The Better Budgeting Podcast
The Better Budgeting Podcast is your go-to resource for mastering your finances without the stress. Hosted by Danielle Reese, this podcast breaks down budgeting, saving, and smart spending into simple, actionable steps. Whether you’re tackling debt, building wealth, or just looking to make your money work smarter, we’ve got expert insights, real-life success stories, and practical tips to help you take control of your financial future. Tune in and start making your budget work for you—without sacrificing the things you love!
The Better Budgeting Podcast
Episode 84: Being Money Smart for Back to School
Danielle is a money coach helping those who have been trying to figure out their finances FINALLY create a clear plan so they don’t have to worry about waiting to refill their bank account the next payday.
She is the founder of The Financial Freedom Society on Facebook and her signature money coaching program, The Better Budgeting Playbook. You can sign up for her newsletter by clicking here.
Take the first step towards financial freedom and sign up for a complimentary assessment call with me, Danielle Reese.
Grab your copy of "Let's Talk Groceries" Your Guide to Reducing Your Grocery Bill" This is an ebook with over 30 pages of tips, tricks, and guidance to help you save hundreds on your grocery bill!
Sign up for The Better Budgeting Blueprint for $99.
Grab your free copy of The Bank Statement Exercise.
Hello and welcome to the Better Budgeting Podcast. I'm your host, danielle Reese. I'm a money coach and the founder of the Better Budgeting Playbook, and this is my one-on-one coaching program for women and couples who have been trying to figure out their finances, finally create a clear plan so they don't have to worry about waiting on payday anymore. I became a money coach in 2020 after paying off over $60,000 in debt, rekindling my marriage, becoming financially free and wanting others to experience the same. If you'd like to work with me, you can check out the link in the show notes there. Also, we have the Financial Freedom Society on Facebook. It's a free Facebook community focusing on debt payoff, saving strategies, budgeting and money mindset. You can find the link to that community in the show notes as well. Hey there, thanks for coming back for another episode. I really appreciate it. Welcome, welcome.
Speaker 1:Today is all about back to school. That season is here Right now. It is releasing on August 4th 2025. So if you're listening to it right after release or not far after, can you believe it's August already? I can't believe it. And kids are getting ready to head back to school. And let me tell you, I started seeing the back to school ads about 4th of July. I feel like every single year it just gets you know sooner and sooner. I mean I'm already seeing Christmas things out, which is crazy to me, but I guess people are trying to capitalize that. Which kind of throws me into the topic, and it is the overconsumption of basically everything that we make a big deal out of. So you think of back to school. There's so much overconsumption, you know, fall time, halloween, thanksgiving, christmas, like it just becomes so crazy.
Speaker 1:I was watching a reel the other day and this lady, she was invited to a wedding that is no kid, it was a kid free wedding. And I'm like, okay, well, I've been to those before, not a, not a big deal. And she was throwing her kids a wedding for the couple that the kids could attend before the wedding. And I was like, oh my heavens, and she was going through with all these things that she was buying and she's like I just want my kids to be able to feel included and I'm like, okay, I'm not getting behind it, I can't get behind it. I was just thinking like, oh my gosh, all the money that you've spent on these products and you know the decor and all these things, though it is a fun idea. Over consumption is a real thing. It is so real and it was really prevalent in that reel that I was watching and I'm just like, wow's, just that's a lot of money to spend on, you know, kind of this just event that you're just throwing for the kids. It's not even like your wedding kind of situation, it's you know, a friend's wedding, but anyway, overconsumption is just a really big problem in America and one of the things that I see most is definitely with kids okay, or us as adults spending on our kids.
Speaker 1:So back to school comes and when I was a kid, my mom she would take us back to school shopping, right, and we got new clothes, new book bags, new shoes. You know, we got our haircuts, we got all the school supplies that we needed. And I was talking to my husband and his mom and she said, oh yeah, we went. You know he always got the nicest clothes and the nicest things and you know, always had to get nice shoes and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, you know very similar situation. And my husband and I were talking about it and I said, you know, bryant, that's my husband, bryant, I don't. I don't think our kids really need a whole lot. And he says, well, I think we should get him new shoes. And I, yeah, I agree. You know my, my son, he needs a pair of sneakers.
