January 14, 2025 • 23 mins
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.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
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,
(00:23):
speeches and more. Hello, Canna, how are you? I am?
Well though we are approaching back to school.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
Oh, I'm fully a bit exhausted.
Speaker 1 (00:33):
And it is an expensive time of year. It really
is that there there are a million things to buy.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
It's so overwhelming that you've.
Speaker 1 (00:41):
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?
Speaker 2 (01:02):
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
(01:30):
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
(01:50):
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.
Speaker 1 (02:03):
Oh yeah, I had not considered that those things are expensive.
Speaker 2 (02:08):
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.
Speaker 1 (02:14):
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.
Speaker 2 (02:34):
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
(02:54):
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,
(03:17):
because you can just refer to the list, And.
Speaker 1 (03:19):
A lot of schools they provide a list, don't they.
Speaker 2 (03:22):
What you need.
Speaker 1 (03:23):
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.
Speaker 2 (03:30):
Yes last year point which strong from me.
Speaker 1 (03:33):
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.
Speaker 2 (03:50):
I don't know what you're going to say.
Speaker 1 (03:52):
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,
(04:13):
oh goodness me the displeasure. Yes, in the studio.
Speaker 2 (04:18):
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,
(04:40):
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
(05:02):
avoid over spending as well.
Speaker 1 (05:05):
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.
Speaker 2 (05:19):
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
(05:40):
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.
Speaker 1 (05:55):
Anything that doesn't have the school logo, yeah, you can
get it elsewhere. Get it somewhere cheaper.
Speaker 2 (06:00):
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
(06:21):
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
(06:41):
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.
Speaker 1 (07:02):
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.
Speaker 2 (07:18):
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.
Speaker 1 (07:28):
Hats are just like they're just currency. At school let's
get passed around. Aren't they just frisbee.
Speaker 2 (07:33):
Across the playground and then you never see it again?
Speaker 1 (07:36):
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
(07:59):
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?
Speaker 2 (08:19):
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
(08:41):
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
(09:05):
a brilliant episode on what brands to potentially go for
to get better value for money.
Speaker 1 (09:11):
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
(09:32):
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,
(09:54):
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
(10:16):
prohibitively expensive, isn't it. And yes, hand me down certainly help,
but still it is just an expensive time of year.
Speaker 2 (10:24):
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
(10:45):
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.
(11:07):
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.
Speaker 1 (11:28):
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.
(11:48):
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
(12:09):
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?
Speaker 2 (12:31):
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,
(12:52):
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.
(13:13):
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.
Speaker 1 (13:22):
Oh wow.
Speaker 2 (13:22):
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
(13:44):
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,
(14:06):
explain your situation, and see what do you have in place.
Speaker 1 (14:10):
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
(14:32):
other option, that you can't shop around when you can.
Speaker 2 (14:36):
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
(14:56):
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.
(15:16):
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
(15:39):
things you can do innocently that just make it so
much harder and so much more expensive for yourself.
Speaker 1 (15:44):
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.
(16:05):
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?
Speaker 2 (16:20):
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
(16:41):
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,
(17:03):
but okay, you need highlighters. Is all the list says.
Maybe we can think about that as a part of
your birthday present.
Speaker 1 (17:09):
So it's quite fun. Actually, I quite like a shripped
off smoke.
Speaker 2 (17:13):
It's true. There's a bit of me and it's in
this as well.
Speaker 1 (17:15):
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.
Speaker 2 (17:25):
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
(17:45):
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,
(18:06):
so you can be an evening activity.
Speaker 1 (18:09):
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
(18:32):
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.
Speaker 2 (18:52):
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
(19:15):
for families in need, or discounts for when you've got
more than two children at the school.
Speaker 1 (19:20):
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,
(19:44):
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.
Speaker 2 (19:54):
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
(20:17):
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.
(20:38):
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.
Speaker 1 (20:45):
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
(21:05):
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
(21:26):
don't want to finish on a downer. Bit it is right.
Speaker 2 (21:30):
It can be overwhelming, but the it's like, sit down
and make a list and that will immediately make you
feel better.
Speaker 1 (21:36):
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?
Speaker 2 (21:46):
Oh?
Speaker 1 (21:46):
Yes, and did you get to them put pictures and
everything on as well?
Speaker 2 (21:49):
White cut out things and make my books so pretty?
And I'm so motivated.
Speaker 1 (21:54):
And when you were labeling pencils and things, did you
shape shape.
Speaker 2 (21:59):
The tip of the end my right name? All those
daggy talk you things.
Speaker 1 (22:03):
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.
Speaker 2 (22:21):
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.
Speaker 1 (22:31):
How do we find you if we want more information?
Speaker 2 (22:34):
Best place was always Instagram at Trigga Mama TV.
Speaker 1 (22:37):
Did you forget for a second where you are?
Speaker 2 (22:40):
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.
Speaker 1 (22:51):
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
(23:11):
do they afford that? Thank you for your company. Join
us again next week.
