“Do what I say and not what I do” is something too many kids can hear when growing up. And if not in those words, then in their parents’ actions.

Speeding, swearing, not exercising and poor money habits are bad examples that parents can set without realizing it.

Some parenting “fails” teach children about money — but in bad way. Here are some parenting “fails” that parents can turn around to teach their children about money:

Bad parenting impulse buys

Some impulse purchases can be fun. An ice cream treat after a tough week at school or a movie out as a way to break up the monotony of staying home too many nights can be  worthwhile motivators for kids to do better in school or at least be a fun break.

But if you can’t afford them, or spend too much on an expensive impulse buy — such as the latest technological gadget that you’ve coveted for months — then it can show a lack of restraint in how you shop.

Even small impulse buys, if made often, can show your child that it’s OK to buy something without giving it much thought and that you get what you want. But small purchases add up, and a better lesson would be to give up such purchases and put that money aside in a vacation fund for the whole family to enjoy the benefits of giving up short-term joys for long-term planning of a family vacation.

Every parent has probably had their child ask for a candy bar or something while waiting at the grocery checkout line. Telling them no can be difficult, but it beats raising a child who thinks they’re entitled to everything they see.

Not letting them work for their money

Giving a kid an allowance is a great idea — if they work for it. Like indulging impulse buys, handing a kid some cash each week without doing anything in return for it can lead them to equate you with being a bank.

Money doesn’t just appear in your pocket magically. You work for it. And so should they, up to a degree.

Parents provide clothing, shelter, food and other necessities through age 18, and even them some of them are funded less than others as children age. What teen wants their parents picking out their clothes for them at the store?

Be earning money with chores or at a part-time job, kids can learn the value of a dollar and can find out first-hand how many hours of work it takes to afford that pricey pair of pants they want.

Not setting up a bank account for them

If your kids don’t have a savings account or college savings account by age 5, you’re doing them a disservice. Heck, if you don’t have a savings account or retirement account, you’re doing yourself a disservice and teaching them the poor habit of not saving for the future.

Birthday money and part of an allowance can be put into a child’s savings account. Regular trips to the bank to make those deposits can show them how banks work and why they should save.

As children become teenagers, parents can help teach them about managing money by helping them get an ATM debit card, checking account and possibly a credit card with a low limit.

Not following a budget

Just like the first tip on curbing impulse spending, a parent’s money habits can filter down to their children.

If you and your spouse don’t have regular talks in front of your children, or at least within earshot of them, then you’re doing them a disservice by not talking about how you make money decisions together.

You don’t have to detail every expense in your budget, but they should have a general sense of what you’re budgeting for and why.

If you pay your bills late and constantly complain about how you can’t afford the gas bill each month, you’re setting a poor example of how to deal with basic bills. Show them how you budget for that bill each month and where cuts may have to be made to accommodate for it.

Of all of the parenting “fails” to be made with money, try not to get yourself too down about them. They’re learning opportunities at any age, and even learning them when you have children gives you a chance to correct them and let the next generation learn from your mistakes.

Parenting ‘Fails’ to Teach Kids About Money is a post from: When Life Gives You Lemons. Did you like the post? Follow me on Twitter, like me on Facebook, or hop on over to my blog and leave me your feedback.

If you have, or plan to have, children, you’ve got to change up your financial roadmap. The sooner the better for this one, but even if you already have kids, it’s not too late to make some important changes that will benefit them in the long run.

There are several ways to organize finances for the benefit of your children. We’ll cover three main areas of focus:

1. Preparing for the future.
2. Preparing for emergencies.
3. Creating a stable, nurturing life in the here and now.

Each of these need careful consideration and a fair amount of financial discipline. But if you make the right plan and stay the course, your kids will have a better financial life than you may even dream possible.

Preparing for the Future

Kids have a big future ahead of them. With many decades ahead of them in all likelihood, there are ample opportunities to build a good life…or a bad one…depending on the choices that are made.