Speaker 1:My daughter, she got a pair of sneakers, um, for her birthday in February. Uh, she's actually getting a little tight in those suckers, so we do need to get some new shoes at this point. Um, but like they have three backpacks already, um, that we've been gifted over the years. They've got three backpacks. We don't need a new backpack. And I actually just inventoried all of my daughter's clothes and I don't know how this happened y'all, but she had 30 pairs of underwear. I can't tell you the last time I bought her underwear, but she got underwear for Christmas, for her birthday. I don't know how this happened. I do know two instances, but I don't know how that happened. I got rid of 20 pairs. I did I got rid of 20 pairs. Like I don't need to be washing 30 pairs of underwear, okay, especially for a seven-year-old Like what the heck? How'd this happen? So I think it's important to talk about that.
Speaker 1:We are pressured into buying new, buying shiny things, and I want you to be able to take control of this season, especially if you're a mom or a dad with kids going back to school, it's really important to teach your kids making this a teachable moment and teach them what it means to be conservative and purchasing and not to over consume things and just buy things because they're nice and they're new. Our culture does a really awesome job at one making us feel guilty, right. How many times have we seen, you know commercials where people are buying the new things and they're hip and they're popular and you know all this stuff and we want our kids to feel included. We don't want our kids picked on because they're wearing last year's shoes or they've got a you know Minecraft backpack and that's not in anymore. I don't, I don't even know what's in anymore. I have no idea.
Speaker 1:But there is this guilt and comparison that comes in general. It's not even just back to school, but in general. There's guilt and comparison that comes with being a parent, as your kids are growing and you know they get out into society, they make new friends and they're kind of exposed to this culture of do shiny things all the time. And it's our job as parents, not only you know, to rein in the finances and and be mindful of the spending, but also making these teachable moments of we don't have to fit in. We don't have to fit in, we need to live a life that we enjoy, because when we aren't living a life that we enjoy and we're constantly chasing you know the next new thing, or we're constantly comparing our lives to somebody else's chasing you know the next new thing, or we're constantly comparing our lives to somebody else's lives. You know this is going to reflect in your finances. You're going to have a lot of unnecessary purchases that you're going to start to believe are necessary.
Speaker 1:I have a client right now that you know she gets her nails done every month. You know, and I've got other clients that they get them done every two weeks. You know, but every month she gets her nails done every month, you know, and I've got other clients that they get them done every two weeks, you know, but every month she gets her nails done and she's like well, I just have brittle nails and I don't love them and you know, I just like I don't want anybody to make fun of me because they're brittle, and then they get really, really short and you know all these things. But could you imagine like living a life of who you are and how God made you and being, and you're willing to go and spend money to look a certain way or have certain things so that you fit in. I do think this is different than having things because you love it right. You can get your nails done because you love the way that your nails look right. But to get your nails done because you don't want other people to look at you a certain way, that's a whole different ballgame and I think it's really, really important to share that with our kids. That you know. It's one thing for you to like this. It's another thing that you're just sitting in it with the trends or you want people to like you because of it, whether it's shoes, backpacks, water bottles oh my gosh, we'll get into the water bottles, but oh okay. So I want to give you some tips for back to school shopping because, just like grocery shopping, nobody really teaches you how to back to school shop. But you better believe I'm going to teach you how to do it, all right, and on a budget at that.
