Never Too Early For Back to School Shopping
It may be only July 14th, but it is the perfect time to start planning for back to school. While your children are probably less than eager to think about this already, you should do it now. The deals are slowly starting to show themselves. There's of course also no law that says you have to go to the store and purchase all of your items in one trip.
What I've started to do is buy as I see. For instance, there are free Sharpie pens at Target this week (when you use a Target printable coupon from their website). Will we need them for school? Who knows -- but they are free! You can also find ink pens for $0.02 (after Target store coupon). Why not pick them up too?
I've started to watch the weekly flyers for the deals. At the rate we are going, we will be nearly done with our shopping in plenty of time before school starts. Of course, we may have a few extra speciality items to pick up, but just getting the items you know you'll need picked up ahead of time can make the entire process simpler. Plus, if you are like me and love to pay it forward, you can pick up extra items and donate them to many various charities around the metro, who collect supplies for children who can't afford them otherwise.
Oh -- and while you are at it, you might want to shop around your house for items you might need. Is the backpack still in good enough shape to withstand another year (or at least a few weeks until they are on clearance at your favorite store)? Can you sharpen those pencils and add new erasers to the ends? Perhaps the crayons just need to be peeled and sharpened and they'll be ready to be used again. There's no rule that says everything has to be brand new. It just needs to be usable.
Your kids may be groaning and moaning when you mention back to school already. However, you're going to be doing the happy dance because you were smart this year and saved so much money by planning ahead --- or wait....is that the happy dance at the mention of back to school? Hmmmm........