With a few back to school shopping tips you can save a bundle of money and make the experience less painful and even enjoyable.  Make two shopping lists. Many parents and students get distracted and caught up in back to school shopping and overspend. This can easily happen when clothing is included with supplies on the shopping list. Many students need new school clothes as this might be an annual tradition and they have out grown last year’s wardrobe, or the school year could coincide with a change of season. Other students want complete new attire for school to be in style. At least a new outfit for the first day of school can make your child enter a new grade with a good feeling. However, separating necessities from desires is imperative to staying within a budget.

Get a list from the school or teacher, check here as well, before you go shopping. Add any other necessities to the list.

Check on what you already have around the house and place those items in a ready bag and cross those things off your list. Be sure to look what items might be squirreled away in your child’s room. Stick to only buying what is on your list. Buy frugal products. Instead of a pencil sharpener with a super hero a generic one can be half the cost.

Plan your shopping day. Many areas have a no sales tax day specifically for back to school shopping. With some sales tax rates this can represent a significant savings. Also plan where you will buy what.  Online stores, dollar stores, and the big stores all have sales. Some people actually make a dry run a day or two before shopping day to check stock and pricing. You can do a lot of this online now.

Get the strength of numbers. Collaborate with other parents and have one parent buy in bulk for all the kids. Some items that can be bought in bulk for considerable savings. Things such as paper, pencils, glue sticks, crayons, tissues, notebooks, and so on fall in this category.  Some schools even have collaboration purchasing programs in place.