Practical Back-To-School Shopping Tips for Frugal Parents

There are milestones that new parents will experience throughout their parenthood journey: the birth of their child, sleepless nights and changing diapers, hearing their child’s first word—the list goes on. One of the biggest milestones is when your child goes to school and all the preparation that goes with it. As a parent, shopping for school supplies can get expensive and tiring if you are not aware of the best way and great back-to-school tips to go about it. Consider these back-to-school tips for saving on school supplies below before heading to the nearest mall.

One of the reasons why consumers tend to overspend is because they overlook this part. Listing helps you separate the needs from wants, and it gives you a clear vision of what to buy. For forgetful parents, lists give the bonus of not missing an item. Another benefit? Lists are time savers since you don’t need to roam around to determine what needs to be bought.

Make sure to indicate the needed quantity, type, and color—if necessary. If the school provided a list of school supplies to buy, bring that to your shopping trip. After making the list, it’s also recommended to set a specific budget for each item so that you are aware of how much you should spend.

If you have limited time, do your weekly groceries and shop for basic school supplies in one go at a supermarket. Basic supplies you can get in these places are off-brand paper, pens, pencils, and notebooks. Watch out for back-to-school deals to save more.

Your house could be the source of school or office supplies! If your kid has leftover usable materials from the previous school year, they could still use it for the coming year. Art materials like crayons, watercolor sets, scissors, and colored pencils usually last a long time and don’t always have to bought every school year. Unused notebook pages can also be bound together into a new notebook.

Second-hand stores and garage sales are known to be gold mines for people who want affordable and quality items. Most of these shops sell preloved bags, shoes, and, sometimes, school supplies. The downside is that thrift shopping will take more time since you have to search.

Along with the price, consider the quality as well before making a purchase. Don’t be too tempted by the affordability; make sure the item is in good condition. To save on textbooks, you can check secondhand bookshops or you can also buy the books of upper grade students who’ve used the same edition.

As mentioned in the previous paragraph, quality is a factor that should be prioritized when it comes to purchasing school supplies. Good quality products might be expensive but it is more practical than buying a cheap substandard item. Most of these low-quality items tend to break faster so you have to buy more, but good quality products last longer.

However, not all school supplies you buy have to be of good quality. You can settle for off-brand versions of materials for one-time use, like papers and notebooks. Your money should be invested on things that your kid would use for a long time. For example, buy a sturdy bag that can be useful for many years instead of going for cheap bags made from weak materials.

If you really want to save money, head to a tiangge (bargain market) for bulk purchases. Bulk purchasing can be useful for parents with many children. Baclaran and Divisoria are typically popular destinations where you can get big savings. Try to haggle to save more cash.

Putting a kid through school is one of the most expensive things to do as parents, so finding ways to save money is definitely a plus. With these tips, may you have a more frugal shopping trip!

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