In the early days of a child’s life, most of these decisions are up to you. One of the best ways to help your kids out in the long term is to model good financial behavior by saving, investing, and avoiding debt.

You may also wish to save or invest on behalf of your child, giving them the building blocks they need for a nest egg somewhere down the road. Finally, teach your kids basic money skills. This will help them make good choices when they are financially independent.

Preparing for Emergencies

Families without life insurance or emergency funds are open to financial vulnerability which could adversely affect kids’ lives in the event of an unfortunate event. Life insurance quotes often surprise people, because they prove that affordable term life insurance is within the budgets of some families who may have thought they couldn’t afford it.

Emergency saving is another method that provides practical future-proofing and powerful peace of mind for the families who do it.

Creating a Stable, Nurturing Life

Perhaps the single most important part of a child’s life is loving stability. Kids can healthily adapt to many different circumstances, as long as stability is a bedrock in their situation.

Financial uncertainty is a cause of big stress and unhappiness for many families. By living beneath your means, saving, investing, and building familial wealth, you’ll be putting your family on a course for security and happiness which will greatly benefit your children.

There are many ways to help give your kids a better financial life that you enjoyed yourself in your growing up years. Fortunately, most of these methods are not hard to understand, but they may take some planning and hard work you have not practiced before.

In the long run, this will be more than worth it. Your children will have the resources they need (monetarily, emotionally, and intellectually) to make their own sound financial choices. In the meantime, you can do a great deal to set them up for success, and earn some great benefits in the doing.

Family Finance Checklist: Kids Edition is a post from: When Life Gives You Lemons. Did you like the post? Follow me on Twitter, like me on Facebook, or hop on over to my blog and leave me your feedback.

Unlike traditional dentistry, cosmetic dentistry refers to procedures and treatment that improve the overall appearance of teeth. Branches of cosmetic dentistry, such as orthodontics, and procedures, such as teeth whitening, have improved the oral well-being of children in particular.

In 2015, more than a million North Americans had braces. This is good news for family dentistry, especially for children, and both parents & kids are more open to cosmetic dentistry now. A good cosmetic dentist in Sarasota is not hard to find, for instance, Simply Smile Sarasota, which provides dental care for kids from the first year itself.

Here’s looking at why cosmetic dentistry for children is on the rise.

Oral Hygiene Tends to Get Overlooked

Parents often tend to neglect oral hygiene and early tooth-brushing in kids. The general perception is that dental problems come up later in life, since children anyway have lost all their baby teeth by age 12-13. However, the truth is that problems like tooth decay and cavities occur early in life. Dental implants for kids are fast becoming a reality to replace decayed or broken teeth. Cavities can also be filled with tooth-colored fillings now.

Enamel erosion is another major pediatric problem that cosmetic dentistry can address. Veneers that boost whitening can help with tooth discoloration.

The Need for Improving Children’s Self-Esteem

Problems with self-esteem start early in life, and dental caries are a commonly experienced pediatric dental disease. Foods like candies, fizzy drinks, cookies, and even fruit juices can cause significant tooth decay. Porcelain crowns are a good option when seeking family dentistry for children & older kids.

Acidic foods and drinks can cause staining of the teeth. As children grow older, they grow more conscious of their appearance, and one’s teeth are one of the most visible parts of the body. Cosmetic dentistry can let them express themselves fully with smile makeover programs and dental laminates.

Tendency to Develop Protruding ‘Buck’ Teeth

Thumb-sucking is a common habit that is otherwise harmless, but if continued for a long time, can cause problems with teeth alignment and even biting. Children can also have naturally crooked or unevenly spaced teeth, which will eventually require cosmetic dentistry. With modern techniques like Invisalign, where aligners are customized for each wearer, these problems can be successfully corrected.

Protrusive or unevenly spaced teeth are not just a cosmetic problem, but one that can interfere with one’s ability to bite and chew properly. Orthodontics can prevent tooth extractions later in life, also because straight teeth are less vulnerable to tooth decay and periodontitis.

