Well the new school year is rapidly coming upon us. And like every new school year there are costly items to purchase – computers, stationery, textbooks, school shoes, uniforms, lunch boxes, backpacks etc.
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Schoolkids Bonus – check your eligibility as first half year payments are being made now. Unfortunately this payment will only be paid to eligible families until the end of 2016 due to a deal the Abbott Government made with Clive Palmer but until then many families are eligible for two instalments (January and July) of $211 for primary students and $421 for secondary students.
Tips for saving on Back to School Costs
- Before purchasing any school books check what you have at home – pencils, books, etc may have enough use in them to see out at least a term to stagger the costs.
- The school booklists may seem like a simple thing to do but they are often more expensive than you can get by shopping around – Don’t just tick everything and order shop around check your stock levels at home and pricing at other stores.
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- School fees – some public schools allow you to spread the cost over the year by using Centrepay. Centrepay is when you direct Centrelink to send some of your payment to a third party, in this case the school.
- Look at 2nd hand books – find a parent in the year above your kids that you can do a “cheap” purchase deal on textbooks from. This helps them as they get some much needed money to purchase their school supplies and you also get the books at a fraction of the cost. At my daughters previous school I had an arrangement with a parent the year above her and a parent the year below – win-win