How to Budget for Back-to-School Without Breaking the Bank?

Hey, can you believe it? School's about to start again. If your wallet could talk, it'd probably be screaming right now. Supplies, clothes, fees, it all just adds up so fast.But today I want to help you skip the stress. We're going to get ahead of it and we're going to do it together.So stick with me and I'll show you how to budget for Back to school the savvy Christian way.This is Financially Confident Christian, your daily dose of gospel grounded insight and faith driven tips to help you break the cycle of financial shame with conf. Hey there. Welcome back to Financially Confident Christian. I'm Ralph and I am really glad you're here.It's a special day today as we kick off a brand new series called Smart Money for Back to School and beyond. My goal in this series is to help you head into the school year feeling ready both financially and spiritually.And today's topic is going to cut right to the chase. How to prepare for school without breaking the bank. Let's get real for a minute.You want to be excited about the new school year, but maybe deep down you're just feeling a little overwhelmed already. You're already thinking through those supply lists. You know, they're always a mile long.You're looking into kids closets and they've outgrew everything over the summer. And that laptop they've been using to play games on during the summer, well, it's been acting up a little bit.And deep down you say to yourself, I want to provide for them, Ralph. You want them to feel confident. You want them to be ready. But that money part, well, Rob, that's pretty heavy.And I'm going to tell you right now, without a clear plan, the truth is stress and guilt will creep in fast. Here's the thing you got to understand.And if you've already been through this cycle one time, or maybe this is your 12th or 14th season of this, Back to school is a big financial moment for most families. So if you're feeling the pressure, I'll tell you right now, you're not alone. I've been there and did that with my kids when they were younger.But the good news is this is also an opportunity to honor God with our money and care for our family. So let's get right into the word. I'm going to use a verse From Proverbs chapter 21, verse 20 that I use on the show probably once a week.But it's so important that we start here in this new series. And it says this again. Proverbs 21:20. The wise store up choice food in olive oil, but fools gulp theirs down.I don't think you need a translation, but if you do, what is it saying here? It's saying, the wise plan ahead. Well, back to school time. It's time to plan ahead, because here's a little secret.God honors planning, and by definition, he honors stewardship. And yes, spoiler alert, you can take care of your kids without overspending or panicking. And I'm going to tell you how to do that on today's show.But first, I want to share something kind of personal. I remember when I was growing up now, my mom had a really tough time getting my sister and I ready for school each year.My sister and I, well, let's just say we weren't always the easiest kids when it came to clothes and supplies. I was one of those big kids, you know, I was. Seemed like I was always outgrowing stuff. And we also had our opinions and we had our wants.And to say mom had a very limited budget would be an understatement. Now, my mom has passed away a couple years ago, but I was thinking about as I was preparing for this show, what a production this was.But she made it work. My mom stretched every single dollar she planned ahead. She used to keep notes of everything.And the best part of it all, I always knew this growing up, she did it all with love and with this quiet strength. And, you know, now as an adult and a parent, I can see now how much strength that she really had. And I can see what a sacrifice that was.And honestly, sometimes I'm kind of embarrassed about the way I act. And if. If you're an adult and you can lurk back to that, too, you're probably thinking the same thing.And maybe right now, as you listen to this, you're a parent right now, and you're. And you're going through this. I'm going to tell you something right now. I want to tell you this loud and clear. You can do this.Here's the beauty of it. You don't need to be perfect again. I said this on yesterday's show. You're never going to be perfect. So stop chasing after it.You just need to be wise, you need to be intentional, and you need to be willing to trust God through the process. So now you're probably saying, great, Ralph, back to school. Time. Time to spend more money we don't have. We're already struggling.What can we do, Ralph? Well, here's the move I'm going to tell you right now a very simple way to get started. We're going to build a simple back to school budget.Nothing fancy, nothing elaborate, nothing no big deal. Just honest, realistic, and most of all, the most important part of this, something that's doable.We're going to look at what's needed, we're going to assign some numbers to it. And big thing we're going to do is we're commit to sticking to it. So here is your one action step for today.First thing I want you to do is grab that school supply list. Most of the time the school sends it out.Maybe there's a school portal and maybe you've got an email or maybe the teachers are actually reaching out to you. But start with grabbing that school supply list. Now here's, here's the second step.A lot of people overthink this one or even don't think about it at all. And that's taking