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,
(00:23):
speeches and more. Hello, Canna, how are you? I am?
Well though we are approaching back to school.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
Oh, I'm fully a bit exhausted.
Speaker 1 (00:33):
And it is an expensive time of year. It really
is that there there are a million things to buy.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
It's so overwhelming that you've.
Speaker 1 (00:41):
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?
Speaker 2 (01:02):
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
(01:30):
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
(01:50):
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.
Speaker 1 (02:03):
Oh yeah, I had not considered that those things are expensive.
Speaker 2 (02:08):
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.
Speaker 1 (02:14):
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.
Speaker 2 (02:34):
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
(02:54):
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,
(03:17):
because you can just refer to the list, And.
Speaker 1 (03:19):
A lot of schools they provide a list, don't they.
Speaker 2 (03:22):
What you need.
Speaker 1 (03:23):
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.
Speaker 2 (03:30):
Yes last year point which strong from me.
Speaker 1 (03:33):
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.
Speaker 2 (03:50):
I don't know what you're going to say.
Speaker 1 (03:52):
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,
(04:13):
oh goodness me the displeasure. Yes, in the studio.
Speaker 2 (04:18):
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,
(04:40):
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
(05:02):
avoid over spending as well.
Speaker 1 (05:05):
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.
Speaker 2 (05:19):
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
(05:40):
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.
Speaker 1 (05:55):
Anything that doesn't have the school logo, yeah, you can
get it elsewhere. Get it somewhere cheaper.
Speaker 2 (06:00):
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
(06:21):
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
(06:41):
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.
Speaker 1 (07:02):
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.
Speaker 2 (07:18):
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.
Speaker 1 (07:28):
Hats are just like they're just currency. At school let's
get passed around. Aren't they just frisbee.
Speaker 2 (07:33):
Across the playground and then you never see it again?
Speaker 1 (07:36):
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
(07:59):
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?
Speaker 2 (08:19):
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
(08:41):
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
(09:05):
a brilliant episode on what brands to potentially go for
to get better value for money.
Speaker 1 (09:11):
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
(09:32):
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,
(09:54):
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
(10:16):
prohibitively expensive, isn't it. And yes, hand me down certainly help,
but still it is just an expensive time of year.
Speaker 2 (10:24):
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
(10:45):
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.
(11:07):
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.
Speaker 1 (11:28):
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.
(11:48):
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
(12:09):
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?
Speaker 2 (12:31):
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,
(12:52):
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.
(13:13):
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.
Speaker 1 (13:22):
Oh wow.
Speaker 2 (13:22):
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
(13:44):
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,
(14:06):
explain your situation, and see what do you have in place.
Speaker 1 (14:10):
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
(14:32):
other option, that you can't shop around when you can.
Speaker 2 (14:36):
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
(14:56):
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.
(15:16):
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
(15:39):
things you can do innocently that just make it so
much harder and so much more expensive for yourself.
Speaker 1 (15:44):
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.
(16:05):
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?
Speaker 2 (16:20):
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
(16:41):
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,
(17:03):
but okay, you need highlighters. Is all the list says.
Maybe we can think about that as a part of
your birthday present.
Speaker 1 (17:09):
So it's quite fun. Actually, I quite like a shripped
off smoke.
Speaker 2 (17:13):
It's true. There's a bit of me and it's in
this as well.
Speaker 1 (17:15):
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.
Speaker 2 (17:25):
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
(17:45):
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,
(18:06):
so you can be an evening activity.
Speaker 1 (18:09):
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
(18:32):
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.
Speaker 2 (18:52):
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
(19:15):
for families in need, or discounts for when you've got
more than two children at the school.
Speaker 1 (19:20):
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,
(19:44):
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.
Speaker 2 (19:54):
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
(20:17):
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.
(20:38):
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.
Speaker 1 (20:45):
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
(21:05):
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
(21:26):
don't want to finish on a downer. Bit it is right.
Speaker 2 (21:30):
It can be overwhelming, but the it's like, sit down
and make a list and that will immediately make you
feel better.
Speaker 1 (21:36):
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?
Speaker 2 (21:46):
Oh?
Speaker 1 (21:46):
Yes, and did you get to them put pictures and
everything on as well?
Speaker 2 (21:49):
White cut out things and make my books so pretty?
And I'm so motivated.
Speaker 1 (21:54):
And when you were labeling pencils and things, did you
shape shape.
Speaker 2 (21:59):
The tip of the end my right name? All those
daggy talk you things.
Speaker 1 (22:03):
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.
Speaker 2 (22:21):
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.
Speaker 1 (22:31):
How do we find you if we want more information?
Speaker 2 (22:34):
Best place was always Instagram at Trigga Mama TV.
Speaker 1 (22:37):
Did you forget for a second where you are?
Speaker 2 (22:40):
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.
Speaker 1 (22:51):
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
(23:11):
do they afford that? Thank you for your company. Join
us again next week.
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