You know how it is – you need to do the back-to-school shopping, but your teen is so picky you don’t know how you’ll get through it. Teens certainly can be picky; peer expectations and their own personal tastes can combine to make them hard to please. Here are some tips for back-to-school shopping with your picky teen.

Let Them Shop

This doesn’t mean you should give your teen you credit card and drop him or her off at the mall for a few hours! Actually, there is a method to letting your picky teen do his or her own back-to-school shopping, and it can be a positive learning process. Here’s how it works.

Go Through Their Things

With your teen, go through their clothes and determine what they really need. Get rid of only those clothes that can’t be repaired or are stained permanently, then work on mixing and matching what’s left. Then determine what clothes they need and make a specific list.

Budget

Once you both understand what’s necessary, you can make a budget for those items. Determine what you are willing to pay for each piece of clothing, total it up, and then give your teen the money. Once it’s spent, no more – be firm on this one, unless they are willing to do some extra odd jobs to earn more money for other items they may want on top of the budgeted list. You may want to accompany them on this shopping trip to help point out bargains and such, but the point is, they are in charge of planning their purchases and spending the money.

Good Lessons

While you’re doing all this, think of the good life lessons you’ll be teaching your teen. Your teen will learn how to budget their money, and will get a no-frills introduction into the world of financial planning. Remember, once the money is gone, they are not getting any more, so they will have to plan out how they are going to divide up the money to get all the items they want. Your teen may also be motivated to shop for things on sale or things at second-hand shops once they realize how much the things they want actually cost.

Let your teen keep any money that’s left. Having a little extra spending money can be a great motivator to find bargains!

Go for Re-Sale

Even picky teens can usually find something at a consignment shop or second-hand store. Name brands are not necessarily hard to come by at these places, and if your teen has a flare for individuality, they might be able to put together a stunning outfit with second-hand clothes and accessories.