Injuries to Teeth are Common in Childhood

The rise of cosmetic dentistry for children is also due to its effectiveness at dealing with dental emergencies. The teeth are one of the most important organs in the body, and toothache from sensitivity or decay, or broken teeth from a freak injury, can make a child miserable.

The trauma can get to the jaw and cause facial swelling, which can worsen into an infection. If a child has a chipped or broken tooth, implants can solve the problem and treatment should be sought immediately from services for family dentistry for children & older kids.

Why Cosmetic Dentistry for Children is on the Rise is a post from: When Life Gives You Lemons. Did you like the post? Follow me on Twitter, like me on Facebook, or hop on over to my blog and leave me your feedback.

When you go shopping this time of year, you’ll likely notice a change in the atmosphere. Instead of bathing suits and red, white, and blue picnic plates, there are lists, glue, and paper. The stores are stocking up on all of the new pencils, notebook paper, planners, and backpacks. The smell of new pens waiting to be opened, pencils ready to be sharpened, and the feeling of a perfect folder, all shimmery in the plastic – it’s intoxicating.

Childless adults might lament on the passing of time and remember childhood, but luckily, you don’t have to have children to take advantage of all of the back to school sales and specials. Even if you don’t have children, here are some ways you can take advantage of back to school sales.

Office Supplies

Now is the time to stock up on the basic must haves for your home office! Just because you don’t have children of your own, doesn’t mean you don’t need a fun folder or binder to spice up your office. Also, by taking advantage of these sales you can purchase school supplies and donate them to a local shelter or school program that gives away backpacks full of supplies to those children in need who can’t afford to get their back-to-school basics. This will make your donation dollars stretch further.

Plastic Storage Baggies

Plastic bags are a must-have for student lunches and are usually on sale during the lead-up to back to school. Take advantage of these prices and stock up for your kitchen. They are great for taking snacks on road trips and lots of other uses too.

Storage Containers and Boxes

August doesn’t just mean elementary or high school starting, it’s also college season! New freshmen moving into dorms, seniors moving into apartments – they both need plastic bins and storage containers to organize their new living spaces. As a childless adult, you can take advantage of this too and purchase what you need to get your home organized.

Lighting and Home Decor

Want to string some of those globe lights across your patio? Go look in the college section. They have pretty much the same product but for less money. Dorm rooms are no longer a plain white cell; they have become rooms to express yourself in. Comfy chairs, lighting, wall décor, rugs, are all sold for a lower price than usual during back to school sales. Some of these things can even work in a non-college decor theme.

Clothing

Big brands and retailers have back to school deals on clothing and shoes. This is a good time of year to give your wardrobe an update and save money.

Vacations

As summer winds down you can definitely take advantage of resorts and tourist attractions wanting to grab you one last time before you are booked up for the fall. There are lower prices and you can sometimes can nab a great package for a winter or fall vacation by booking during back to school sales.

Food

A lot of  convenience food and snacks are on sale during back to school time. Things like chip packs, fruit snacks, and cereal go on sale to appeal to children who take their lunches to school. Grab some for yourself and relive your childhood, or use them as grab and go food when you schedule is packed or you have a road trip to pack for.

Laptops and Electronics

If you were thinking of buy that computer, now is the time to do it. As students get ready to go back to school, whether in college or high school, the prices and deals on electronics are great. Sometimes there are great packaged deals of a tablet with the cover and detachable keyboard, or a computer with a printer or desktop publishing software. These accessories can be expensive, so look for these bundle deals during back to school to save money.

As you can see there are a lot of sales that you can cash in on, while getting some great gear, even if you don’t have kids. Don’t ignore the back to school sale ads, there is something that you can get out of them as well.

If you’re childless, do you shop back to school sales?

8 Ways Childless Adults Can Take Advantage of Back to School Sales is a post from: When Life Gives You Lemons. Did you like the post? Follow me on Twitter, like me on Facebook, or hop on over to my blog and leave me your feedback.

Like most teenagers, I had summer jobs and worked after school so I could have some spending money and save for college. I didn’t really consider myself an entrepreneur, but I guess I was.

