Last minute back to school savings

“This review was made possible by iConnect and Luvs.  I was provided compensation to facilitate this post, but all opinions stated are 100% mine.”

School starts a week from today. Summer has been great, but I’m definitely looking forward to next week. Finding our routine again will all of us be a bit more calm as we’ll know what to expect each day.

Is any one else noticing the little expenses piling up as you get ready to send the kids off to school? Sure, we’ve all taken the list of school supplies out and checked things off as we grab them off shelves but then there’s all these other things we need to nab that weren’t on the list to begin with.

For starters, I’ve completely forgotten to plan out school lunches so far. Quite honestly I’m not even sure if my kid will be eating lunch at school or packing his lunch. Either way, it’s an extra expense I need to account for. Zip bags, for my daughter’s lunch and new cups are definitely needing to be purchased in the next 7 days.

Then there’s shoes. You know, I checked both kids had shoes that fit a week ago. But as of yesterday evening, my son can barely shove his feet in his shoes and my daughter is getting blisters, so add that to the list.

The need for finding ways to save money just doesn’t stop. Since many of our back-to-school expenses are unavoidable, I thought it would be helpful to consider how else we might be able to save money.

If you have smaller ones at home, then you know you’re juggling several budgets. There’s the normal diaper/formula/baby food/etc budget that comes with babies and toddlers and then there’s back to school budgets that come with older kids plus, you know, food and all that.

I was excited to learn about an app called ibotta and share it with you. I think it can help ease budgets for a lot of us.

Ibotta is a free app you can download, unlock your rebates, then take a photo of your receipt. After submitting you’ll get cash in your ibotta account.

Super easy and a great way to get coupons AND cash back on purchases. For example, right now Luv’s has a print-at-home coupon which gives you $2 off diapers. Pair that with the limited-time $5 rebate on any boxed variety of Luvs diapers, 54ct. box or larger and you can save a total of $7 on diapers! Um. YES PLEASE.

 

Softer and more absorbent than before, not only can you be confident about what you’re putting on your baby’s bottom, but you can also save BIG, which can help make up for those huge back to school expenses we’re all facing right now.

Also, you’ll get a $10 rebate if you sign up using my referral link or my code: jialalu

Pretty awesome deal!

In addition to saving money this way, our family has been doing a lot of other things.

We’ve been sending off old clothes to resale shops, and thrift shopping for new clothes for the school year.

Tonight, we had beans for dinner. Don’t feel sorry for us though. It’s another fantastic recipe my husband picked up while he was translating for people in Guatemala. They were the best beans EVER and dinner probably cost about $1.50

While you might not be able to whip up black beans Guatemala style “breakfast for dinner” is a similarly cheap option. Toast and scrambled eggs can feed the whole family for under $5 It’s a great way to cut back on costs sometimes throughout the week, but also create a fun tradition with your kiddos.

If you get creative, there are lots of ways to cut corners on a month that has extra, unavoidable expenses. What are you doing to save money in this back-to-school season? Share it with us in the comments! Have you tried ibotta app yet?