Back-To-School Bargain Hunting

It’s mid-August and every mom of a school-age kid knows what that means…it’s back to school time!  Glendora schools start up in less than a week, but if you have not started your back to school shopping yet, there is no need to panic.  Below is your Glendora Patch guide to tracking down the best back to school deals.

Deal Sites

A good starting place for bargain hunting is an online deal site, such as The Bargainist or Slickdeals.net.  Slickdeals users constantly post the latest deals, for both online retailers and at brick and mortar shops.  You can even save searches for specific items to get alerts emailed directly to your inbox when there is a deal for them.

The Back-To-School Savings Center at Offers.com not only posts current back to school deals, but even divvies them up into school levels: college, high school and grade school.  In the right hand sidebar, they also list local online offers from sites such as Groupon and LivingSocial.

If you shop online, make sure to check websites such as ebates.com and fatwallet.com.  When you join (it’s free!) and make online purchases from these sites, they will return a certain percentage of your purchase (the rebates vary by merchant) to you in cash.

Social Media  

One of the latest developments in bargain hunting is the use of social media.  Retailers are discovering new ways to use Facebook and Twitter to publicize their deals.  Target is a perfect example—their site features a new “1000 Likes” page where the first 1000 users to “like” the featured item receive a special mobile coupon for it, sent to their web-enabled phone.

Retailers

Individual merchants are also coming up with other creative methods to dish out deals.  Staples is still selling their Back to School Savings Pass for $10, which will get you 15% off all school supplies until Sept. 17.

Blogs

There are several blogs that post daily deals.  Some of them, such as Families.com and Money Saving Secrets have a page dedicated to back to school specials that they update every week.  Most of them, like Money Saving Mom, will send you all of the deals in a daily update if you subscribe your email.

If you are crafty, one blog has a unique way to save money on back to school supplies—make them yourself!

Couponing

Another recent bargain shopping trend is “extreme couponing”.  Modeled after a television show on the TLC channel, many consumers are taking shopping with coupons to another level.  I turned to one of my friends, Chrissy Kee, for her experience with extreme couponing.

She explained that she was initially intimidated by the idea and the amount of time she assumed it would take.  She admitted that in the first few weeks, the setup did take several hours a week.  However, she discovered that the system was simple and efficient after she got oriented.

Many of the above blogs and sites such as The Krazy Coupon Lady, Hipb2save.com and couponmom.com explain the concept well and track the deals in a concise manner.  “If you go on the websites, they make it so easy,” Chrissy said.  After browsing through some of the beginner’s guides on the sites, she recommends “just narrow[ing] it down to the one or two sites that you like and check[ing] them once a week.”

One of the best things about extreme couponing is that it is only as extreme as you decide you want to make it.  “The [TLC] show isn’t near what a normal person would do.  They’re spending 40-60 hours a week, dumpster diving, asking everyone they know for their newspaper insert coupons.  I don’t have the time or the storage for it,” explained Chrissy. 

The benefits extend beyond just saving money.  Chrissy found that the exercise has helped her become more “money-conscious” and aware of her family’s spending habits.  “Before, I would buy things full price and never think to wait for a sale.  This has helped me to understand money more.”  Additionally, often times she finds that some items’ post-coupon cost is free.  If she does not need them, she will donate them to friends or the community through programs such as .

Regardless of your plan of attack, there are many deals to be found.  With our handy guide, you should be able to track them down just in time to pack those lunches and backpacks for school without emptying your wallet.  Happy Hunting!