Can you believe that it is that time of year for back-to-school shopping? Your children may either be very excited about the upcoming school year or they are whining every day about how they don’t want to go back. Regardless of their opinion, you need to start shopping. Going shopping for school supplies can be a very stressful event. There are a few things to do to prepare yourself before you hit the stores.

  1. Check your children’s leftover supplies from last year
    You would be surprised at how much money you can save by going through your kid’s backpack from the previous school year. There are pens, pencils, folders, crayons, all sitting in the backpack that probably has never been used or rarely used. Sometimes you may get lucky and find a notebook that wasn’t used as well. Make sure you reuse those supplies for next school year instead of spending your money on new items.
  2. Make a list
    Most schools give out a supplies list for the students. Look the list over and cross off anything that you already have. Continue to examine the list and determine what might not be necessary. Some of the things on the list might say ‘nice to have’ and ‘required’. If you are looking to save some money, don’t buy everything that isn’t required. You can always get those items at a later date if your child ends up needing it.
  3. Stick to the list
    When you get to the store you will be bombarded with A LOT of supplies and most of them are really cute and unnecessary. You’ll have this urge of throwing everything into your cart. Snap out of it. You aren’t there to spend your entire savings, you are there to get what is on your list.
  4. Wait until the end of summer to shop
    Since the middle of July, stores have stocked their shelves with school supplies at retail price. There is no real reason you need to buy these supplies at full price. If you wait it out until the end of August and beginning of September there will be so many back-to-school sales. The stores want to get rid of the school supplies at that point in time and will have them marked down.
  5. Don’t let your children convince you to buy something they don’t need
    For example, your kid wants a backpack with the characters of Incredibles on it. They may beg and beg you to get the backpack but chances are their obsession with the Incredibles will fade throughout the year and they will be asking you to get them a new backpack with new characters on it. If you want to save money, get a backpack with colors on it instead.

You can do this! Stay strong and veer away from all the temptation. Happy shopping!