While August is the popular month for saving money on education supplies, there are other places you can look to find discount school supplies and clothes. With a little creativity and planning, you will find all the education supplies your children need whether you are a parent or a teacher.
1. Let's get sales on education supplies out of the way. If it is already August the smart thing to do is to check out the supplies for school at local drug, discount and school supply stores. National chains offer tremendous savings on school supplies this time of year. Get to the sales early and you will find what you need and save a bundle in the process. Teachers can find many classroom supplies on sale at this time as well. If you are a teacher, be sure to take advantage of tax free discounts!
2. Close out stores like Big Lots have school supplies year-round. Notebooks, pencils, rulers, lined paper and folders usually line at least one shelf. While your kids may not appreciate the choice they have in clothing, education supplies can be bought anywhere.
3. Yard sales are a great place to find some of your children's clothing. If you go to the right neighborhoods, you can find fashionable clothes for a few bucks. It may take some looking, but it is possible to find cute jeans and tops. If your kids balk at the idea of yard sale clothes, just take their measurements and go to them yourself. If you have a bit of fashion savvy, you can get great deals without letting your children know where you got them.
4. For supplies for school, dollar stores are a great place to look. You can buy packages of pens, pencils, erasers and folders for $1 each. Be careful, though. Sometimes you can find even better deals on paper and notebooks on sale at other stores. Why pay a dollar for a notebook when you can pay fifty cents at Target?
5. Warehouse outlets carry name brand clothing at discount prices. Most children -- even teenagers don't care about the "discount" clothes when the store sign and clothing tags have brand names written on them. Many of these places offer savings of up to 50% on clothes and shoes.
6. If you have you have children of the same gender that are a year or so apart in age, the chances are that you can get away with passing down some clothes. This only works if you make sure to get your younger children something extra which the older child won't get -- like a brand new lunch box, backpack or purse. You can pretend they are missing out anyway. It's deceptive, but believe me, the plan does work sometimes.
7. Search online for discount school supplies. Teachers can find fantastic prices on classroom supplies if they get a head start on shopping. Parents can find some of the education supplies their children need by going to places like Amazon and eBay. If your children need specific books for literature classes, online bookstores such as Amazon offer used books as well as new. Scientific calculators can break your budget. They are not cheap, but you can find them cheaper if you look on eBay and other auction sites. There are online school supply stores which carry all such items all year long. Often they will have sales on school supplies at the same time as the brick and mortar stores. If you can be sure the items will get to you on time, this is a great way to shop without having to brave the traffic. With the price of gas these days, the shipping costs may be worth it in terms of time and money.
Whether you are a parent or a teacher trying to find classroom supplies, you can find bargains any time of year. Give these pieces of advice some consideration and you will find everything you need in education supplies and school clothes without breaking the bank to do it.
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