During the school year, families can find themselves running into unexpected school-related expenses. These expenses can really add up. Fees and requests for money can range from $5 to hundreds of dollars per kid per instance.
The best way to tackle these expenses is threefold.
First, make sure that you have a savings or budget plan that will include these expenses, so you won’t be surprised; second make a decision on what you can or can’t do or support; and three, figure out if there are any cost saving measures that can be applied for these expenses.
What types of expenses can you expect? Here is just a general list. Your students may have additional items for the list.
Additional school supplies, such as headphones, memory cards, even computers
Yearbook fees
Sports equipment purchase or rental
Music instrument purchase or rental
Security deposits for equipment or premises
Club fees and expenses
Mandatory spirit-wear purchases
Field trip fees
School events, such as ice cream socials, carnivals, raffles, etc.
Fundraising purchases
Fundraising donations
General classroom or teacher supplies, such as tissues, chalk, markers, etc.
PTO or Home & School Association dues
Money for classroom snacks and refreshments
Coaching fees
There tends to be a lot of pressure on parents to throw money at everything whenever the school or an organization within the school asks. But, if you know your budget, you can get a handle on things by deciding what you think is most important and then work hard to support those.
For example, in our household, we do not participate in door to door fundraising that supports various parties, such as for volunteer recognition. I think volunteer recognition is important, but perhaps not as important as the school’s art and academic programs, so we concentrate our time and money more on the latter.