As the new school year approaches, many parents are preparing for the added expenses that come with it. According to Deloitte’s 2026 Back-to-School Survey, parents plan to spend an average of $557 per K-12 student. To help manage these costs, CreditFresh provides simple tips to help families separate must-have school costs from optional purchases and spread spending across the weeks before classes begin.

Creating a School Budget

One of the most important steps in managing back-to-school expenses is to create a budget. This involves listing all the school-related expenses you already know about and estimating what each one may cost. Separate immediate purchases from expenses that are likely to come later, then decide how much you can reasonably set aside for each category.

Reviewing the budget throughout the school year and adjusting it as new costs come up can help prevent smaller school expenses from becoming unexpected financial pressures. Stocking up on basics can be useful, especially for school supplies and other shelf-stable, back-to-school essentials that are likely to be needed later in the year.

Additional Tips

Many people are surprised by how well they do and how much they save during a no-buy challenge. It is not about depriving yourself of a necessity but encouraging you to be more intentional about spending money. Maybe you set a dollar and time limit — for example, anything over $50 requires sleeping on it before making a decision.

Look into local buy-nothing and free-cycle groups. They are an online resource for items, typically household items, that have a longer lifespan than one user. Whether these are kids’ toys, furniture, clothing, books, sports equipment, or the boxes these things came in, people are getting rid of items they no longer need that are typically in good condition or better.

Original reporting: El Paso News (HLL/CB) — read the source article.