We’re getting close to the start of the new school year. With that comes shopping lists of school supplies, new clothes and school fees. Whether you have a child starting kindergarten or one in college, keeping back to school costs under control can be a problem. There are plenty of ads out there based on exactly that premise: how many television spots have you seen in the past few weeks where some parent is stressing out about the cost of getting her child ready to go back to school, only to be saved by the low, low prices of some specific store?

Unfortunately, there isn’t one individual store that can automatically drop the price of all your back to school purchases. But the spending can be controlled, with a little planning and a willingness to consider options beyond the obvious.

Why Buy New?

For many parents, fall seems like the best time to buy new clothes for quickly growing children. Considering how quickly kids can move from one clothing size to the next, though. It’s rare that children’s clothing gets worn out — and that includes school uniforms, if your school requires them. There are quite a few ways to outfit a new wardrobe for your child without going over budget at the local department store, from trading clothes with other parents to choosing a good second-hand shop.

But the principle doesn’t have to stop with clothing. There is a lot of gear that can go along with school attendance, especially when your kid has extracurricular activities. Musical instruments, sports gear and a whole host of other things can be had without shelling out for the newest version. If you’ve ever had to rent a violin in order to be able to keep moving up in sizes as your son or daughter grows, you can see why buying new just doesn’t make sense.

Actually Read the Paperwork

Between school supply lists, forms and syllabi, you may be facing a big stack of paperwork at the beginning of the fall semester, but it’s worthwhile to actually read through all of that paperwork. As a kid, my dad put me in charge of most of my own paperwork and told me to just summarize what he needed to do. It saved him some work, but I always wanted the newest or best version of whatever was coming next. I got all the optional school supplies and may have snuck a few extra things on to the list that my teachers didn’t expect me to need.

When you’re dealing with school activities like Photo Day, actually knowing what’s going on is important. If you want to buy photos through the school, you can save money by something as simple as remembering which day photographs are taken on, rather than needing your child to be photographed on the makeup day. Being aware of what’s coming up and planning for it can go a long way to keeping school costs down.

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