If you're dreading the expense of back to school shopping, follow these steps to savings!
1. Find out how much you can spend on your children's school supplies and stick to your budget, no matter what.
2. Get a list ready. Make a list of all of the things that your children will need, including clothes and lunch boxes. Make sure you add the overall expected costs in a column on that list, too. Then, assess what your children actually need and what they merely want. Always get what they need first and only focus on the things that they want if you have any money left over.
3. Before you go out shopping, rummage around the house and look for things that you might already have from the list. Search for things your older children might still have from their younger years that your younger children might need now and look around your office, too. Remember: not all school supplies have to be new.
4. Look for useful coupons for either offline or online shopping. A lot of retailers tend to provide huge discounts on shoes, clothes and electronics, so discounts are especially useful. Don't be afraid to ask for discounts if you have a K-12 ID or a college ID, either. You can really save a lot of money on back to school supplies this way.
5. Start shopping earlier. If you can, get your children's school supply lists early, so that you can get everything that they need as early as possible, too. And, when it comes to clothes, don't buy everything at once. Instead, have a nice set of new clothes ready for their first week of school and then spread out the rest of their clothes over the next few months.
6. Shop around and look for sales. Browse through your local newspapers for the best sales and take full advantage of all of them. You don't need to buy everything from a single store – remember that. Instead, compare prices from different stores first and figure out how you can save the most money as possible before making your decision.
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written by: Patrick Jones
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photo courtesy of FreeWebPhotos.com