inventory. What do you already have? So many people overlook the fact that they've already got this stuff.It's sitting in that junk drawer. We did a show a couple weeks ago about that stuff, that junk drawer. But really ask yourself, what do you have? Do you already have the backpack?One of the things. When my kids were young, my wife said to me, she says, Ralph, we're going to invest in durable backpacks.And I was kind of sticker shocked when I saw it. But she was so right about that because that backpack lasted them year after year after year.I think they grew tired of it before it actually wore out. So take a look. What backpacks do you have? Shoes. I remember when as a kid, man, I would outgrow shoes.It was always, oh, we got to get a couple pairs of shoes for school. Extra pens. Here's the thing, do an inventory. Don't buy what you don't need. Your kids are going to be pressuring you, oh, I need the newest stuff.I need the latest stuff. We're gonna talk about some of that stuff tomorrow. But start by taking that image. So get that supply list and take that inventory.And as we're talking about this budget, start to estimate your cost of this thing. You can look at flyers, go on Amazon, go on different websites and figure out some realistic numbers for first thing, supplies.What are we going to spend in supplies? You know, paper, pens, pencils, whatever the cool kids are using. Now put down a budget number for clothes and shoes.You don't have to buy it all at once. Remember, we're going to be going into at least in the, on the east coast where I am, we're going to have a warm season before the fall hits.So there's going to be a different time for different clothing. So school shoes and clothes. Let's talk about those tech things. Maybe there's some tech things you need. Maybe you can find those before you.Maybe you've already got them. Start thinking about the school fees. You're going to have to play. A lot of people have to pay school fees.Maybe there's some extracurricular activity fees. Maybe the kids are going to play school sports and they got to go get a physical. Well, you need a budget for that.And then I'm going to encourage you to have an other bucket. You know, just those things that don't quite fit into that. So we talked about, first thing, find that list that you need.Second thing, take that inventory. And third thing, estimate those costs. Now it's time to allocate that money. Decide how much goes into each category. Now, here's the key.It's going to be a hard thing to do, but this is very important for you. Start with the needs first. These are the things that my kids absolutely need. These are the absolute essentials.And then put the ones down later in the list, the next step. And this is where the hard part comes in. You got to stick to the plan.It's so easy to get into that impulse buying, so easy to do that when something's not in the budget.I can, I can still picture my sister and I at the store with my mama a couple days before school starts, and we're walking through the store and we're grabbing stuff off the racks and my mom's saying, listen, that kids, that's not in the budget. That's. That's on the list. Oh, come on, mom. Oh, come on, Mom.And she would say, listen, kids, not right now, but you got to have some backbone to that. So save right now and mean it, because that's going to be important. Now I want to encourage you because I'm going to tell you why this works.And this helps you because it reduces that stress. If you've got a plan, you've got, you're already got your ideas of what you need. You've got that, that crystal clear list.You know what's in already in your inventory. It's going to reduce that stress. It's going to kill that guilt because you've already made a commitment. Hey, I'm going to stick to my guns this year.Here's the budget.Here's what I agreed to spend and it brings clarity, control and most of all, and this is the most important part, it honors God and it blesses your kids in the process. So, hey, I really hope today's show has really encouraged you and I want to ask you to do just one thing for me.I want to encourage you to share this episode with someone else, you know, who's maybe facing those same back to school money pressures. Maybe it's a friend, maybe it's a co worker.Hey, maybe it's just a parent from your school or your church group and you're thinking, Ralph, man, they don't need more stress. I certainly don't need it. But they need to hope and they need to have a plan.So send them this episode so that they can encourage them and they can be encouraged together. That's what we do here on Financially Confident Christians. We look out for one another.So just send them a text, send them an email or talk to them directly and say, hey, check out this website, financiallyconfidentchristian.com and let them know, hey, Ralph's doing a special series on how not to lose all your money on Back to school. It's a funny way to frame it, but say that to them. Probably get their attention. So here's your next step.Get those lists, check what you've got, and build that simple plan. And again, if you need more support, I've wrote a blog post about today's show.You can get that@financiallyconfidentchristian.com now tomorrow we're going to take the next step. We're going to tackle smart shopping strategies where going to tackle that beast of needs versus extras. And it's going to be a great show.So until then, I want to encourage you right now, keep the faith, stick to the plan and be confident because God's got you. God bless you and I'll see you tomorrow.