Thursday, August 12, 2010

Back to School Savings Tips


 We only have one little guy in school right now and back to school can be very expensive and even more so when you have more than one kiddo in school so I wanted to share a few of my Back to school savings tips with you so I'm linking up with Twittermoms here for a Back to School Savings Tips contest.


1. Shop ahead if you can. Shop out of season and buy your clothes, supplies, etc. when they are clearanced. This is when you can get the best deals. Buy their clothes a size up, stock up on crayons, markers, erasers, pencils, etc. when they are clearanced, it'll save you a lot.

2. Coupons! You know I love me some coupons and yes you can save on clothes, and school supplies with coupons. There are coupons out there for pens, notebooks, etc out there.

3. I didn't shop ahead last year so this year my little guy needed a whole new wardrobe for school. I love to shop online for clothing deals, I had a percent off code to The Childrens Place plus they were having a mega clearance event that I matched the coupon with, I also shopped at kohls online and had a code for that as well plus they were having .99 shipping. I NEVER shop without a coupon code online or at least free shipping. ( you can see the deals I got pictured below )

4. If you have to buy everything shop a little at a time all summer long, for instance if you go to the store once a week grab 2 things off the supply list each time, then by the end of the summer you should have the supplies covered.

5. In store coupons - Old Navy, Jcpenney, Kohls, etc. They are always mailing or emailing coupons to save a percent or dollar off when you shop in stores. I received one last week for Jcpenney for $10 off a $10 purchase which I will use for the little guys backback, last year I put it towards new sneakers. It helps!


6. Sign up with your favorite stores to receive their emails, find their facebook pages, etc. They are almost always running a promotion. Right now their is a link to a coupon for 10% off your Old Navy purchase here on their facebook page. Kohls I believe sends out a coupon after you sign up to receive their emails. American Eagle/77 kids is one of my favorites to shop online, they are always emailing codes and specials. Staples is always having sales, they also do a lot of rebates which can make your items free after the rebate!

7. We don't reuse much of his school stuff as he is pretty hard on it, what is usually salvageable is the pencil box, and gym shoes ( not a whole lot ) if they still fit. If you can reuse.

8. Shop Goodwill or Craigslist. I will be honest I don't buy to many clothes at Goodwill, nothing against it I'm just to busy shopping over in the home area :) but a good thing to look for at goodwill is jeans, shorts, etc. I have found some nice name brand shorts in the kids clothes and I never buy more than a couple of pairs of NEW shorts for school as they don't wear them long. Craigslist you can find some deals as well, I've seen a lot of ads on ours for new shoes. It always varies for each are though.

9. Newspapers- Watch your newspapers every week around back to school time and go through all the ads, make your lists of where and what they have at each store that you want to check out. Plus there is often coupons for stores in the papers to combine with the sales they are having.

10. Another great way to save if your shopping online is there are a few different websites that if you shop through their links to all the stores you earn a percentage back on your purchases. It varies from store to store how much but my favorite site is shopathome.com


 Here is my back to school loot, the clothing part anyway. I got everything above pictured for under $40 which includes shipping to my door AND a pair of pjs that is not pictured. That's 9 shirts, a pair of shorts, and pjs for under $40! Pretty Awesome in my opinion. That's 3.63 an item!!!!


 All of this was bought online at Kohls for under $30, the Adidas basketball shoes were marked down to $19.99 plus I had a coupon code for 10% off plus it was .99 shipping. Awesomeness!

So what's your back to school savings tips? What deals have you scored?



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2 comments:

Nina @ Momma Go Round said...

Awesome tips! I'm with ya on the shop ahead. I do it all the time for my little man at Children's Place too. They have great clothes and fabulous deals! I did a whole post on it too. I'm love what you got!

Lisa at Paint in my Hair said...

Great tips! My other back--to-school tip is to buy a year's worth of glue sticks, markers, crayons, etc now at rock-bottom prices...I use them in birthday gifts as well as keeping them on hand for my own kids' creations.

Thanks for stopping by to check out my blog. If you decide to do the doors and have any questions, please feel free to come back and ask!

Lisa