In case you missed the CBS 5 5:30 or 6:30 news casts, you can click here to see the back to school shopping story I helped out with. Back-to-school shopping comes right after holiday shopping on my list of favorite times to shop (and save)!

You can see my full back to school shopping post including prices for ad-matching here.

While I agree with a lot of what the reporter said, I respectfully disagree with two of his “tips.”

In the story he says, “Think ahead. Take a look at the supplies your child will need two years from now and purchase the items when they’re on sale.”

I truly believe that great deals will be available next year and the year after that for all of us willing to look for them. Items like glue sticks and markers can dry out if you don’t use them for quite some time. Items like calculators can get a heck of a lot better in a few years. Plus you don’t know what future teachers will need, lists can change dramatically with technology.

He goes on to say, “Wait it out.  A lot of items go on sale once school starts, so if your kid doesn’t need something right away, wait for the markdown.”

I would not wait to buy items that are drastically marked down as prices usually don’t get much lower than the “doorbuster” markdowns.  Sometimes stores run out of popular deals as more and more people get their back to school shopping done. If you’ve had to stock up on supplies mid-year you probably know how much the prices can (and do) go up. I do agree that waiting it out is a good idea if your child truly doesn’t need an item for the first day/week of school and it is not marked down. Chances are, if you have a common school supply list, most items WILL be marked down somewhere! Remember, ad match, ad match, ad match!

Enjoy!

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