For the most part, they were jobs where I worked for a small business owner. Except for selling newspapers outside a subway station, I wasn’t an entrepreneur and didn’t work for myself. Even the newspaper gig required me to rely on a big company to provide the product I sold.

Being an entrepreneur and working for yourself — as I’ve done since being laid off as a newspaper editor in 2008 — is a job skill I’ve grown into and enjoy. I only wished I learned about it back when I was in school so that I could at least be a part-time entrepreneur during my working life. At the very least, it could serve as a backup or secondary income.

It’s a skill set that I think all children should at least have a taste of so they can decide if it’s something they’d like to do.

The first taste of entrepreneurship for most children is a lemonade stand. Even if their parents pay for the sugar, lemons, cups and other supplies, a lemonade stand can be an hourly lesson in how to set prices and make change, and show the importance of having a great location and product.

But after that, unless kids find the entrepreneurial bug on their own, they may lose the drive to work for themselves. Here are some ways to teach your kids to be entrepreneurs, or at least get started thinking about it:

Point out benefits of working for themselves

For children who don’t like being told what to do, this can be one of the first benefits worth pointing out to them about being an entrepreneur. By working on their own, they’ll be the boss and can determine what gets done when. No more taking orders from someone else.

Let them take things apart

If your child can build almost anything with Legos, or likes to take apart old phones, remotes or anything else you let them work on, it could be a sign that they could make a good entrepreneur.

It’s part of the process of learning new things — another skill important to being an entrepreneur.

Meet new people as an entrepreneur

A big part of working for yourself is talking to everyone you meet. Why? Because everyone is a potential customer, or you could help each other in some way with your businesses.

Help your child learn the skills to meet new people, and they could someday use them in the workplace.

Compare and set prices

One of the first thing a good entrepreneur has to do is set their prices for their service or product. This is usually done by seeing what the competition is doing.

One easy way to help kids learn how to compare prices is to take them to your local farmer’s market and buy a few things. Then go to the grocery store and buy the same things. Compare prices and do a taste test, seeing if the more expensive tomato tastes better than the other.

Give them chores

Household chores for an allowance should be a part of every child’s weekly duties, showing them the connection between work and pay. But that’s only part of the equation.

They need to learn what a dollar is worth and given the responsibility to spend their money on things their parents used to buy them. This can come in handy when they want something that costs a lot more than their allowance — such as a new computer tablet.

By doing extra chores and saving their money, they can learn how much work it takes to earn that tablet, and help determine if it’s really worth all of that work. Working for yourself really shows you the value of your time and if that new gadget you want is worth working extra for.

Open a bank account

Having your child contribute part of their allowance and any other money they get to a savings account will help them learn how to be a saver.

As any entrepreneur knows, there are good months and bad months, and saving for a rainy day is a smart move at any age.

Try out new ideas

One of the things I like the most about working for myself is that I can try new ideas without having to go through a boss. If they work, great. If not, then it usually wasn’t much work to try them out.

Let your children learn about entrepreneurship through trial and error, and let them try new ways to make money. If they want to start a website so they can subcontract out other kids to mow lawns, it’s fairly easy and inexpensive to set it up.

A parent, just like their kids, should be open to trying new things and seeing what works. Helping your children learn the value of working for themselves is a gift they’ll hopefully enjoy throughout their lives.

Teach Your Kid to be an Entrepreneur and Make Money is a post from: When Life Gives You Lemons. Did you like the post? Follow me on Twitter, like me on Facebook, or hop on over to my blog and leave me your feedback.

1 Build a Blanket Fort

This is a great activity if it’s rainy and the kids can’t get outside. To make it even better, have a contest to see who can build the best one. Set rules up ahead of time if you are concerned the competition could lead to bickering. If your children are younger, read to them by flashlight inside the tent instead. Your kids might even decided to have a living room camp out if you let them leave up the blanket fort overnight.

