Canadian Personal Finance Blog

It is that time of the year again, my kids are going back to school (luckily none are going to University yet, but that is coming, and that is a topic for another day).

In Ottawa, for me September means a very large cash lay out, and not just for the normal school stuff:

• School supplies for each kid which could add up to almost $100.00 each (and that is not clothing either, but it does include a backpack). This is a big hunk of money, but hopefully a 1 time charge. The schools typically send a list at the end of the previous school year for the next year (so this could be dealt with earlier in the summer I guess).
• Clothing, well, it’s not like you can let your kids go to school naked, can you? This can be anywhere from $200-$400 per child, depending on what you are buying, whether your kids allow for hand-me-downs or previously enjoyed clothes or the like. This could be much higher if your child is a fashion Diva as well. ☺
• Bus passes. This one is a tough one for me to swallow, {careful a RANT follows} I now have 2 children (soon to be 3) that I have to buy city bus passes to get them to school. This means $120 per month for 9 months (yeh, that one really hurts). Over $1000 for the year! Once my third child has to take the city bus, it will be cheaper to lease a car.
• Musical instrument rental or purchase (this is one you don’t think about until your kid starts the music program). If your child is interested in music, you are either paying $200 to rent an instrument or $700 to buy one! You need to figure out which method works better for you.
• School fees! This one really grinds my gears. Every school and pretty much each teacher gouges me for fees (and my kids are going to a PUBLIC school), that add up. This can be up to $50-$75 per child (and this isn’t for field trips or clubs either).
• School lunch add on programs. The school has Pizza Fridays, and a juice/Milk program, ok, gotta kick in another $50.00 for 3 months there too.

What I noticed is that September and December are my two worst months for large cash outlays (barring catastrophic things like furnace replacements and the like). This is true for the past 4 years running. I have a Christmas fund where I put money aside for the holidays which I put money into every year, I think this year I am going to create a “Back to School” fund for next year, because this cash crunch is getting to be painful.

Don’t die the death of 1000 paper cuts, watch your back to school spending! –C8j αω