A family with five children faces mounting back-to-school costs as per-person spending rose from $563.49 in 2007 to $858.07 in 2025. Multiplying expenses by multiple children creates an uncomfortable budget stretch and a need to pull back after an expensive summer. Prioritizing essentials and limiting new purchases can ease financial pressure. Choosing one must-have new item per child, such as a backpack, and buying other clothing secondhand reduces spending. Staggering purchases, for example buying new shoes later in the fall, preserves the joy of new items while smoothing cash flow. Avoiding commercial and social-media pressure helps sustain these choices.
This question caught me off guard this year, as my oldest of five kids headed into 5th grade, and had seen one too many commercials for back-to-school sneaker sales. Coming off a summer of trying to make magical memories on vacation, at pools, and at amusement parks, it also had me thinking about money and what my kids really needed to have a great start to the school year.
The back-to-school financial challenge is far from a personal problem. According to the National Retail Federation, per-person spending on back-to-school for years K through 12 has gone up from $563.49 in 2007 to $858.07 in 2025. For some households, including mine (multiply everything by five kids), this is not only unreasonable but an uncomfortable budget stretch at an inopportune time. We limp into August financially like we limp into January after the holidays - maxed out, and fulfilled that we had a lot of fun at summer camp and the beach, but ready to pull back on spending a bit.
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