Planning for College: Amazing on a Budget by Walmart.com

Disclosure: Thanks to Amazing on a Budget by Walmart.com for sponsoring today’s discussion.

If you have a college-bound student, Amazing on a Budget by Walmart.com recommends dorm basics and necessities to fit your budget and style that will also help your student be happy, healthy and successful while furthering their education.

Budgeting for college when you have multiple children is not easy, though, especially with college prices and other necessities, like food and clothing, being what they are. Even if your child chooses to attend a local college, prices are still very high, and when you’re living on a fixed income, it can be hard to afford extras that your children may need. Luckily, we still have a few years before we have to worry about actually sending my boyfriend’s daughter to college. But just because we have some time before it becomes a worry, it doesn’t mean we shouldn’t start planning.

We practice budgeting every month because we do live on a fixed income. Also, my boyfriend works in sales, so he has slow periods every year that we have to deal with. That means we have to look at all areas that we spend money on and figure out how we can make cutbacks. Some of the ways that we have made cutbacks include the following:

Switched from our local cable provider to DirecTV.
Dropped our landline phone. We both have cellphones so it was a frivolous expense we really didn’t need.
Make weekly menus. Every week we plan out a menu. We do take input from the children so they feel their a part of it. Also, we believe it’s teaching them skills they can use when they’re grown.
Make our own snack bags. Individual boxes of snack bags can cost a lot of money. By making our snack bags, we save a lot. And the kids love it because they have a wide variety of snacks to choose from.
Shop sales racks for clothing. I get some amazing deals from sales racks. I’d much rather spend a couple bucks on a shirt opposed to over $20.
DIY projects. Home decor items can get expensive. With sites like Pinterest, you can find great ideas for home decor projects that will save you tons of money while allowing you to spend time with your children doing something fun.

These are just a few ways that we save money that benefit our entire family. We are providing our children with skills that they can utilize in college. Also, we are finding ways to save now so when it comes time to ship our children off, we can help them acquire the items they’ll need to live on their own.

Now how does Amazon on a Budget help those who are sending their kids off to college? The site allows you to make a checklist of items that you’re child will need to live from a wide variety of categories.

Creating a checklist is easy. Just follow the steps below.

Go to Amazing on a Budget and click on start a checklist under the Dorm photo. (If you want to create a different kind of budget for clothing, decorating, etc., you can do that, as well. Just click on the appropriate photo.)
Next click on the categories you want to shop in. You can choose from bedding sets, pillows, sheets, mattress pads and tops, blankets and throws, and more. You can adjust categories later, as well.
Click on set your budget. Using the plus and minus signs to set a budget for your student’s dorm room. If you need to adjust the amount later on, you can.
Once you’re budget is set, click on recommendations to see what Amazing on a Budget recommends for you. The recommendations produced are what fit your budget the best. You can browse other recommendations if you want to.
If you like the recommendations, you can add them to your shopping list. From there you can print or share it.

To show you an example of a budget and items that match it, I created a checklist to share with all of you. I selected a budget of $100 and this was my recommendation list.