Getting a Grip on Back to School Costs

Written By Anne Blue

When Piney Ridge Elementary School opens its doors later this month, six-year-old Harrison Kluge will be arriving in a fire truck.

Knowing her son’s passion for firefighters, when Lori Witmer-Kluge heard that the Sykesville Volunteer Fire Department was raffling off a fire truck ride to the first day of school, she went all out to improve the odds that Harrison would arrive in style: She bought 100 tickets at $1 a throw.

Although Harrison’s grand arrival will be a memorable start to first grade, his fire truck ride significantly increase Lori’s back-to-school spending this year.

Like Lori, parents across the county are heading to area stores to spend money filling their shopping carts and cross off items from their “To Do” lists before the school year (and the madness) begin.

The list will seem endless: glue sticks, three-ringed binders, color markers, erasers, calculator, ruler, dictionary, locker organizer, new clothes for the first day, new shoes, haircuts, groceries for quick and nutritious breakfasts and lunches, activity fees for sports, full tank of gas for ferrying kids to and from after school activitiesÉ

Many parents just hope that the confusion associated with the school year becomes organized chaos that doesn’t crush their checkbooks.

Like Lori, they have back-to-school preparations honed to an art form.

Lori’s first piece of advice: shop early and turn the tedious tasks into something special.

“As soon as all the back to school items hit the stores, I’m there,” says Lori. “I don’t wait for the sales. Wal-Mart tends to have great prices, K-Mart is not usually crowded, and Target is one of my favorite places to shop for supplies.”

Lori has three children – Harrison, 1st grade, McKenzi, 5th grade, and Patrick, 6th grade – and she likes to make a special shopping trip with each child, culminating with lunch or dinner at a restaurant, or a stop at an ice cream shop.

Lori estimates she spends close to $90 per child just on supplies, and an additional $200 per child on new shoes, new clothes, haircuts for the boys, and a special web-braid hair style for McKenzi. Still, she does have some rules to help keep the supply costs down.

“They have to choose a reasonably priced backpack, no more that $20,” says Lori. “I also limit them to two of the more expensive spiral notebooks with the special designs on the front.”

“Once we’ve gotten home from our shopping trip and we have everything on their supply list, we label it all, and pack their backpack that night,” explains Lori. “Then we put the backpacks away and forget about them. When it is time to go back to school, everything is ready.”

Carroll parent and former teacher, Mel Rhoads, is the mother of three and knows about the importance of organization. This year she will have Reed, 9, and Sarah, 6, at William Winchester Elementary School and son, Gavin, in the three-year-old program at the Christian Preschool in Westminster.

To keep her family organized, Rhoads posts a large, dry erase family calendar on her refrigerator.

“It has everybody’s everything written on it,” says Rhoads. “All the kids’ school, social, and sporting activities. We are constantly updating it.”

She also posts the school menus and each child’s daily school schedule in plastic sheet covers under the family calendar.

“During the first week of school, especially,” says Rhoads, “we look at these schedules and reiterate which days the kids have PE and need to wear tennis shoes or need to bring their library books back.”

She also purchases the prepaid lunch plan at the beginning of the school year to ease the preparations for school each day.

“My kids like to buy lunch, and we save money with the prepaid annual lunch plan,” reports Rhoads.

Once students reach the upper grades, lunches cost more and other expenses accumulate.

Terri Keel is a mother of three, with two high schoolers this fall and one who has already graduated.
“My oldest, Ann Rae, played on lots of sports teams at Westminster High, and parents can expect a $60 fee for each team,” says Keel.

“Then they order team sweats, which can run about $50, and team photos. The sweats and photos are optional things, but all the kids like to have them so they can really feel a part of the team.”

Keel reels off other high school expenses such as gas for teens who drive to school, school parking passes ($3-5), and ordering a yearbook (about $50) at the beginning of school.

Most stores aid back-to-school shoppers by having the school supplies out by early to mid-July. The stores also provide individual school’s supply lists in case parents forget their copies at home, notes Jason Miller, manager of Wal-Mart in Hampstead, who received supply lists from 21 schools in the surrounding area.

