A new school year is just around the corner. As a parent, September 1 (as opposed to January 1) feels like the true “New Year.” It is the time of the year when we clean the house of the old and add in the new— that is, new clothes, new pencils, new backpacks, and new shoes (even for Mom!). Having already started preparing for the back-to-school season myself, I wanted to share some shopping tips to give your preparations high scores!
1. Go through your kids’s closets. Get rid of old clothes that are stained, torn or outgrown. After you do that, take stock of what you have and what you need. Maybe your son has a pair of tan pants and gray pants that are still in good shape and fit him, but now you need a pair of black and blue pants to replace the ones you had to donate or toss. Similarly,  figure out what tops you need, including ones that you need to match the bottoms. Then type a list into your smartphone (so you’ll have it when you are shopping later!).
2. Ask the teachers for a list of supplies in advance, then go through the house and figure out what you already have versus what you still need. Again, type what you need into your smartphone so you have your on-the-go list with you!
3. Plan the day(s) you want to shop. Some of my favorites are during the tax free weekends that many states now offer in August to drive back-to-school sales. My other favorite time to shop is during Labor Day weekend. A lot of stores, including online stores, offer great discounts—including free shipping! Not only can you buy what you need for the school year at good prices, but the summer “sale” racks or pages are full, too. You can buy summer shorts, T-shirts, and dresses for next summer at great prices.
4. If you are doing a lot of your back-to-school shopping online, don’t forget to use sites like ebates.com. By shopping through them, you often get points for rewards for free gift cards down the road! Consider signing up for the website’s email list for coupons and sale notices. If you are worried about the emails cluttering your inbox, just create an email account especially for those needs.
5. When you are finally hitting the retail stores, don’t forget to check out the consignment shops too! There are often great clothes (and great prices) to be found there as well. Many have designer labels too, in case you have a child fashionista. For school supplies, don’t forget to check out the dollar stores.
Hopefully this will help you ‘Get Prepped’ for that A+ in back-to-school!
