The first day of school is rapidly approaching (if it hasn’t arrived in your area already), and many of us are doing back to school shopping.

According to the National Retail Federation, American families with kids in grades K-12 will spend an average of $603 preparing for the start of school, making it the biggest shopping spree next to the winter holidays.

All that spending is hard on both the planet and your budget. So we thought we’d offer some suggestions on minimizing your impact and outlay for the most commonly purchased items:

Clothing

Think reduce, re-use, and recycle when it comes to clothing.  Weed through last year’s clothes to find clothes that can be worn this year.  If you can, repair or spot clean items that you’d otherwise replace.  For items that do need replacing, look for used items in good condition at thrift stores, on Craigslist, and on Freecycle.  And above all, take a hard look at what your kids actually need.  If the dresser drawers are crammed full of clothes, it’s time to stop shopping (and probably time to donate or sell unwanted items!).

Shoes are a harder item to re-use, since kids grow out of them fast and wear right through them, but shoes in decent condition can be saved for siblings or given away.  You may find good deals on used boots and other winter gear at thrift stores.

School Supplies

Before buying new pencils, pens, and notebooks, search through your house to see what you already own, and see what you can re-purpose.  Partially used notebooks?  Rip out the used pages and have your kids decorate the cover with stickers.  Pencils received as party favors?  Sharpen them up.  If you do need to purchase new items, aim for products with recycled content, especially paper products.

Take a good look at last year’s backpack.  With a good cleaning and maybe a sew-on patch for decoration can it be used again?  The same goes for re-usable lunch bags (preferable, of course, to disposable lunch packaging).  With some scrubbing, will it do for this year?  If you do need to replace these items, look for lead and PVC-free backpacks and lunch bags.  Re-usable shopping bags can also double as lunch bags.

Electronics

Here, the distinction to remember is “need vs. want.”  Yes, each year processing speed increases and there are more bells and whistles, but for most school assignments all that’s needed is basic word and data processing and web access.  If you do end up replacing electronic items, be sure to give away or sell your old ones down to be re-used, and for items that have reached the end of their useful life, be sure to dispose of them responsibly.

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