Thrift Stores.

Not kidding at all.  You can find some seriously good deals at thrift stores and if you frequent Goodwill, you may find that they sell Target overstock items there.  Not only can you find brand new clothes at pennies on the dollar, but you can also find lots of school and office supplies.  (For the record, I have also found necessities like tampons, toilet paper and toothpaste..all brand new and close to free!)

Get an Early Start

The single best thing you can do to save on your back to school shopping trip is to start early.  Buying a little bit here and there is much easier on your budget then having to buy it all at once at the last minute.

Yard Sales

As a parent, I realize how lucky I am that my kids feel no shame in yard sale shopping for deals.  The truth is though, you can get lucky and grab some fabulous deals on great clothes shopping at yard sales.  I bought a super nice pair of Miss Me jeans at a yard sale last summer for $1.  Yes, you read that right, $1!  The same pair would have cost $100+ retail.

Check Out What You Already Have

I bought in bulk last year and purchased 12 dozen Dixon Ticonderoga pencils.  I still have 5 dozen of them.  I also have several glue sticks and more!  This is slimming down my shopping list.  The lesson here is to make sure you look through the supplies you already have so you don’t overspend when you don’t need to.

Don’t stress about keeping up with the Jones’

We all want our kids to have nice stuff, but it is important to make sure you aren’t going over your budget in order to impress people.  Even if you can’t afford the expensive stuff, doesn’t mean that you can’t have nice stuff.  Just do it reasonably.  Give your kids’ a money limit or a limit on how many of a certain item you will be buying.