• Every year, I spend a lot of money on my kids between September to December. • The financial strain is due to back-to-school shopping, holidays, and unexpected expenses. • I'm adopting budgeting strategies and teaching my kids financial literacy to manage costs.

If you told me years ago that older kids were more expensive than toddlers, I would've never believed you. Little kids seemed so expensive — with childcare, diaper costs, and constant new clothes and toys. But I was wrong.

No one had prepared me for the true cost of parenting my bigger kids — who are now 9 and 13 — especially for the perpetual spend fest that is late summer into the holidays.

Once mid-August rolls around, I brace myself for the back to school shopping binge. We try our best to budget. But once we recover f

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