07.30.2009 8:07 pm
Back-to-school shopping in a recession
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
The tax-free weekend is approaching…and there will be hordes of parents hitting the stores for back-to-school bargains on clothes and supplies.
With the economy still in the doldrums, and so many of us still watching our spending, I wonder if any tweens and teens realize they may not get the pricey Abercrombie T-shirts or Banana Republic jeans this year.
Is anyone shopping with a kid whose got champagne tastes on your beer budget? Have you prepared them for cutbacks?
Aisha covered education and breaking news for nearly ten years before joining the Lifestyle staff where she writes a "Dirty Laundry" parenting column. She is the home and family editor and wastes too much time on Facebook and political blogs. 
There are just so many good sales out there for the supplies themselves… just dont let you kids pick the stuff out… trust me they look for the price first then pick.. Leave them at home.
As far as clothes go.. be flat out truthful with your kids.. we aint got the money period… Try Goodwill and used clothing stores. Growing up I NEVER got new clothes.. YEA THATS RIGHT POOR PEOPLE DID EXIST LONG BEFORE THIS RECESSION STARTED….so I am living proof a child will not DIE if theY dont get $200 worth of new clothes for school.
I usually do the “supply” shopping alone and take them to pick out the back packs. I don’t go to the tax free week b/c it’s not worth dealing with the crowds. We don’t start until the 25th so we usually go after everyone else when there are bigger discounts.
For clothes we usually do Target or Walmart. Goodwill and re-sell shops are great for the kids who must have the name brand. Thankfully I have boys that don’t care as long is isn’t pink!
My almost 12 year old daughter especially has a long list of extras that she wants, and she doesn’t seem to understand that I really can’t afford them all. I told her one day that she clearly wants me to feel bad, or she thinks I am lying to her when I say we can’t afford things, which is it? She has been much better about it since then–she really hadn’t thought of it that way.
Karen, that’s a good point about the used clothing stores. I do take my daughter there sometimes and point out she can get 2 or 3 outfits for the price of one new outfit, and she sees the value of that.
As a kid, I always looked forward to the back-to-school shopping. We would always shop for supplies, and we got to pick out what we wanted–within a budget. We would get a few new clothes, but nothing huge. Now, being a teacher, we tried to make our supply lists ask for generic supplies.
For those of you who are shopping, Old Navy is offering a coupon for 30% off this weekend. I think you can find it off of their website. Old Navy is usually fairly reasonably priced. There is also Plato’s Closet. They sell gently used, name-brand clothing. It’s a really good deal! I usually just shop at Target, for the convenience factor, but they have really cute clothes.
Our schools start so early here that most kids are still wearing their summer clothes for the first 6 weeks of school. By then, all the fall clothing is on clearance at the stores. My girls are well aware that they get only NEEDS not WANTS. I like to treat them to fun, name brand stores but only with a great sale and coupon deal.