Speaker 1:So the first thing that we're going to do is we're going to shop at home. All right, I said a little bit about earlier, like I was inventorying my daughter's clothes. That's what you're going to do. You're going to go through all of their clothes their dressers, armoires, closet, wherever they have their clothes, upstairs and downstairs you know, in the closets, in the bins that you have downstairs that are tucked away for winter clothes, all of that we're gonna inventory it all right, it's gonna be all right, tally mark, shirt, shirt shirt, pants, pants, socks. And as you're going through that, you're checking sizes, you're making sure oh well, did they fit this last winter? They're definitely not gonna fit it next winter.
Speaker 1:Good, we're gonna put it in the donation pile, or, you know, it's too far gone. We're going to go ahead and trash it. Whatever it is, you're going to make a decision about it right then. And there, okay One, it's going to clean out space for new clothes, if you need new clothes. But then you're going to realize how many pieces of clothing your child actually has and what you really need to do is go do it for yourself too. Okay, but we're talking about kids today. We're just talking about kids.
Speaker 1:So you're going to go through and you're like, oh wow, they've got 35 shirts, t-shirts, or they've got 15 t-shirts. They have five t-shirts after I've cleaned everything out and realized that, you know, they've only been wearing the same five. Then we're going to do our pants and our socks and yada, yada, yada. We're going to go through the whole thing. Then we're going to create a list of what actually is missing. Okay, so it's oh, they need a nice pair of pants, they need a new pair of shoes. They probably could use three shirts, maybe one shirt. Then we're going to take that list. We're going to go to the store and we're going to buy only those things, only those things.
Speaker 1:Because here's the thing yes, you're going to see a really awesome outfit, a cute outfit. The kids you're going to take them with you. They're going to want that backpack. They're going to want that shirt. You're going to like honey, you got three shirts that you're going to pick out today. I'm so excited to do this with you. Let's go find the three most awesome, coolest shirts that you can find. Right, and we pick out one, two and three. Also, what I just did there is like making the situation positive instead of saying, no, we can't have that. No, we're going to go get some awesome shirts today. We're going to get a brand new pair of shoes. We're going to get, you know, three pairs of pants, whatever is on your list, like we are hyping them up to have a good time, like because they are going shopping.
Speaker 1:It's just not a free-for-all shopping and that kind of blends right into the next tip and that is the wants versus needs conversation, because I can guarantee you're gonna go in there. They got the three shirts. You know you had three on the list. They got the three shirts. They're gonna see a fourth shirt. They're going to see a fourth shirt. They're going to. And then we get to have that awesome conversation of wants versus needs. And this conversation can go a couple of ways. It can be listen, we only needed three shirts. Okay, you have other shirts at home. Is there another shirt of these three that you want to put back to get that shirt instead? Well, no, I want all of them. Okay, so we can get this fourth shirt. If we get this fourth shirt, these are the things that would have to happen.
Speaker 1:It is we have to remove our eating out budget. We are not going to be able to go do this event, or I'm going to have to take it out of your piggy bank, or you know, it is setting the tone of the boundary of this is what I set. If we want to go outside of that, we have to change something else in order for it to happen. The other side of the conversation is we had three shirts. All I can do is three shirts. No, we're not getting rid of some of the eating out budget. No, we're not going to get rid of the family trip. No, we're not going to pull from savings. These are the three things that we have. If you want to put back one of these other shirts to get this one, I support that, okay. But we have to hold some type of boundary, because they're kids. They're going to want things. They're going to want other things.
Speaker 1:Let's talk about cups. First off. When I was a kid, nobody took water bottles to school. We all had to go to the fountain. I fully support taking water bottles to school, knowing that, like, our bodies need a lot more water than any of us actually give it. So the thing is for me, is the vessel that it's in is a problem? We have made the vessel to hold water a huge, marketable business. Now, as a business owner, cool. I love that. You capitalize in on a trend you know, as you know, a person of trying to minimize over consumption and really keep my budget in check. Also, teach my kids that their value does not hold weight based off of the brand of water bottle or even clothes or shoes that they wear.
