Back to School Gear for Less

"It's the most wonderful time of the year..." Yes it is! The kids are going back to school!

Don't get me wrong, I love my kids, but after 2 1/2 months of bug jars, mud pies, and family "togetherness", I'm ready to ship them out! Now comes the tricky part- getting them ready to go back to school without paying a king's ransom. Here are some ways to get the most for your money:

Backpacks
Wait for the clearance sales! The best time to buy backpacks and lunch boxes is in September, after school has started. Most stores want to clear out their back-to-school inventory to make way for Christmas items. I have found fantastic prices at Walmart in mid-September. Last year, I bought backpacks with a lifetime guarantee for $10 each. I had seen them a few weeks earlier for $30 each. If my kid wears out or rips the backpack, the company will repair or replace it for free. Several companies have backpacks with lifetime guarantees. The ones I bought are made by Outdoor Products. I wrote them to see if I needed to send anything in to register for the guarantee. They said no, just send it in and they'll take care of it free of charge.

Get it Free! Look around for special offers and giveaways. Our local minor league baseball team gave away free backpacks for anyone who attended one of their games. The boys loved their free backpacks with the local baseball team's logo on it, after Grandpa had taken them to the game (and stuffed the boys full of junk food). Many food and toy companies also have special offers, keep and eye out to see if these offers are worth your while.

Make it: You can also make backpacks and book bags. Most sewing companies make patterns for them. Frugal Moms will be featuring a Recycled Jean Backpack and other school gear in future installments of our "It's in the Jeans" series.

Lunch Boxes
Get them cheap: Garage Sales are the cheapest place to find lunchboxes and thermoses. If you child loses them, it's not such a big deal, since you paid so little for them. Yard sales are the absolute best place to find lined thermoses. My family has a talent for dropping these and shattering the glass liners. I either buy them from yard sales or find the non-glass ones on clearance. Keep at eye out year-round at thrift stores as well. I have found plastic, insulated lunch sacks for 50 cents each at Good Will from time to time.

Spruce up an old lunchbox : in the Tightwad Gazette, Amy Dacyczyn suggests replacing old, worn out lunch box stickers by making new ones. You can find her ideas on page #14 of the Compete Tightwad Gazette

Buy it on clearance: You don't have to wait long! You can find great bargains after school starts. I found lunchboxes on clearance at Walmart in mid-September last year for far less than they were selling for just a few weeks previously. I bought insulated lunchboxes, the soft kind that has a zipper on it, for $2 each. I had seen these for around $10 in August. Inside, there were coupons and free product samples that I put into my kids' lunches. What a deal! I bought a few extra at that price to replace any that might get lost. They still look great this year- comparable to the backpacks!

Cheaper School Supplies
With all of the great Back to School sales going on, August and September are definitely the best times to stock up on school and office supplies. We like to stock up for the entire year. For a while, our home looks like an office supply store! Over the years, I've consistently found the best prices at Walmart and at dollar stores. Last year, I stocked up on notebooks for 5-10 cents each, white glue for 33 cents a bottle, and looseleaf paper for 25 cents a pack. Sometimes you can even find them cheaper than that, just keep scanning those Sunday ads in the paper.

This year I noticed the prices seemed slightly higher, but we still did very well on our budget- we spent about $15 per child. Backpacks and lunchboxes from last year still look new, and the kid's clothing has been purchased throughout the summer on clearance and at yard sales. Having an overall frugal strategy will more than offset the slightly higher prices on notebooks, looseleaf paper and other products that may rise in price.


Here are some more ideas:

- Take advantage of coupons, sales, and rebates. Just like with grocery purchases, sometimes you can hit a sale just right and wind up getting more money back than what you paid for an item.

- Off brands- Some of them are just as good as the name brands. I tend to choose RoseArt over Crayola. RoseArt is much cheaper but the quality is very good. If you have any little ones who might eat crayons, stick to Crayola, since they are guaranteed non-toxic. Some off-brands are not.

- Buy quality when it counts. The kids' metal Fiskars scissors really last well, and are much better than the cheap plastic scissors. The plastic ones break easily, and are frustrating for kids and adults to use. Another great product to try is the Colorific brand of markers. They can stay uncapped for three days without drying out. My kids have actually made their sets last for over a year. This will be the first time my kids have returned to school with the same markers they used last year! If you have forgetful kids, these are a bargain!

- Check out the dollar stores-they have great deals on just about anything non-perishable items, especially paper products, crayons, and other school supplies.

- Get creative with school supply holders/pencil boxes- use tupperware, decorated shoeboxes and ziploc bags in lieu of pencil cases and those zippered bags that hold pens and pencils. If you do buy them, make sure they will last more than a few months- spend the extra and buy the heavy-duty ones!

- Make them - This works for homeschoolers, but does not work too well in the classroom, where everyone is expected to have store bought items. See our article on Homemade Art Supplies.

Book and Registration Fees
The costs of getting your kids back to school are never-ending, and one thing most people can count on is shelling out more money for schoolbooks and registration fees. You would think that the taxes we spend on practically everything we do and own would cover these costs, but they don't. Public education is still a bargain, but it's no longer truly free. We expect to pay well over $100 in fees for two out of our three children to go back to school this fall. I'd hate to see what larger families have to pay!

Check out local programs in your area. You can get grants to cover book and registration fees if you meet your school district's guidelines. Contact your school district and ask about grants for book fees, registration fees, and the reduced lunch program. A neighbor of mine was surprised to find out that she qualified for all three of these things, although she makes decent money. If you have a disabled child, you may also be eligible for special services and grants that you may not be aware of. Make the call! You'll be glad you did.


About the Author: Kim Tilley, a tightwad at heart, is the mother of three active boys and the founding editor of Frugal-Moms.com. Frugal by force and later by choice, Kim cut her income by 60% to stay at home with her children and discovered that anyone can live better for less. Her work has appeared in print publications such as The Tightwad Gazette. In her free time, she entertains herself by chasing kids and finding ways to create something from nothing!