How to Save on Back to School Shopping

Back-to-school shopping is a fun way to get kids excited about a new school year. But buying too much in one shot can be a budget-buster for families and a stress trigger for children.

So it is suggested in the best interest of students and parents to research before making purchases two months earlier from the date school reopens. It softens the blow to your wallet and ensures that you buy only what your child really requires for their schooling. Follow­ing are the tips to save money and reduce the stress of back-to-school shopping.

Before even thinking about buying more school supplies, you have to figure out two things: what you need, and what you already have. Tackle what you need first; book shops, stationery stores and school. Further, e-commerce websites often give you list or suggest required student materials. Then, with lists in hand, scour the house to figure out which supplies you already own and what you have to buy now.

Once you’ve determined what to purchase, establish a budget and enforce it with your kids. When you plan to buy the backpack, lunchbox, sipper bottle, and binder, all with matching licensed cartoon character ( might at hefty price), it turns out  into a learning experience. You can tell your kids how exciting it would be to go to school with their favorite cartoon characters printed on their school supplies, and how they will look different among their peers. And same time also tell them the importance of studying and getting best grades so that they can still stand ahead of their peers in academic years and in life ahead.

Other tips to ease the pain of buying school supplies:

Shop Early: Most of the stores and web portals in the beginning of the school sessions offer Back-to-school products at discounted cost and sometimes in form of combo packs to entice shoppers into stores. Pick up those items you know you’ll need (lined notebooks, paper, pencils, crayons, folders, etc.), and the money you save can go toward bigger budget items.

Buy for whole year: Kids are not responsible like you. They keep missing their pencils, sharpeners and erasers so often in their schools. So it is better idea to buy some extra pieces, preferably in packs, so that you need not run to the stationery shops late in the evening after spending whole tiring day in office/ at home.

Involve your Kids while making List for Purchases: Let your child choose a few inexpensive items you know he’ll need, as well as a new lunch box and backpack if last year’s models just won’t do. To save time and money, consider picking up the rest of the items on the school supply list without your child.

Check for the best prices and Discounts: When you have done whole of your budgeting and listing of the items you have to buy for your kids, research on the websites, you might find it more beneficial, as  shopping online will help you save both money and time than to hop into the local school supply stores. As generally in the beginning of academic year these local stores run short in supply of many articles, mostly books and you have no other option to wait till they bring in the new stock. But when you shop online it is not the case in general. You can flip to another website if one store or website is running out of stock with some particular books or items you intend to buy. And most often you get the best discounts on online stores.

One month in: The first month of school is about establishing a daily schedule and morning routine. Invest in supplies that will help your child get orga­nized. For example, laminate a morning schedule and post it where he can’t miss it.

Two months in: Create a homework station and stock it with the necessary supplies. Consider a laminated homework schedule with built-in breaks. Make the station an inspirational place for your child, reflective of his personality.

The back-to-school shopping season often takes on the frantic pace of the weeks before the start of the academic sessions in April. By making your purchases over a few days earlier, you can make more thoughtful decisions and give you and your child time to figure out the tools he needs to do his best and be happy in school.

ADVANTAGES OF BUYING BOOKS AND SCHOOL SUPPLIES ONLINE

Online shopping is the method whereby people can directly buy goods and services from a seller in real-time, without the help of an intermediary service, over the internet. It is a form of electronic commerce.

There are a number of benefits which the customer can get while shopping online: 

1. You can do it 24/7: You can shop at whatever time you want. If you want to buy a school bag or school shoes for your child at mid-night, you can buy that easily sitting at your home.
2. You can shop from the comfort of your own home or office: If sun is shining hot outside, you need not go out in the heat, if it’s raining heavily outside you need not put on your rain coat and take umbrella and stroll through the rain flooded streets. If there is quite cool outside and you don’t want to go out to buy anything, you can still shop. Also, if you are not well and lying home to take rest, this is definitely the best way to shop.
3. Wide variety of stores within a few clicks: This is the most important factor for shopping online. As if you are living in an area where there are a very few stores, or even if you are living in a metropolitan city you can’t get everything and every brand’s product near your home. But when you are shopping online you can search over a wide range of products from different brands and prices. Another factor is that it’s not necessary that the store in your city would have the product available with them you are looking for. But when you are shopping online you can get your required brand’s product from one or other website.  Even you can buy products which are not manufactured in your own country. On many occasions it also happens that the product reaches your local store after weeks or months of its release, and you have to wait for that, but you can get them right with their release through online shopping.
4. Comparison shopping is simplified: Let's say your five years old daughter has told you that she would like the Barbie Puzzle set for her birthday. Comparing the prices of this puzzle set is much easier online than by running to a variety of stores selling the Barbie Puzzle Set. The easiest way is to search online and get the discount on your product which the websites offer you.
5. Discounts on products are more readily available online. For instance, if you want to buy a book at a local bookstore, you are unlikely to find discount to reduce the cost of the book. Whereas, many online bookstores offer handsome discounts on the products and books. This way you can get your book or any other product cheaper than the market and save your money.
6. No lines to wait in, nor irritable people to deal with: A number of people find this to be very great, mostly during the festival seasons or holiday when crowd in the stores and tempers can both blaze up. While shopping online you need not face such people and save your time lining up in the stores to get the product you want to buy.
7. You don't have to drag kids all over the place. To buy school supplies, books, bags, lunch boxes, stationery, uniforms, shoes, etc., for your child you need not drag them to the stores to make them select what color or brand they want. You just can do that sitting at your place along with them. 
8. Greet and Cheer your relatives sending them gifts online: If you have to send a gift to your relative or friend residing far away from you on any occasion, you can do this easily with the online shopping. You can choose a product from the website and buy it, and give the shipping details of your friend or relative and the online company will deliver your gift to your friend without any hassle. Buying and sending gifts online is quite convenient since you don't have to wrap the gift, properly package it, and then run to the post office to send it. Most of the online companies will wrap your gift on your behalf. Company even informs you when your gift is delivered.