My oldest son has only been out of school for less than 10 days on summer vacation, but I am already getting ready with school supplies and clothing for September. Why do I do this? First off, it is to avoid the rush, and secondly it is to avoid spending too much money.
Starting to gather the school supplies now gives me extra opportunity to find the best prices.
The first thing I did was to go through my son’s closet and dresser for clothing. This was in a way killing too birds with one stone. I could put away the cool weather items and take down the summer items from the attic. Since he will be wearing the next size up for the next school year, I boxed up the old stuff that was in good condition to be put away for his younger brother.
Next I took a look at what I had in the larger size for September and made note of what he might need, how many pants, long sleeve shirts, sweaters, etc. This will give me a list to work off of all summer long as I come across great deals. it will also prevent me from wasting money by overbuying certain items.
I can take my list to garage sales, outgrown sales, store clearance racks and outlet stores. I can also post needs on freecyle or with friends. I just spotted some great deals on jeans at a local outlet store. Since it is summer, the name brand boys jeans were half off of the outlet prices. Thanks to my list, I knew exactly what to buy. I also noticed some school shirts that I will come back and get when they are on sale next month (I asked a sales associate, and she was able to give me the sales schedule). I can note this store on my list.
Next, I’ll talk about the actual school supplies for the classroom, such as pencils, notebooks and more.
Mary Ann Romans writes about everything related to saving money in the Frugal Blog, technology in the Computing Blog, and creating a home in the Home Blog. Starting June 1st, don’t miss her articles in the Baby Blog. You can read more of her articles by clicking here.
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