Skip to main content

As summer winds down, it’s time for back-to-school shopping. Here are some tips to help you save time and money.

  • Get the teacher-approved list. Many teachers have lists of items they want their students to have.
  • Take an inventory of clothing and supplies you already have. Then, set a budget and buy only what you need.
  • Involve your kids. Use school shopping as a way to teach your children about money, budgeting and organizing.
  • Use price comparison apps to help you check for the best available price in real time. Many of these apps use your phone’s camera to scan a product code. Then they search online databases to show you prices and information about similar products sold online or in stores.
  • Consider buying used or refurbished, whether it’s clothing, sporting equipment, electronics or musical instruments. Consignment and resale shops are a great place to find quality merchandise at deep discounts.
  • Take advantage of tax-free shopping. Many states offer tax-free shopping days in August. It can be a great time to save on clothing and school supplies.
  • Ask about refund and return policies, including sale items. Merchants often have different refund and return policies for sale items, especially clearance merchandise.
  • Save those receipts! When you’re shopping online, keep copies of your order number, the refund and return policies, shipping costs and warranties.

For more money management tips, visit Money & Credit.

Search Terms
bargain
budget
kids
parents
school
shopping
teachers
Topics
Shopping and Donating

1 Comments

P.J. (not verified)
August 17, 2018
Good tips. I heard that many dollar store type back-to-school items are toxic. You'd better save those for the high school kids (maybe there are a few items college/post grad could use) unless its something they are unlikely to put in their mouths.

Read Our Privacy Act Statement

It is your choice whether to submit a comment. If you do, you must create a user name, or we will not post your comment. The Federal Trade Commission Act authorizes this information collection for purposes of managing online comments. Comments and user names are part of the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) public records system, and user names also are part of the FTC’s computer user records system. We may routinely use these records as described in the FTC’s Privacy Act system notices. For more information on how the FTC handles information that we collect, please read our privacy policy.

Comment Policy

This is a moderated blog; we review all comments before they are posted. We expect participants to treat each other and the bloggers with respect. We will not post comments that do not comply with our commenting policy. We may edit comments to remove links to commercial websites or personal information before posting them.

We won’t post:

  • spam or off-topic comments
  • comments that contain vulgar language, personal attacks, or offensive terms that target specific groups
  • sales pitches or promotions
  • comments that contain clearly misleading or false information
  • comments that contain personal information, like home addresses

Comments submitted to this blog become part of the public domain. To protect your privacy and the privacy of others, please do not include personal information. Also, do not use this blog to report fraud; instead, file a complaint.

Return to top