Practical Ways to Save Money during Back to School Season

Posted on August 16 2012

Back-to-school shopping can be difficult to do on a budget. Today there are many flashy extras that children want, and it is easy for the items to begin to add up. Here are a few tips to help your family get your back to school shopping done without breaking the bank.

Tips for Buying School Supplies

Shop at Home First ? Every family has leftover school supplies from the previous year. Check out the condition of backpacks, scissors, and other items that can be reused. The less items that you have to purchase, the smaller your receipts.

Stick to the Teacher?s List ? Every elementary school teacher, especially, has a specific list of items that they suggest for their students to purchase. Usually it contains the basics: crayons, markers, glue, scissors, pencils, and notebooks. It is important to stick to this list. If a teacher requests the 24 pack of crayons, don?t buy your child the 68 pack.

Personalize ? Pencil boxes, backpacks, lunch boxes, and many other back-to-school items come in two varieties at the store. They are either plain and affordable or decorated and outrageously overpriced. Take your children to a local craft store and help them personalize their own items with paint pens, stickers, glitter, and other items. They will love their personalized items, and it will help save you money.

Tips for Buying Back-to-School Clothing

Shop end of the Summer Sales ? Check out the sales at your favorite stores for your children. We all know that you can never have too many basic t-shirts for boys or leggings for girls. Stock up on items that don?t have a seasonal expiration date.

Shop Old Navy, The Children?s Place, Gap Kids and Other Children?s Stores
These stores are notorious for cycling through ?lines? of children?s clothing relatively quickly. Wait until the items go on sale, and you can save a ton of money. The best part is that you usually don?t have to wait too long for those sale prices to pop up. Being patient at stores like these can save you a ton of money, and your kids can still rock the latest styles for their school pictures.

Buy Quality
The best part about the stores above are that the quality of clothing is a better than some other stores. By buying quality, you are going to have pieces that your children can wear until they outgrow instead of clothes they are going to wreck if they play outside. The best part about buying quality is that you can pass them down to younger siblings, cousins, neighbors, or friends. In the long-run, they are a better investment. This especially holds true for items like winter jackets, jeans, and tennis shoes.

Before you know it, you will be standing outside, waving good-bye as you drop off your children at school. Don?t worry, they will be prepared. You took them school shopping, and you saved money while doing it.

Image: FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Source: http://www.familylifecredit.org/practical-ways-save-money-school-season/

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