Back-to-school shopping has become a real thing. National Retail Foundation calls it the second-biggest retail shopping event in America. The estimates predict that back-to-school supplies shopping will reach a new level of 33.9 billion US Dollars per year. The average spending for supplies of one child is around 789.4 US dollars. Pretty expensive, right?
By these figures, it is justified to wonder what can cost so much during your back-to-school shopping. If we break it down, the school essentials consist of clothing, school supplies, electronics, and accessories. Many accessories. If you are parent of a high school student, be assured that your spending for school essentials might even cross $1000 a year. But, of course, your first priority is to stay within the limits of your budget and make sure to provide everything to your child.
So here we to share with some tips you. By following our tips, you can buy most of the things without exceeding your budget. Get ready to buy everything on the school shopping list without running out of finance.
Simple Ways To Save On Your Back To School Shopping List
We want to help parents in their shopping for their school-going kids. Parents are always running to provide for their families. Between grocery expenses, saving money for emergencies and future goals, it’s not always easy for parents to manage their finances. This list is for all parents so that you don’t have to worry much about your little one’s school shopping. You might end up saving some bucks with it.
1. Make a back to school shopping list and budget
Some years before, I used to believe that budgeting was an overrated concept. But, I now realized it’s for a reason. It saves us from any unnecessary stress in your life. Budgeting is your key to avoiding any financial struggle and make you finance much more healtier.
As an advice for your next back-to-school season shopping, we emphasize making a list of school supplies and assigning a budget for every item. You can make an assessment of what does your child needs for this year and what he doesn’t. After doing so, put an estimated cost for each item.
Doing this will serve multi-purpose. You will follow the shopping list without exceeding your budget. Additionally, you will save yourself from the hassle of thinking about which things to buy once at the store.
2. Leverage Students Discounts
For the small items on your school essentials shopping list, you might not bother getting a price cut or discount. However, when buying electronics like tablets, computers, printers, you will wish to get a price cut or student discounts. To get a discount, make sure to check all available options in the market. Check out different retail stores and see up to what percentage of discounts they offer. We assure you to get the best price if you can do some research while shopping.
3. Compare Prices Online
Whether you are shopping or deciding about anything else, make sure to gather all the source data to back your decisions. Informed decision-making is very critical to your satisfaction. Therefore, when you plan to shop for a young one’s school, take out some time to make a price comparison.
Compare online retail websites and conventional brick and mortar stores. It will prove to be your best shot for getting the most reasonable prices for all goods. There are chances that you might end up getting some discount coupons during online price comparison to reduce the cost even further.
4. Buy School Supplies Last
If you already don’t know, different school supplies retailers, including big names like Target and Staples, offer price cuts and massive discounts before the back-to-school shopping season ends. So our tip for saving some dollars on your school supplies is to put school supplies at the end of your shopping list. If you can wait for the season-end price drop, you can save a decent amount on notebooks, pens, pencils etc.
5. Buy Used Textbooks And Electronics
Parents, you can save real money if you go for preowned books or electronics. The refurbished electronics like tablets and used books are sometimes so great that anyone can distinguish between a new and second-hand.
For getting the best prices of preowned books and electronics, you can make price comparisons on online websites. Besides, you can also visit nearby pawn shops. Specialized social media pages are also a good choice to consider. Even big online retail website as Amazon now offers refurbished and pre-owned item via a second called Amazon Renewed which you really can trust.
6. Save Your Receipts
It might be hard for most of you, but you can earn a partial refund or price adjustment on the purchases if you can do this. The thing is that many retailers offer deep discounts at the end of sales seasons. If you have your purchase receipts saved, you can claim a partial refund or price adjustments for retailers’ additional discounts. You need to show the receipt to leverage this money-saving opportunity.
7. Shop Secondhand Clothing And Accessories
You can make school supplies shopping less heavier on your pocket this season in many ways. Buying clothes every year for your kids along with a new bagback, lunch box, binders etc., can become really expensive. But what if you have an opportunity to put most of that amount in your savings account?
Yes, you can do so by buying secondhand clothes or other accessories at your local thrift store or even through online websites. You will be glad to see that most of the items are in very good condition and you can get branded items at a very low cost.
8. Use Cashback Apps
The internet and digital media have revolutionized many industries. Online retail stores and cashback sites are becoming very common nowadays. You must check out these amazing cashback sites to save more money on everything you buy. All you have to do is signup on such platforms and shop what you want. Some cashback apps including Fetch Rewards and Rakuten are really worth checking.
Be Savvy And Save Money On School Essentials
If you are willing to make buying decisions for school supplies like secondhand and preowned items, you will never miss the opportunity to save a lot. If you are conscious about your spendings, you will never fall behind your financial goals.
Besides everything, if you try to save some amount on every item you purchase, it will induce good financial management habits on your kids, and they will be good managers of their finance. Happy back-to-school season!
