With the summer holiday coming to an end, it is time to plan how to purchase all your kids need when going back to school. You should also be ready to spend a lot, especially if you have several kids in school.
According to Deloitte, parents will be spending more this year due to increased use of technology products in school. Also, due to the coronavirus pandemic, parents have to buy COVID-19-related products.
Fortunately, there are several tricks that you can use to minimize your spending on some of the essential back to school items. Though these tricks will not eliminate the burden, they can help you save some cash, as you must pay school fees. Below are some of the backs to school saving tricks.
Re-use School Supplies from the Previous Term
Since school supplies don’t expire, the items that weren’t used up the previous term will work great this term. Therefore, you should take inventory of all the supplies you have before you go shopping. For example, you don’t have to buy a new backpack if the one you bought at the beginning of the year is still in good condition. Applying this trick will help you save a lot by eliminating all the unnecessary spending.
Shop Off-Season
If you have to buy a new uniform and school shoes, it is advisable to buy them before the back to school period to save some money. Due to the high demand, uniform stores will most likely hike the prices during the back to school period. If the kids have to choose their own outfits for school, you can save a lot if you buy clothes off-season. For example, summer items are cheaper in early fall because the retailers are getting rid of them.
However, you should take a good guess to avoid buying clothes that won’t fit them at the time of use. The best strategy is to err on the large size but avoid buying too big as you may have to wait for another year.
Buy Gift Cards
Though we buy gift cards to give others as presents, you can buy them to help you save some money during your back to school shopping. The secret behind buying gift cards is that you can buy them from other people who got them but cannot use them. For example, they may have got a gift card for a store that they rarely visit. Most people will sell these cards at a lower price, meaning you will spend less if you pay using a card you bought at a price lower than its value.
Since most people love anonymity when selling these cards, especially if they received them as gifts, you should buy cryptocurrencies and look for a site where you can buy gift cards with cryptocurrencies. If you don’t have a crypto wallet, you can buy cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin online. However, you should ensure that you only buy Bitcoin from a trusted cryptocurrencies dealer to avoid getting conned. Also, ensure that you have purchased gift cards for a store you can easily access. For example, you buy Walmart gift card with Bitcoin if you plan to shop there.
Compare Prices
Price comparison is another thing you should not ignore if you want to save some money on your back-to-school shopping. Thanks to the apps offered by the stores that sell school supplies, you don’t have to physically visit every store to compare prices. Once you have identified the prices, you can use Walmart’s price-matching policy to avoid trekking from one store to another.