2 Have a Pillow Fight

Another great indoor activity for kids’ summer vacations is to have a pillow fight. You could turn it into a game and assign points, such as 5 points for a hit between the knees and shoulders, 10 below the knees, and -5 if it hits someone in the head. Make sure the pillows are fluffy and you move anything fragile to a safe area before the game begins!

3 Play Hide & Seek

Set a timer and assign points if you want to turn traditional hide and seek into a more challenging game. Or, add glow necklaces or string some other glow in the dark object around each child’s neck and play at night. Always make sure your kids are in a safe area first if you go this route.

4 Have a Treasure Hunt

You could give the older kids a pre-printed list of items to find. Challenge each younger child to come up with an object that corresponds to a letter of the alphabet. Another twist would be to have them come sit down with you after a certain period of time, then go around the circle one by one and tell you about each “treasure” they chose – where they picked it up, why it caught their eye, etc. This could be done either indoors or outdoors, which is great in case of bad weather.

5 Go to the Park

Walk or drive to their favorite park. To make it extra special, invite a few of their friends. Don’t forget drinks and snacks for a hot summer’s day.

6 Have a Dance Party

This activity could be done either indoors or outdoors. If the kids are stuck inside because of bad weather, it’s a great way to burn off energy safely. You might even be able to have a dance party competition with a game like Dance Dance Revolution. If your dance party is outdoors, they can turn the music up a little and go a bit crazy to burn off some more energy.

7 Play Dress Up

Get out those old funky clothes in the back of your closet and let the kids have fun with them. Older kids could practice being  “prim and proper”  in some of your old career clothes. Add another twist to dress up by having kids talk with an accent or put on a play using the clothes for their costumes.

8 Play Tag/Duck, Duck, Goose

You probably don’t need any explanation on this classic!

We hope this list gets the ball rolling for some great summertime fun and free activities for kids’ summer vacations. I’m sure this will be a summer vacation your kids won’t soon forget.

How many other fun and free activities for kids’ summer vacations can you come up with? Have you done any of these things on your kids’ summer vacations?

8 Fun and Free Activities for Kids’ Summer Vacations is a post from: When Life Gives You Lemons. Did you like the post? Follow me on Twitter, like me on Facebook, or hop on over to my blog and leave me your feedback.

This guest post on motherhood is from Catherine Alford at Budget Blonde. After you read her post, head over to her website, where I’m guest posting today.

Having and raising children is expensive, and I should know because I got a two for one special with my adorable boy-girl twins. In fact, by some counts the cost of raising a child to adulthood can be around $245,000 not including college! That’s insane!

Even though I don’t feel that raising a child actually costs that much for most families, mine included, having children is still a big financial burden if you aren’t adequately prepared for motherhood.

Because I’m a planner by nature and like to have things as organized as possible before I make any big, life-altering decisions, I approached motherhood with that same attitude.

I asked everyone I knew how to get prepared financially for motherhood and now that I’ve been through it myself, here are my top 4 ways to do so:

Research, Research, Research

As I said before, I like to be organized and prepared for any big decision in life. When I first found out I was pregnant, I did a lot of research about how much money I needed to set aside before the arrival of our twins and motherhood.

I asked my mom, my mother-in-law, and my friends who were already mothers to weigh in on this important topic. What I heard from them varied quite a bit, but it gave a good basis to get started prepping financially for motherhood. All in all I decided to save $10,000 before the twins came, $5,000 for each.

Set Up a Targeted Savings Account

Once I had a number in mind, I set up a targeted savings account and started socking money away. I set up my “baby fund” with Smarty Pig, but there are other banking institutions that allow you to create several targeted savings funds too.

A targeted savings account is key to save up for motherhood because it keeps this money separate from your other savings, like your emergency fund, a vacation fund, or whatever other savings you have set up.

This really reduces the temptation to raid the fund to pay for something else besides baby purchases. After all, if your savings account says “baby” on it, you’re much less likely to take away from it. (If you have questions about Smarty Pig feel free to e-mail me, and I can send you an invite!)

