According to the Back-to-School Spending Survey released annually by the National Retail Federation, families with children in grades K-12 plan to spend an average of $630.36 in back to school supplies this year. This number reflects a 42 percent increase over the last decade. To avoid overspending on back to school supplies, use these suggestions to limit the costs.
According to Staples’ recent survey of more than 1,000 parents, 81 percent said they get all their child’s school supplies by the first day of school. Keeping your back-to-school shopping list on your smartphone gives you the ability to check prices on key items each time you see sales on school or office supplies. You can also use one of the many apps that consolidate circulars from different stores and add the school supplies to your shopping list so you are alerted when a price drops at a store you frequent.
Roughly 86 percent of parents told Staples that savings was a top priority during back to school shopping this year. The best way to ensure that you save during the shopping trip is to shop with as little stress as possible. Shopping while stressed often leads to overspending as you rush to get out of the store without considering the actual costs of the items you are buying. Have an agenda before you leave home so you know exactly where to go and what you are getting there.
When back to school shopping, the priorities should be on education-related items. Take the time to compare prices and choose the best items that are the greatest values first. After the education-related items are taken care of, then you can focus on the classroom supplies, such as Kleenex, paper towels, and hand sanitizer. For these items, the most inexpensive choice will be just as useful as the more expensive brands. You may even already have this stuff at home.
When shopping for back to school supplies, make sure that you are in control of the way the money is being spent. Kids feel a lot of pressure to show up with the equipment they feel will impress their peers, which can lead to unnecessary spending on items that are not important. Have a conversation with your children before leaving home to create a list of things to buy and make a point of spending time picking them out together. This is a good opportunity to teach your kids a valuable life lesson on sticking to the necessities instead of buying ‘stuff’ just because their classmates’ did.