How do I get an email from MySchoolBucks when my child's lunch balance is low?
In MySchoolBucks, click your name, choose My Students, then Edit by your child's name to turn on low balance emails.
Low balance emails are managed in your account: click your name in the upper right, choose My Students, then click Edit next to your student's name. MySchoolBucks says you can get an email notification when your student's balance is low, and set a different low balance amount for each student on your account. If low balance notifications are on and the balance stays below your minimum, you get a total of 3 email messages, and an account with more than one student gets a notification for each student.
For a MySchoolBucks email, connect Gmail or forward it to your Daywell address. For anything else, take a screenshot and share it to Daywell from your phone, or add it in Daywell on the web.
What to do
- Open your student's settings. Low balance emails are managed in your account: click your name in the upper right, choose My Students, then click Edit next to your student's name.
- Set the low balance email. MySchoolBucks says you can get an email notification when your student's balance is low, and set a different low balance amount for each student on your account.
- Expect three, not more. If low balance notifications are on and the balance stays below your minimum, you get a total of 3 email messages, and an account with more than one student gets a notification for each student.
- Turn on receipts if you want them. You can opt in to payment confirmation emails in your account settings, and a receipt is sent to the email address in your user profile each time you pay.
- Ask the school. MySchoolBucks says it may not be the only option for paying your school, and to contact your school or district about other ways to add funds. Write: "How does our school take lunch money and tell us the balance?"
- Label what arrives. In Gmail, make a filter for your school, daycare and activity senders and have it label them "School". Add the sender of your first MySchoolBucks email to it. Choose Skip the Inbox (Archive it) only if you'll open that label every day. Then write down the child, the job and by when, like "Maya: add lunch money by Friday".
How Daywell helps
Daywell (getdaywell.com) is the family prep assistant. Connect Gmail once, read-only. Daywell looks at email and picks out the messages from school, daycare and activities. One list of what's coming up, which child it's for, and what to bring, sign or pay. Take a screenshot of the message, then share it to Daywell from your phone, or add it in Daywell on the web. On the iPhone and Android apps, one quiet reminder comes each morning, at a time you pick. Invite a partner and you both see the same list.
Questions parents ask
I keep getting emails that my child's balance is low.
Expect three while it stays low.
If low balance notifications are on and the balance stays below your minimum, you get a total of 3 email messages, and an account with more than one student gets a notification for each student.
Can I get a receipt for each payment?
Yes, opt in to it.
You can opt in to payment confirmation emails in your account settings, and a receipt is sent to the email address in your user profile each time you pay.
Where do I add money?
Ask your school or district.
MySchoolBucks says it may not be the only option for paying your school, and to contact your school or district about other ways to add funds. For what to do with a lunch or fee notice, see how to remember school lunch money and fee deadlines.
How do I get MySchoolBucks updates into Daywell?
Connect Gmail, or forward the email.
For a MySchoolBucks email, connect Gmail or forward it to your Daywell address. For anything else, take a screenshot and share it to Daywell from your phone, or add it in Daywell on the web.
I use Outlook or another email, not Gmail. Can I still use Daywell?
Yes, just forward them.
Yes. From any inbox, forward school emails to your own Daywell address, one at a time or automatically. The first time you forward from a new address, Daywell asks you to confirm it's yours; after that, forward again and Daywell reads it.
A form or flyer came home. What do I do?
Share it as a PDF or a picture.
Share a PDF or a picture to Daywell and it reads it, on every device.
Does Daywell read all of my email?
No. It starts with who it's from and the subject.
No. It looks only at who each email is from and its subject, and skips what Gmail files under Promotions, Social and Forums. It opens the ones it judges to be from school, daycare or activities. If it can't tell from the sender and subject, it opens that one too rather than risk missing it. The privacy policy explains what is kept and for how long.
How do I get Daywell?
Start on the web.
Daywell is on the web. Start at getdaywell.com. It reads your school and activity email and tells you what your kids need ready.
Sources
Checked by James Boone, Daywell, 5 Nov 2026