The Art of Green Finance

Food.

School lunches are free for all children in reception, year 1 and year 2 throughout the UK. In some local authority areas, school meals are funded for all primary school children during all primary school years. If you are on a low income your child may be entitled to free school meals whilst in full time education, even in areas where primary school meals are not universally funded. There is good evidence that free school meals are beneficial for children from less affluent backgrounds and there is pressure on the goverment to fund school meals for everyone throughout primary school. Unfortunately, the funding level and quality of school meals is not particularly high and if universal school meal provision is successful, the next big battle will be improving the quality of those meals. Look carefully at the menu options with your child(ren) and try to teach your children which are the healthiest options. Menu choices usually get sent home in advance during primary school.

If you are on a low income and entitled to free school meals, you may also be able to access government funded holiday activity and food programmes.

Several supermarkets and restaurant chains also offer low cost children’s meals during school holiday periods, but lots of these meals are unhealthy and/or could be cooked less expensively at home, particularly once the cost of the accompanying adult meal is included, so treat these offers with a good degree of caution.

Outside of school and holiday provision, stick to home cooking. Keep growing kids with insatiable appetites full for longer with protein; think eggs for weekend breakfasts and lots of bean-based evening meals throughout the week. For snacks, budget friendly frozen fruit and yoghurt might hit the spot. Bulk out meals with bread, rice and pasta. At weekends, soups make a great lunch; filling and a good way of using up any veg that is slightly past its best. Any leftover soup can go in the freezer for a two-course meal later in the week.

School uniforms

Lots of schools now have a second-hand uniform “shop”. Try these first. If this doesn’t meet all of your child’s uniform needs, then it is worth buying the best quality winter school uniform that you can afford – durability is the key to saving money with school uniforms. In our household, a whole pack of cheaper brand girls’ school tights were ruined within two weeks and was unrepairable, whereas a John Lewis’ pack of tights managed to survive plenty of falls and was easier to repair when small holes appeared, lasting the whole of the rest of the winter uniform period. Basic sewing skills e.g. hems, should mean that winter school uniform can last the whole winter uniform period. For girls, summer dresses are worn for less time and it is probably only worth investing in better quality summer dresses if you have younger children to pass them on to. For boys, trousers could be converted to shorts in the summer (basic sewing skills needed) if there are no younger brothers to take hand-me-downs.

In addition to this, kids may get through more than one set of shoes over the course of the school year due to damage to the shoes or due to interval growth. I would suggest buying the most durable shoes available so that you only have to replace shoes due to growth; not due to wear and tear. If shoes do get ruined, try your local cobbler for repairs. One particular set of non-leather school shoes had to have the straps replaced twice to extend their wear. I’ve opted for more durable leather ever since.

Unfortunately, since Covid, many schools ask children to come in PE kit on days where they have sports. This means that trainers have become popular on these days, therefore doubling the need for expensive footwear. However, an inexpensive plimsoll lace-up shoe may suffice for sports, particularly over the warmer months.

If you are struggling with uniform costs, local councils may have school uniform grants available. Check individual local council websites.

Fancy dress

Most schools also have one or more fancy-dress themed day(s) although are few schools are trying to limit this due to the cost of living crisis. Examples of fancy-dress days include, but are not limited to, something spotty for Children in Need, book characters for World Book Day and Jeans for Genes day, usually in exchange for a donation (a quick check with friends suggests that £1 is the most common donation per child per collection with a few donating 50p per child). After the reception year, you will likely have a reasonable idea of the annual events at your childs school and this gives you the opportunity to plan ahead. Keep an eye on local charity shops for spotty items/jeans/fancy dress in your child’s size. Local climate action groups or libraries may hold a fancy dress swap or have low-cost fancy dress items. Fancy dress hire is another alternative and helps to avoid cheap disposable fancy dress costumes but is likely to be a more expensive option than charity shops or make your own. Making your own fancy dress may save money if you have enough materials at home, however, the trade-off is time. Keep a close eye on school communications and start making early if you plan to create an outfit. Pinterest is a good source for inspiration.

Childcare

Pre- and after-school childcare continues to be a big budget expense, at least in primary school. Part-time working can help, but, be careful about arranging your work schedule solely around school hours as you also need to factor in childcare over the school holidays i.e. children aren’t actually in school for more than 3 months of the year! Childcare during these times (at up to £50 per child per day in some holiday schemes) could easily outstrip any savings made from pre- and after-school childcare that allows you to work full days but have some days off each week, so calculate this through carefully based on local childcare options available to you.

