New Data Says Half Of Parents Will Forego Their Needs To Buy Children’s School Supplies—Here Are Some Cost Cutting Tips – Essence

Summer is winding down and stores are beginning run sales on school supplies. But according to new data, the markdowns still aren’t enough for some cash-strapped parents.

A new study by Qualtrics and Intuit Credit Karma revealed that 59% of those surveyed say that due to the soaring living costs, they will spend more money on back to school shopping for their children this year compared to the recent past. According to the report, higher costs create affordability challenges for nearly one-third (31%) of parents who say they are unable to afford back-to-school shopping for their children this year, which is especially true for young parents – 39% of Gen Z and 37% of millennials, compared to 28% of Gen X and 18% of Boomers.

“Education costs are primarily spotlighted at the college and post-college levels, yet parents are on the hook for school-related expenses as early as pre-K” said Courtney Alev, consumer financial advocate at Credit Karma in a statement. “Many parents with young children are likely entering the school year already stretched thin after covering costs for summer childcare, which could be why many parents expect to be in the red after back-to-school shopping this year. If possible, it’s best to avoid taking on high interest debt to pay for back-to-school expenses, especially if you can’t afford to pay it back right away. Luckily, many parents plan to shop sales and lean on family and friends for hand-me-down items, and several states offer tax-free weekends and back-to-school tax holidays that allow parents to shop for select items free of their state’s sales tax, for a select period of time — care.com provides a helpful guide. And, if your child needs access to more costly items such as a laptop, there are organizations and programs that provide free access – StandUp Wireless has a helpful blog post outlining such resources.”

To Alev’s point, there are some smart and easy ways to cut cost this school year. Here are a few we think are worth considering.

Shop In Small Doses

It’s really easy to run up a large tab when shopping for all school supplies on your child’s teacher list at once, but spreading out the costs are great way to rescue your wallet.

Look Into Tax Free Holidays

As NPR points out, 17 states have sales-tax holidays during the months leading up to the back-to-school season. Arkansas, Florida, Iowa, Missouri, New Mexico, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Virginia and West Virginia residents are able to benefit from deep sale on school supplies. Visiting the Federation Of Tax Administrators site for more information on when the tax free holidays are and how you can take advantage.

Plan To Price Match

Stores like Target, Walmart and Best Buy have policies that allow customers to return items that are more expensive that other stores and get money back. Using these stores’ apps to price compare is a great way to get the same items you need at a much cheaper price.