Before jumping back into the school schedule for fall, ensure your checking account stays as organized as your calendar. Keep your budget in tune with three great planning tips:

1. The family’s got to eat! Jump on the bus early and organize your meal planning not just for school lunches but dinners, too. By bulk shopping and cooking in advance you can line up healthy meals for the family without having to rely on expensive take-out.

2. Sync your calendars. Use a big paper calendar or consider sharing a calendar online. Advance activity planning will help foresee upcoming budget-busters like dance recital costumes and dentist appointment co-pays. Sit down and add everything you can think of to the calendar and make a point of checking it on a daily basis.

3. Share the road. Start talking with parents and neighbors now about sharing the carpool duties. You’ll save on gas and time by spreading the responsibility among multiple families. Who knows, you may even lower your blood pressure!

Avoid going broke by using simple solutions to ease the stress from those first few weeks of school. Before school starts is the time to get ahead of the details, or regret it later. Setting good habits now can help you throughout the year. Now if only we could create a back-up plan for the dog eating the homework.