale, and you know, look at as I said, that separate savings fund for the kids. Sit it up with them, an online savings account, nickname it with them, and sit down and it doesn't need to be a financial headache. Is it actually can be a really fun, creative opportunity to also help your children feel organized. See what it's like to be organized, what it being organized actually involves, as well as teaching them a little bit about being sensible with money along the way.
All right, So we are involving kids. We are planning ahead, we are budgeting, we are setting aside a bit of money throughout the year. We are kind of being smart about the way that we are shopping. We are looking at secondhand, looking at other brands that are perhaps more affordable, particularly when it comes to technology, when it comes to the extracurricular activities, we're shopping around seeing what else is available, and we are looking at the assistance that's available through state governments and also just talking directly to our schools and seeing what kind of payment plans are available or what's going to be required. Because the more you know in advance, the more you can plan ahead. It is still a stressful and expensive time, though, isn't it. I don't want to finish on a downer. Bit it is right.
It can be overwhelming, but the it's like, sit down and make a list and that will immediately make you feel better.
I love that image though, of little Canna kind of getting all of her pencils and everything and did you did you do contact contact on it?
Oh?
Yes, and did you get to them put pictures and everything on as well?
White cut out things and make my books so pretty? And I'm so motivated.
And when you were labeling pencils and things, did you shape shape.
The tip of the end my right name? All those daggy talk you things.
It's so much fun and so the like last year, I remember at the start of the year, I'm like, that's it. I It's finally my turn to do that. And so I sat down and I was shaving the tips of the pencils off in order to write kind of Thompson on them. Was great fun. You are right, it's actually an exciting time of year.
And this is a great opportunity to also show children how to be organized. As I said, you know, being organized, doing things in advance, thinking, planning mindfully. You're giving them life skills.
How do we find you if we want more information?
Best place was always Instagram at Trigga Mama TV.
Did you forget for a second where you are?
Well? I have Instagram accounts, I have couna Campbell official where you can see the hot mess of my life as me trying to be organized but actually quite often to being doing everything last minute.
All right, Well, you can hear me every day, not as a hot mess, just as a normal podcaster with Sean Aylmer on Fear and great daily business news for people who make their own decisions. Thank you very much for listening to how do they afford that? Remember to hit follow on the podcast, and the best thing you can do is tell somebody else, or better yet, send them specifically this episode and spread the word about how do they afford that? Thank you for your company. Join us again next week.