Target carries a lot of back-to-school clothing items including school uniform items, as well as the basic supplies, according to the store’ s Soft Line Executive, Mary Wancowicz.

While stores like Target and Wal-Mart sell a lot of school clothes and basic supplies, they also offer many items for college students.

Wancowicz reports that college-age shoppers leave her store pushing carts that overflow with extra-long sheet sets, mini microwaves, dorm-sized refrigerators, futons, cleaning supplies, shower totes and more.

Wal-Mart offers similar items, emphasizing its “Get it Together” theme for back to college this year with retro style items for dorm rooms.

Along with the hundreds of products for back to school, Staples will be emphasizing a new line of Staples-brand basic supply products that are color coordinated, notes spokesperson Deborah Hohler.

“These products come in fun, bright colors, and students can match notebooks to folders and pens,” reports Hohler. “This line of products is designed to make it easier for students to stay organized for the school year. Organization is so important for success in school.”

“We live for any kind of shopping and we love the back to school shopping,” quips Lisa Dausch, mother of Caroline and Charlie, who will both attend East Middle School.

Dausch’s advice for staying organized, saving money and saving your sanity as the school year begins: Buy, sort and label supplies early – and, most importantly, enjoy the reunion with other families in the shopping aisles.

PARENTS’ QUIPS AND TIPS

Find all the shoes and line them up at the door the night before. Make lunches the night before too.
– Liz Russell, mother of 4

Keep a binder for each school where your children attend. Keep all the information – schedules, calendars, notices, etc. – for a school in one binder.
– Robin Kable, mother of 4

I have a basket where I keep one manila folder for each of my boys. The folder holds all the papers for that kid – schedules, class lists, class events, sports team schedules. It is easy to put my hands on the information I need.
– Denise McVerry, mother of 4

Don’t keep everything! Let your child help you sort through his/her papers. We keep the ones they are really proud of, ones they need to refer back to, or ones I have questions about.
– Mel Rhoads, mother of 3

Take advantage of the many consignment sales around the county. The Junior Women’s Club of Westminster holds its “Everything Children” annual consignment sale at the Ag Center in early September. There, bargain hunters can shop for deals on children’s clothing, shoes, sporting equipment and more.
– Beth Fulton, mother of 3

Complete all homework before sports practices and afternoon activities.
– Lisa Dausch, mother of 2

We could never find matching socks, so I got all new socks, the same kind and brand for everyone in the family. Now we have one sock basket and no delays on school mornings due to problems with matching socks.
– Liz Russell, mother of 4

HOW (AND WHERE) THE MONEY GOES

LUNCH PRICES for 2006-2007
Carroll County Schools

Elementary School
Daily: $1.75 Annual:* $297.50

Middle School
Daily: $1.90 Annual:* $323

High School
Daily: $1.90 or $2.40 for “Super Lunch”
Annual*: $323 or $408 for “Super Lunch”
*Cost for the annual meal plan is paid in full at the beginning of the school year and includes a savings equal to 10 free meals.

INSTRUMENT RENTALS

Coffey Music
31 E. Main Street, Westminster
Phone: 410-876-1045 or 410-848-5003

Hess Music
3039 Main Street, Manchester
Phone: (410) 374-5447

Stu’s Music Shop
723 Baltimore Blvd.
Rt. 140, Westminster
Phone: (410) 848-7586
or (410) 876-7585

BACK TO SCHOOL SHOPPING SPOTS

K-Mart
6400 Ridge Road, Sykesville
Phone: 410-795-8900

Office Depot
402A Englar Road Westminster
Westminster Crossing Shopping Center
Phone: 410-386-0070

Staples
405 N Center St, Westminster
Phone: 410-857-3950

Target
200 Malcolm Dr.
Phone: 410-848-6180

Wal-Mart – Eldersburg
1320 Liberty Road
Phone: 410-549-5400

Wal-Mart – Hampstead
2320 No. Hanover Pike
Phone: 410-374-5344

Wal-Mart – Westminster
280 Woodward Road
Phone: 410-857-8307