Speaker 1:I feel like it's a little much. This has culturally become a whole thing, whether it's Stanley, yeti, is it Oluwala bottles? I think that's how you pronounce it. Whatever it is, it's become such a huge thing. But really, what are we trying to achieve? We're just trying to transport water from home to school, maybe even keep it cold, right, and if it's coming out of the water fountain at school, anyway, it's already cold. I do believe we need water bottles, right, I think that's really important, but I think the vessel, all right, doesn't deserve $25, $35,. Okay, that's my opinion. You, though, you might like it. You might have a whole cabinet full of Stanleys and you'll really enjoy it. You got a flavor of the week, right, or a flavor of the day, your color of the day, whatever it is, but it comes right on back to overconsumption, and are we trying to fit in, or is it something that we really, really love?
Speaker 1:My last tip for you is to delay the buying process. Okay, go get the things that you need to start the school year. Delay on everything else. When my kids were in traditional school, they would send home a supply list right At the beginning of the year. They would mail it to your house or maybe they're posting it on internet, whatever. And you know it's like we need one box of crayons, a box of tissues, kleenex, which are the same thing, danielle duh. They need, you know, expo markers fine point tip. You know they're very specific on those things.
Speaker 1:And then it says don't put the name of your student on any of these supplies. It's going to be shared with the classroom. Okay, that's fine with me. But here's the thing If you've got 25 kids in the class and all of them are bringing tissues and all of them are bringing lysol wipes and all of them, like you are going to be okay to not buy it that first week, you can buy the second, you can buy the third. You could even help out and buy them in, like January, when the first initial stock has gone through and people are like, hey, you know, I've gotten it before when my kids were in school. You, you know, hey, our stock is running low. Can anyone you know purchase Yep, I got you girlfriend or sir, you know, if it's a man, I got you. Yep, hit the Amazon cart, go ahead, send it directly to school, whatever it is. So this is just one tip that helps delay those purchases as well is like what is actually needed and when. And even emailing the teacher and saying, hey, instead of me sending all of this along with everybody else and you have 35 Kleenex boxes, you mind if I send stuff in January instead? Yeah, absolutely, that would be so helpful. Fantastic. I don't think you're going to have a complaint from any teachers, and actually I've got seven teachers currently that I that I coach seven, seven of them. None of them would complain about a parent saying, hey, can I, can I restock for you in January? Okay, while we're talking about delaying the buy, let me go back to the actual buying part and that it's all right to do second hand.
Speaker 1:Really trendy right now, I'll see on Instagram, even Facebook is like these reels of people doing shopping at the Goodwill and the community aids and the thrift stores and like sharing their hauls and and remaking them into something new. Go over to the thrift store and see if you can find a Nike bag, I bet you could. And guess what? You're going to bring it home. You're going to put some shout on it, make it some tide, clean it all up nicely, and guess what? You got a nice backpack to send with your kids. Or even like swap groups that's really popular too, where parents they get together and they're just swapping things. Like you know, we've got this old backpack. This is really prevalent right now in the homeschool community that we've been in. It is like here's the curriculum that we have, go ahead and you know we're swapping. I'm looking for this one. I'm looking that. Facebook groups are great for you to communicate with people within your region so you can swap and trade and you know all kinds of things.
Speaker 1:So there is a way to intentionally and inexpensively do back to school shopping. Our culture, unfortunately, has made it such a big to do of expectation of you're going to go out for the day, you're going to do, lunch, you're going to do. You know what I mean, and even you you might have done that before. I'm just asking Give it a shot. Inventory your stuff, see what you actually have, make a list of what you actually need, go get only those things and then delay any of those school supplies purchases and talk with a teacher and say, hey, is this really something that you need right now, or can I send it to you in January, february, march, december, whenever? Try those three tips this year and I will say, adding another thing is you're going to see a lot of stuff go on deeper discount after school starts, after Labor Day, especially on those school supplies. That's what I'm saying. Go ahead and delay, delay those purchases, all right, all right. Thanks so much for listening to this week's episode. I'll talk to you again soon. Bye-bye.