It’s beginning to look a lot like…back to school?
As shoppers load up on the latest fashions, books, pencils, and even computers and other electronic gadgets, Back To School has become the second biggest shopping season of the year next to Christmas.
Here are a few tips for Back To School Shopping.
Shop alone if you can. When your trip to the mall is a social outing, you’re likely to spend more as you and your friends compare lists and get caught up in the fun.
If you shop with your kids, get them involved. Have them help make the list and determine the budget. Then show them that to stick to it, you need to make some choices along the way.
Put down cash, instead of credit. If you must use a credit card, the stick to just one.
Spend no more than what you can pay off within a month or two, if you must use credit. Many consumers still don’t realize that by slapping that purchase on a credit card and only paying the minimum, you may end up paying as much as three times what it actually cost.
Online, you’ll find plenty of tips when it comes to saving money, and back-to-school is no exception.
For lunches and snacks, buy in bulk when possible and separate into smaller portions, preferably in reusable bags or containers.
For school supplies, you probably already have a lot of the items that you need: a backpack, colored pencils, paper, and binders. Hunt high and low around the house.
If you do go the store for school supplies, try to load up. “It’s a great time to get these items at very low prices, so buy enough to last the entire year,” Danger says.
For clothes, kids don’t really need a whole new wardrobe. Instead, focus on one special outfit to start school. Then wait until late September or early October and grab a few more items from the clearance rack. Ask at your favorite store, and they’ll probably tell you when they do their markdowns. Waiting until after school starts to shop will also give your fashionable tweens and teens the time to figure out their must-have items. The longer you wait, the better the odds that you’ll find the coveted threads on sale.
Buy fewer clothes and look for better quality. Since kids prefer to wear favorite items anyway, buy a handful of things your child will like, and that will stand up to frequent washes, rather than a closet full of fast fashion.
Look for comfortable fabric. And that doesn’t have to mean 100 per cent cotton. A little bit of polyester makes cotton wash better, and spandex helps it move.
Be smart about fit. Nothing you buy for your child should be form-fitting. It should be comfortable and loose so it will move with your child on the monkey bars, and so there’s room to grow.
Look carefully at wash and care instruction. Of course, avoid anything that requires dry cleaning. Not only do most dry cleaners use harsh chemicals, the expensive care routine will put both you and your child on tender hooks about getting ice cream on a party dress
Have patience parents with the other parents out shopping. Life will get back to normal about the second week of September. Summer will be a faded dream for our children as they are hard at hitting the books again and we can breathe a sigh of relief that they are back to school.
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