Back to School on a Budget: Simple Ways to Save Money This September

Post includes gifted products. I was kindly gifted a selection of YAAS cleaning products featured in this post. As always, all thoughts and tips are my own.

Back-to-school season always seems to arrive with a surprisingly long shopping list. School uniform, PE kit, shoes, trainers, bags, water bottles, lunch boxes, stationery…the costs can very quickly add up. And when you have more than one child heading back to school, September can become a particularly expensive month.

But does everything actually need to be new?

Over the years, I’ve become much more conscious of the pressure to buy everything again simply because it’s a new academic year. There’s something about September that makes us feel as though children need a completely fresh start, new uniform, a new pencil case, a new bag and sometimes even a new water bottle.

In reality, lots of what we already own is perfectly usable. So before filling your basket with back-to-school essentials, here are my back to school money saving tips to help make what you already have last a little longer

1. Shop Your Own Home First

Before buying anything, have a proper back-to-school audit. Get last year’s uniform out of wardrobes and drawers and ask your children to try everything on.

Check:

• Shirts and polo shirts
• Trousers, skirts and dresses
• Jumpers and cardigans
• Blazers
• PE kits
• Coats
• School shoes
• Trainers
• Backpacks
• Lunch bags
• Water bottles

You might be surprised by how much still fits/is usable.

It can be tempting to automatically buy the next size up ready for September, but if something fits comfortably and is still in good condition, there’s really no reason it can’t go back to school for another term.

The same goes for stationery.

Before buying another pack of pens, check pencil cases, desk drawers and cupboards. We seem to accumulate an enormous number of rulers, pencils, highlighters and colouring pencils throughout the year!

2. Clean It Before You Replace It

One of the biggest reasons school uniform starts looking tired isn’t necessarily because it’s worn out, it’s because it’s stained. Grass stains, food, mud, paint and everything else children encounter during the school day can quickly make perfectly good clothing look as though it needs replacing. Before giving up on an item, it’s worth seeing whether you can rescue it.

I was recently kindly gifted a selection of cleaning products from YAAS, including their laundry pods and stain-removing products, which arrived at the perfect time for the back-to-school reset.

Rather than immediately replacing something because of a stubborn stain, treating it properly could potentially give that piece of uniform another term – or even another school year – of life. For stubborn marks, I’ve been trying the YAAS stain-removing products to see what can be rescued before anything ends up in the replacement pile. When using stain-removing products, always follow the instructions on the packaging and check they’re suitable for the fabric you’re treating.

This isn’t just useful for school shirts either.

Think about PE kits, hoodies, coats and fabric bags. Giving everything a proper clean before September can make last year’s school essentials feel fresh again without having to replace them.

Sometimes a good wash really is all they need.

3. Repair Rather Than Replace

While you’re checking the uniform, look for small repairs too. A missing button doesn’t mean a shirt needs replacing. Neither does a dropped hem or a tiny hole in a seam. Creating a small repair pile can save quite a surprising amount of money. Simple jobs such as sewing on buttons, repairing hems or removing bobbles from knitwear can completely transform older school uniform.

School shoes can often be revived too. Give them a proper clean and polish and check whether they genuinely need replacing before buying another pair. Obviously, if shoes no longer fit properly or are damaged beyond repair, they need replacing, but slightly scuffed doesn’t necessarily mean finished.

4. Look for Pre-Loved School Uniform

If you do need to replace something, second-hand uniform can be an excellent option. Lots of schools now run uniform swap shops or pre-loved uniform sales, sometimes asking for just a small donation.

This can be particularly useful for expensive branded items such as:

• Blazers
• School jumpers
• PE tops
• Sports hoodies
• Branded coats

Children grow so quickly that many of these items have had surprisingly little wear before they’re outgrown. It’s definitely worth checking whether your school runs a scheme before ordering everything new or hopping onto Vinted if you’re looking for school basics.

5. Check Local Charity Shops

Charity shops are another place worth looking during the summer holidays.

Many local charity shops create dedicated school-uniform sections towards the end of summer, particularly if they’re close to several schools. You might find trousers, skirts, shirts, PE shorts and even branded school items for a fraction of their original price. And, of course, buying second-hand is also a great way to stop perfectly usable clothing from going to waste.

