Schools open on 17 January, which means you still have two weekends left to do all the necessary back-to-school shopping.
But what if you went wild with your annual bonus or spent a little too much on Christmas gifts this year?
How do you budget for school supplies when your wallet is nearly empty?
• Raid their suitcases. Those school bags that have been laying untouched underneath your children’s beds throughout December might still contain some essential stationery items that they can continue using in 2018. Who cares if the pencil is not full-sized and brand spanking new, or the ruler has a few scratches?
• Hand them down. If you have more than one child, a niece or nephew, or friends with children, see if they are willing to part with some of their usable stationery. Maybe your eldest has a set of untouched oil pastels or a redundant pencil case that you can hand down to sibling number two.
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• Swop out. If you have a group of friends or relatives with school-going children, organise a get-together during which everyone brings along all the excess and unused stationery in their homes.
That scientific calculator that you cannot afford right now might just be gathering dust in a friend’s study drawer.
• Just ask. If your neighbour’s daughter just finished matric, she probably won’t be needing her dictionaries or drawing board any longer. A friend’s son who’s going to Grade 4 this year probably has no further use for the puzzle set and chair bag he was required to have in his junior phase.
• Shop around to find the best deals on stationery. One shop might charge R2 less than another for a specific item, which might not sound like a big deal until you add up the cost of a whole shopping trolley load.
• Opt for the really cheap brands. We understand that teachers ask for specific, top quality brands to last a whole year, but your budget might unfortunately not allow this at the moment. Pay day is just around the corner. Surely your child will survive on a sub-standard glue stick and blunt pencil sharpener for the week until your next salary cheque comes in?
• Send an IOU. If all else fails, and you really can’t afford to buy stationery at the moment, contact your child’s teacher. Explain the situation and find out what school supplies he/she needs immediately. Many schools spend the first two weeks of the first term doing athletics or team-building, so the teacher might be lenient.
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