Ina Poecher heard about a back-to-school sale at J.C. Penney on the radio. So with a mental list of wardrobe needs for fifth grade, the Vadnais Heights 10-year-old spent a recent Saturday morning with her head in the clearance racks.

In the past, her picks would have been paid for with her mom’s credit card. Not this year. “With the economy being as bad as it is, we started a budget program. And we try to be within our means for the first time,” Ina’s mother, Kirsten, explained.

That meant first stopping at the bank to withdraw $60. The shift is OK with Ina.

“It’s just showing me that you should actually watch your budget or you’re just going to go overboard and like get all the expensive clothes and not watch for sales,” she said, grasping a bag bursting with deeply discounted tanks, T-shirts and shorts.

The back-to-school shopping season is second only to the holidays in terms of consumer spending. The average family will spend about $600 on school clothes, supplies and electronics this year, according to the National Retail Federation.

This presents a perfect opportunity for parents to teach kids about comparison shopping, assessing wants and needs and stretching a dollar.

Molly Snyder of St. Paul, who writes a blog at www.theSnyder5.com after her three sons are in bed, uses back to school as a chance to teach the older ones, ages 7 and 8, “that you can’t have everything be the best all the time. … If you want the $15 lunch bag, we’re just going to get the plain notebook.” As for clothes? Her sons don’t care too much — yet. So she’s able to buy off-season, on sale and a size bigger without consulting them. Six out of 10 parents who answered the retail federation’s survey said their kids influence at least half of their back-to-school purchases.