Consider Life Insurance

If you haven’t already thought about life insurance before getting pregnant, now is the time to do it. It might a bit morbid to think like this, but it’s especially important to have life insurance for yourself and your child’s father in case something were to happen to either of you.

As mentioned earlier, raising a child is very expensive and it would be all the more difficult to do it alone if something were to happen to either of the baby’s parents. Life insurance can help ease that burden at least a little bit, so it’s worth checking into if you haven’t already.

Get a Will

Again, a little morbid I know, but having legal documentation in place is all the more important once you have a child. Having a basic will drawn up on your behalf is fairly inexpensive and will provide a lot of peace of mind in case you or your child ever has to deal with a death in the family. During that time of grieving, the last thing you want to deal with are complicated estate laws, so a will help simplify that process.

How did you prep financially for motherhood?

Catherine Alford is the go-to personal finance expert for educated, aspirational moms who want to recapture their life passions, earn more, reach their goals, and take on a more active financial role in their families. She is also founder of www.BudgetBlonde.com and the innovator behind the web’s most comprehensive course on how to Get Paid to Write for Blogs.

4 Ways to Prepare Financially for Motherhood is a post from: When Life Gives You Lemons. Did you like the post? Follow me on Twitter, like me on Facebook, or hop on over to my blog and leave me your feedback.

Every parent knows the financial hazards of planning a birthday party for their child. Planning birthday parties is an industry among many that pull parents into a major expense that they otherwise might not be part of — at least not voluntarily.

If you’ve escaped the high cost of birthday parties for your own child, chances are you’ve seen it at birthday parties you’ve taken your kid to for their friends.

You know the ones. Whether’s Chuck E Cheese and the chaos that happens when screaming children are pared with soda, lousy pizza and game tokens, or another manufactured playdate at a facility that will set up, put on and clean up after, these birthday parties can easily run a few hundred dollars.

Our daughter is nearing her 11th birthday, and we’ve held most of her birthday parties at our house or a nearby park. We’re lucky because her birthday is during the summer, when it’s easier to have an outdoor party.

These have been fairly inexpensive birthday parties, the kind of old-fashioned one parents have been hosting forever: Games, cake, food and a BBQ and drinks for any parents who wanted to stay for the event. Everyone has fun.

The problem with hosting a birthday party, of course, is all of the legwork and planning that goes into it. There’s food and decorations to buy and set up, a house and yard to clean, and afterward everything has to be cleaned up.

Paying an amusement center $400 or so to host the party and take care of cleanup can be worth the cost. That’s a great option if you can afford it.

Another option

The past few years we’ve offered our daughter the option of either having a birthday party with a bunch of her friends, or taking a few friends on an outing where they’ll get to do a lot more than have cake, lunch and open presents after playing some party games.

She’s always chosen the party option — partly because it’s a lot of fun to have all of your friends over for a party — but also because, I think, because 12 presents are better than two.

This year she’s taking us up on the “day out with a few friends” option. I don’t necessarily think this choice means she’s growing out of birthday parties at home, but that she realizes the chance to try something new is worth taking.

What are we doing? Taking her and two friends to an amusement park for a day, and spending the previous night at a nearby hotel so we can get to the park as soon as it opens on the morning of her birthday. The park is a bit of a drive from our home, and while a hotel stay isn’t necessary, we hope it adds to the fun of the celebration and will make the trip easier.

The cost will be much more than we’ve ever spent before on one of her birthday parties. But that doesn’t bother me — too much.

Outgrowing birthday parties

What hits me harder is that my girl may be outgrowing birthday parties where I’m allowed. The cost is going up, but I never expected her to want to have birthday parties at home every year, no matter how inexpensive they were when compared to going out for the day.

Her growing out of birthday parties may not be happening anyway. Next year, she may want to have one in our back yard. Or she might want to just go out with some friends to lunch and a movie.

However she celebrates another year of birth — no matter what her age — I hope to be there in some way. It can be a dinner out at her favorite restaurant (Old Spaghetti Factory for now) or at home with a BBQ, or some other idea we haven’t thought of yet.

