Affordable Back-to-School Shopping Tips for Families

If you are reading this I don’t want you to think that I am rushing summer.  Trust me I am not!  But the cold reality is that back to school season comes around so fast and I want you to be prepared.  Depending on the type of kids you have this may be an exciting time or they are completely dreading it.  No matter what the temperature in your family about back to school this post will help make back to school shopping both fun and affordable.

Make it a Trip

If you have been reading any of my posts you know that we like to travel as a family.  Back to School shopping is no different.  We make a trip out of it.  We live in a fairly small area with very limited stores so going to a bigger city is the norm for us.  For my family school starts in September, so we plan back to school shopping in the last part of August.

We try to choose somewhere that we haven’t been before that has amenities geared for families to make the trip more enjoyable.  Two days work perfectly.  We arrive just before dinner, have something to eat and then a swim in the hotel pool.  The next day we spend the bulk of it shopping before heading back to the hotel for the night.  The next day we grab any last minute items and then head home.

Lists!

I think that lists help me maintain my sanity for everything when it comes to parenting.  Ensuring that you have an accurate list for back to school shopping not only keeps you on track but will help keep you within your budget.  Check with the school, often times the school will send out a list of supplies each student needs as well as items that are optional.  This is especially important if it is your child’s first year of school- you don’t want to go buying so many things they may not need.

We go through everyone’s drawers to check on clothing sizes to see what fits and what doesn’t.  If your kids have a ton of pants that fit but not many tops that fit then you know not to go buying a whole bunch of pants.  We try and create a balance of things the kids need versus what they want.  We have 4 kids so back to school shopping gets very expensive and we try to set very clear boundaries on what they are able to get.

Buying in Bulk

As I mentioned I have 4 kids.  Now they are all in different grades so the lists definitely differ.  But there are plenty of items that they will all need.  It ends up being cheaper in the long run to buy these things in bulk.  Such as pencils, pens, erasers, markers, glue sticks etc.

I find this the most effective because then we also always have these items around the house for the kids to use when at home. This will come in handy when your kids are wanting to do different crafts throughout the school year at home.

Thrifting

When we are back to school shopping we always look up the various thrift shops that may be around.  Kids grow so fast that buying new for everything doesn’t always make sense.  For as fast as they grow- picking up a few pairs of pants at a thrift store may give you better bang for your buck.

When shopping at a thrift store with your older kids I find making sure they know what they are going in for will help with the process.  Sometimes thrift stores can be pretty big and this can be very overwhelming.  You want the whole process to be fun and exciting for everyone!

Affordable back-to-school shopping is all about planning ahead and knowing where to find the deals. With a thoughtful approach, you can equip your kids with everything they need — and still have some room in your budget for that well-earned coffee on the first day back.

For more tips and tricks for all kinds of family travel be sure to check out Home – Together We Can Travel.