Looking for back-to-school bargains? Blogger has some ideas

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sensible Ways
to pay less

• Take inventory around the house to see what you already have in stock.

• Don’t overlook locally owned, neighborhood discount stores.

• Make a detailed budget and stick to it.

• Let your children pick five or 10 items for which they must buy within the budget or help purchase with their allowance.

• Check newspaper and online ads to plot out the most efficient travel and gasoline use.

• Check with your school’s PTA to see if they sell discounted supplies as a fundraiser.

• Take advantage of coupons, promotional codes and stores’ price-matching
policies.

National Retail Federation; Antoinette Peterson

Article Extras

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Updated: November 16, 2011 1:35AM

Antoinette Peterson advises friends through her blog, Sister Save-A-Lot, how to spend no more than $20 for a year’s worth of school supplies.

Now that her 4-year-old daughter, Madison, is entering kindergarten at St. Dorothy School this fall, she is leveraging her own savvy-shopping skills.

“It’s a whole new adventure,” said the Morgan Park resident.

She is realizing the best deals by watching for coupons and special sales and taking newspaper ads into certain retailers that match lowest-advertised prices. Examples include 39-cent highlighters and 20-cent spiral notebooks at Target, and 1-cent folder and notebook paper sales at Staples.

Peterson found affordable school uniforms at local retailer Zemsky’s Family Fashion Stores.

Shoppers also may grab deals by staggering clothing purchases and inventorying drawers and closets rather than buying a new wardrobe in one trip, says Jill Cataldo, a coupon expert and mother of three based in Huntley. Once a child sees what his friends are wearing, he and the parents can find clothing sales after Labor Day, she said.

For backpacks, Cataldo advises checking whether your favorite store’s loyalty program allows you to get one for free.

Cataldo, who blogs at JillCataldo.com, advises checking discount- and office-supply stores’ newspaper fliers for deals, and pick up the best “loss leader” item one at a time.

“People are in a hurry to get their back-to-school shopping done, so they’ll check off their entire list in one trip. But you’ll end up paying more than if you pick up the best deals while you’re already out doing errands. If you take advantage of those penny and 5-cent sales every week, you can check off the entire list for $5 to $10,” she said.

Parents of elementary-school students nationwide are expected to pay a total of $132.37 for supplies needed to fill a backpack, including books, notebooks, scissors, pencils, pens and the backpack itself, according to the 2011 Backpack Index issued by Huntington Bank, a Columbus, Ohio-based bank that operates in six Midwestern states. It estimates $159.22 for middle schoolers’ basic supplies and $900.70 for high school students.

The elementary school backpack index’s highest expenses are for six two-pocket folders ($13.74), an assignment book ($10.99), the backpack ($8), two large boxes of tissue ($5.98) and 500 sheets of plain paper ($5.49). For high school supplies, a $120 calculator and $32 worth of books top the expenses.

The biggest price increases from last summer are required to meet school mandates that elementary students bring more paper and notebooks, the survey found.

Other surveys forecast a wide range of spending for back-to-school amid conflicting trends: While parents pinch pennies as they worry about higher gasoline prices and the air-conditioning expenses of a hot summer, they are increasingly shopping at department stores for teen-celebrity-endorsed clothes. Yet they will spend less on smartphones, tablet computers and other electronics, which kids now buy throughout the year as updated models go on the market.

A fashion trend influencing the buying this year is celebrity-endorsed and influenced clothing and accessories, such as Macy’s Material Girl line by Madonna and her daughter, Lourdes; Kmart’s Dream Out Loud line by Selena Gomez; Wal-Mart’s Miley Cyrus for Max Azria line; Target’s William Rest line by Justin Timberlake; JC Penney’s Olsenboye from Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen and Kohl’s Britney Spears for Candie’s.

Another hit is Angry Birds, a puzzle video game whose characters now adorn backpacks, backpack clips, magnets and wallets.

Customer Growth Partners forecasts shoppers will increase their back-to-school spending by 6.2 percent from a year ago for elementary through college needs, to a record $467 billion nationwide. The forecast covers retail spending for July, August and September, and includes toys, sporting goods and home furnishings.

The National Retail Federation predicts flat spending totaling
$22.8 billion for grades K-12, estimating families will spend an average of $603.63 on clothes, electronics and school supplies, slightly less than last year’s $606.40.

Both surveys include online, in-store and mobile-device-based spending.