6. Check Your School Facebook Groups

This is one of my favourite tips because it’s particularly useful for finding school-specific items. Have a look at your school’s Facebook groups, parent groups and local community selling pages. Towards the end of summer, parents often have bags of uniform their children have outgrown and are happy to sell cheaply – or sometimes simply give away.

It’s particularly worth looking for branded PE kit, jumpers and blazers.

You can also post a wanted message with the size you’re looking for. Someone may have exactly what you need sitting in a wardrobe waiting to be passed on.

7. Only Buy Branded Uniform Where You Have To

School-branded uniform can be one of the biggest back-to-school expenses.

Check your school’s uniform policy carefully before shopping because you might not need branded versions of every item. If your child needs a school jumper or blazer with the school logo, buy that from the required supplier, but look at supermarkets and other affordable retailers for plain basics where the uniform policy allows.

White shirts, black trousers, skirts, socks and PE shorts can often be bought much more cheaply this way. There’s no benefit in paying extra for something the school doesn’t require.

8. Don’t Buy the Whole Year’s Uniform in August

This is another lesson I’ve learned over the years. You don’t necessarily need enough uniform in August to last until the following July.

Children grow.

Something you buy several sizes too big now might not fit in quite the way you expected six months later. Instead, concentrate on what your child genuinely needs to start the school year and replace things throughout the year when necessary.

It also spreads the cost rather than creating one enormous August or September bill.

9. Label Absolutely Everything

If you’ve ever watched a school lost-property pile grow, you’ll know why this one matters!

Label everything. Jumpers, blazers, PE tops, coats, water bottles, lunch boxes and bags.

You don’t necessarily need expensive personalised labels either. A permanent fabric pen can be enough. Replacing a lost school jumper can easily cost £20, £30 or more, so spending a few minutes adding names to everything before September is definitely worth it.

10. Save the Next Size Up

While buying things your child doesn’t need isn’t going to save money, there are occasions when buying ahead makes sense.

If you spot an excellent-quality school jumper for £2 at a school uniform sale and know your child will eventually need that size, pick it up. Keep a small box or section of the wardrobe for the next size up. This works particularly well for expensive branded pieces and coats.

Just make sure you know what you’ve already stored – otherwise it’s very easy to forget about them and accidentally buy everything again!

11. Pass Things Down or Pass Them On

If you have younger children, keep anything that’s still in good condition once it’s been outgrown. It isn’t only uniform that can be passed down.

Backpacks, PE bags, coats, calculators and other school equipment can often be reused too.

And if you don’t have anyone to pass things down to, consider donating them to your school’s uniform swap or a local charity shop. That £25 jumper your child has outgrown might save another family a significant amount of money.

12. Don’t Get Swept Up in the ‘New September’ Pressure

I actually think this is one of the biggest ways we can save money at this time of year.

September has become another shopping season. We’re surrounded by new pencil cases, backpacks, lunch boxes, water bottles and stationery, all promising that this is what children need for the new school year.

But a new academic year doesn’t require completely new belongings.

If last year’s backpack still works, use it.

If their water bottle is fine, wash it and put it back in their bag.

If their pencil case is full of perfectly usable pens, they don’t need another one simply because it’s September.

Of course, there will always be things that genuinely need replacing. Children grow, shoes wear out and school equipment eventually reaches the end of its life. But there’s a big difference between replacing what children need and replacing everything because we feel we’re supposed to.

A Back-to-School Reset Doesn’t Have to Cost a Fortune

Going back to school can be expensive, particularly when you’re buying for more than one child, but there are lots of small ways to keep those costs under control.

Start with what you already own.

• Try things on.
• Clean stubborn stains.
• Make small repairs.
• Look at second-hand options.
• Check school selling groups.

And then buy the things that are genuinely missing.

I’ve particularly enjoyed using the YAAS products as part of our back-to-school reset because they fit perfectly with something I’m trying to do more of generally: taking care of what we already have instead of automatically replacing it.

If a stain can be removed, a button can be sewn back on or a perfectly good school jumper can be passed on to another child, that’s a win for both our wallets and the amount of waste we’re creating.

And perhaps that’s a much better message to take into the new school year than feeling as though everything has to be brand new.

K Elizabeth xoxox

*Collaborative Post