Whatever it is, it’s an expense that any parent is happy to have if it makes their kid happy. Unconditional love doesn’t have a price — except for maybe a small piece of birthday cake.

This article by Aaron Crowe first appeared on CashSmarter.com and was distributed by the Personal Finance Syndication Network.

Source

The Cost of Outgrowing Birthday Parties is a post from: When Life Gives You Lemons. Did you like the post? Follow me on Twitter, like me on Facebook, or hop on over to my blog and leave me your feedback.

The typical family with children in grades K-12 plans to spend $630.36 on electronics, apparel and other school needs in its back-to-school shopping plans, down from $669.28 last year, according to a survey released July 15 by the National Retail Federation and conducted by Prosper Insights & Analytics. The poll of 6,500 consumers was conducted June 30-July 8. The consumer polls have a margin of error of plus or minus 1.2 percentage points.

There’s no question that back-to-school shopping can take a big bite out of your budget. If kids are young, you may feel you have little choice with the long lists of required items, but save where you can. It can pay to stock up on loss leaders — often crayons, paper or pens — and lay in a supply for the whole school year. Or, it may be smart to wait until seasonal items (dorm sheets and decor) go on sale.

Back-to-school shopping falls for college students

“Spending on ‘back to school’ has consistently fluctuated based on children’s needs each year, and it’s unlikely most families would need to restock and replenish apparel, electronics and supplies every year,” said NRF President and CEO Matthew Shay in a press release. “Parents this summer will inventory their children’s school supplies and decide what is needed and what can be reused, which just makes good budgeting sense for families with growing children.”

The picture was much the same for parents of college students. Spending was expected to drop to $899.18, down slightly from last year’s $916.48.

Nearly 20% of families hoped to begin their back-to-school shopping at least two months before the start of school, reflecting both a desire to comparison-shop to find the best deals and to spread out the expenses.

How to Pay for Supplies This Year

If you need to buy now, using your credit cards wisely could help you later. If you have a rewards credit card, that might be a smart way to pay for school supplies. Buying what you would have bought anyway and paying the full balance on time is the best way to earn points or rewards without losing out to interest charges.

Back-to-school shopping time can also be a good time to shop for a new card (or to review those you already have to make sure you maximize rewards). Discover it, for example, offers 5% back on purchases at home improvement stores, department stores and Amazon through September. The card also offers 12 months of interest-free financing. (It requires good to excellent credit; if you are not sure where you stand, you can get your free credit report summary, updated every 30 days, from Credit.com. You can also use that knowledge to help you find a credit card that is geared toward your credit standing.)

If you do not typically pay balances off in full and you have a card that is still in an introductory interest-free period, that could be a good choice, but be sure you know when that period ends and have a solid plan for getting the balance paid off. You can use this credit card payoff calculator to come up with that plan.

Another option, when you know you have a fairly big expense coming such as back-to-school shopping, is to use that planned splurge to make sure you have the qualifying minimum spend for a credit card sign-up bonus. For example, the Chase Sapphire Preferred card currently offers 40,000 bonus miles if you spend $4,000 in three months. That card also requires good credit.

If your credit hasn’t yet reached the point where issuers are willing to offer perks to get you to apply, you can still use back-to-school time to build your credit. If you use credit cards for back-to-school shopping, try to keep balances low and to be sure that you pay on time — those two factors are the biggest contributors to your credit standing.

Note: It’s important to remember that interest rates, fees and terms for credit cards, loans and other financial products frequently change. As a result, rates, fees and terms for credit cards, loans and other financial products cited in these articles may have changed since the date of publication. Please be sure to verify current rates, fees and terms with credit card issuers, banks or other financial institutions directly.

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This article originally appeared on Credit.com.

This article by Gerri Detweiler was distributed by the Personal Finance Syndication Network.

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Back-to-School Shopping: How Much Will You Spend? is a post from: When Life Gives You Lemons. Did you like the post? Follow me on Twitter, like me on Facebook, or hop on over to my blog and leave me your feedback.