To take account of school holidays, a more flexible work pattern can be useful. For example, during term-time, I work an extra morning per week and then I take this as time-off-in-lieu over school holiday periods, which definitely helps reduce costs (although doesn’t cover all of the school holiday days). If you can work from home or from a laptop, you may be able to work while the kids play or attend local activities at the library, leisure centre or museum etc. (this applies to slightly older children only and check that your contract doesn’t specifically state that you must have paid childcare in place), or work in the evenings when younger primary-school age kids are (hopefully!) asleep if this is an option for you.

If you have a partner, aim to use your annual allowance wisely and consider taking time off separately rather than together to cover more of the holiday periods, saving family trips for the weekends (or just have one week of overlapping time off).

Make use of extended family such as grandparents if they are healthy and willling to help. “Book” them in plenty of time so they don’t arrange holidays when you had hoped to have their help with childcare. Grandparents of working age may be able to claim credits towards state pension while they are providing childcare.

Team up with another family that you know and trust and divide childcare over the holiday periods to make further savings.

Shop around for paid childcare options. Local councils and leisure centres may offer low-cost holiday play schemes. Local churches/YMCA groups are other potential budget options.

If you need to use paid childcare for pre-and after-school and holiday periods and you and your partner earn less than £100k, you can make use of the UK governments tax-free childcare scheme which helps to reduce costs. If you are eligible for certain benefits such as universal credit, you may be able to claim more. If your child gets free-school meals, you may be eligible for free council funded childcare. Exact provision varies between local councils so check your local council website.

Extra-curricular activities

Activities over and above those provided by schools are expensive and regular subscriptions for activities can soon add up to large amounts. For children in reception, school itself is likely to be tiring enough without extra-curricular activities. After that, there may be peer-pressure to start extra-curricular activities, either from children themselves or because other parents are signing their children up for multiple extra-curricular activities. As a general rule, if your child begs to do a particular activity, try to find the lowest cost local version to start with and be wary of signing up for subscriptions as children may tire of the activity quickly, particularly if they have been motivated more by what their friends are doing rather than the actual activity.

One sensible skill for children to learn is swimming, however, you can teach your kids to swim yourself. This is best achieved over the summer holidays when you can potentially access low cost outdoor swimming areas or use your nearest public swimming baths. Once your child is aged 7 or above and can swim at least 25 metres, sign them up for a free lifeguard-led session about safety around open water – these run at a limited number of coastal locations so consider looking at locations before booking a UK holiday if there are none close to where you live.

There are plenty of other sports available. Some local sports clubs are very reasonably priced. However, the alternative of playing or doing sports with your own kids is a good way to re-gain or maintain your own fitness and also allows you to spend quality time together, as well as saving money. Family friendly yoga is a good option for younger kids. Ball games, hiking and family cycle rides are all achievable. We have friends that regularly run with their children, but this isn’t universally popular.

Music lessons are a classic extra-curricular activity but are generally fairly expensive. If your child is desperate to start playing an instument, consider hiring or buying a second-hand instrument and teaching them yourself (younger kids) or let them learn via the internet if your skills are limited (older kids only and will require a bit of supervision). If your child makes progress, and importantly, if your child practices regularly, they may be ready for music lessons. You can negotiate terms and conditions with your child! If your child never practices without being nagged, its a good indication that music lessons are going to be a waste of money.

Birthday parties

There is definite peer-pressure both to attend and to have a great birthday party. Costs of buying presents for multiple birthday parties can quickly add up. Get children to make birthday cards. Use brown parcel paper to wrap presents – children can decorate the paper to personalise it. Ditch sellotape and use brown paper tape – this can also be decorated, or colourful string. Avoid gifting cheap plastic toys by bulk-buying drawing paper, colouring books, pencils and paints etc. and then put activity packs together as a birthday present.

When it comes to your own child’s birthday, you could suggest a book or puzzle swap as an alternative to buying presents and possibly start a new local trend.

In reception, year 1 and year 2, you may find that the whole class gets invited to birthday parties which adds to the pressure to do the same. Look at local community centre halls, run the entertainment yourself and ask your partner or extended family members to do catering duties for the lowest-cost whole class parties. Parties that start after lunch (2-4pm for example) avoid the need to provide a full meal. However, if a whole-class party is out of your budget, opt for a lower cost party at home with fewer children invited. As children get older, you can opt for more select birthday parties with just the child’s closest friends.

If you are organising a party in a local hall or at home, decorate with fabric bunting that can be re-used for everyones birthdays for years to come and use re-useable paper decorations as an alternative to balloons.

Provide paper gift bags with wooden yoyos, wooden spinning tops and beads and a “thanks for coming to my party” seed packet. Avoid plastic “tat” that breaks within 5 minutes and cheap but unhealthy sweets.

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