Last Minute Back to School Saving Tips

Not your kids’ favorite words…back to school, but school ends and school starts. Some kids are already back to school, while others are slowly counting down their last days of summer. If you’re a last minute back to school shopper, you may find you’re cashing in on some great deals.

Here’s how you can save even more with these back to school saving tips.

Work within a budget and stick to it!

Before you head out to your favorite store, go through last year’s inventory. Do you have extra erasers or another pack of pencils? Maybe you forgot you had another yellow highlighter and you only need to buy one other color. Or maybe your pack of pencil crayons will last two more semesters.

Take inventory and make a new list of school supplies you need. The tip to really keeping your costs down is buying the basics. So don’t buy more than just the basic needs.

Check your flyers or go online and look for sales and coupons. When you’re armed and ready head to your store, but shop around for the best savings or ask your store if they do price matching.

In certain states, there is something called a Sales Tax Holiday. Florida had its tax holiday on August 12-14, 2011. There were some exemptions like school supplies were exempt from the sales tax if they were $10 or less. There were about 20 states observing this tax holiday so you can see if your state participated or not at dor.mo.gov/business/sales/taxholiday/school. It doesn’t only apply to school supplies, but on clothing and books. If you missed this, there’s always next year or you can simply keep an eye out for sales.

Buying generic is sometimes cheaper and works just as well unless you know for sure the brand name quality is better than the generic. You’ll have to compare the prices and see which one has more bang for its buck. In the primary grades, the school supplies are often shared in the classroom. Even though you may have bought Elmer’s glue, your child may be using a generic brand another student has brought in. So keep that in mind when buying school supplies for a younger child.

Buy in bulk. Many times, you can save more by buying a pack of four large glue sticks than two single large glue sticks.

Avoid purchasing items from the school like school locks for lockers because they can charge twice as much than a retail store. Some schools require students to buy a gym strip — shorts and a t-shirt with the school’s logo and charge $25. If it’s allowed by the school, you can save money by having your child wear their own shorts and plain t-shirt.

The best saving tips are sticking to your list and budget, always be on a look out for deals and stocking up on school supplies when they are on sale because you can’t beat spending 25 cents on a ream of ruled, loose-leaf paper!

What saving tips have you found to be useful?

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