Be true to your school like you would to your girl Yeah, the Beach Boys. Oh my goodness. I don't know that one. We're throwing it back here.
I see we are all bringing it home What's there until you can always count on us for a musical journey? I love it definitely. I learned some things though Well, I learned things too. I never heard this song before but you know what it's appropriate because you know We're getting ready to go back to school here It's still summer.
It's still summer don't panic, but we do need to start thinking about tax free weekend. No, you're right I do start looking to purchase their clothes and stuff like that in July. Yes, like over time it doesn't hit me all at once Yes, I've got some statistics. I want to share before we get started here She'll your achievement USA did a survey where 60% of parents said that it's quote challenging to afford back to school needs And this may be why honey didn't bank they did a backpack index in 2017 They said it cost an average of a thousand dollars to send one child back to school My child But it starts out like $660 for elementary school and then it gets more expensive if they go to middle and high school Wow, yeah, I don't know but I mean of course that takes an account all the states and you know Things are more expensive in some state, but tax-free we get helps it does But I'm just thinking about wow like all the things when you start making a list of what you've got to get Mmm, they can add up get that up quickly.
So in the state of Tennessee, we're looking forward to July 26th 27 and 28 right That's when we do not have to pay sales tax on certain items from back to school. Oh honey can really make a difference Yes, you know if you spend $100 or savings in yes, you do that a couple times you saved a little money So let's let's look at what items are included in that though Just so we know clothing items that are less than $100 per item and that can be for anybody not just uniforms. I just the kids That's clothes shoes and underwear. It's anything right anything wearable now doesn't include accessories like your purses and your jewelry and things like that So you're gonna save on those you say on the other so you can use that money and you know that you want to School supplies that are less than $100 and most school supplies tend to be $100 and then computers that are $1,500 or less Well, and you can get a really nice computer and laptops now for less than $1,500 right and tablets are included in that So you got a pretty wrong you know, a broad range of things.
Yes, it's covered by the tax free weekend So what's the strategy here? What do you say? Well? I think the first thing you need to do is kind of know what you got on hand Doing assessment at home.
Did any clothes still fit from last year? Are they still in good shape? You know We need to check out if the dress code has changed or if you're headed to a new school What is their address code that does happen though? Even if you're going back to the same school sometimes they changed the shirt colors or they change something about the outfit Mm-hmm, so you need to know that going into your shopping weekend, you know anything that doesn't fit or is not dress code You know, there's a lot of places to donate it.
You know where we live our kids go to public school But they have a uniform I donate all their so they've outgrown to other kids or even to the schools because there's a lot of kids that Throughout the school year need help there. That's true. That's a good idea. So what about supplies?
I can tell you honestly in my house right now There's nothing else here that we can do. We started with scratch on that You know, maybe backpacks because I did get some good backpacks last year So I try to get the kids to use those a year or two if possible But you know, you can some parents do that get they buy a lock to get a ear and spend the closet as it's need to pull it out Go see if you've got anything left scissors paper rulers pencils notebooks binders You know get all that and then don't just go assume that you're gonna know what your your child's teacher's gonna want You know get that list get the list published ahead of time And you know, there are times when I remember having little you know children and going to get the list And then you would get there on the first day of school and there were other items that weren't on the list or you got something That was on the list and the teacher said oh, I'm not using that Yeah, so the list is not a hundred percent, but it can help guide you right and Tax free weekend is typically before you got first night of school You know, but if you know some of the basics, you know, they're gonna need paper and pencils and stuff like that You know, you could start buying some of those basic items And like you're saying for younger kids like, you know, they're gonna be Kleenex and things on that nature Yeah, yeah, that's a good idea So once you've gone through and looked at what you got I think next you need to make your list of what you need and kind of develop your budget You don't have to be super detailed. I'm gonna spend a dollar on scissors, you know, we don't go that far But we need to know how much money we're working with just because it's tax-free weekend It doesn't mean it's free. We gotta be realistic about what we can spend because let's look at the timing of it In Tennessee, we're talking to 26th through the 28th of July people to get paid the last of the month like you would like me We haven't gotten paid yet more people that have their income that comes in on the first of the month They're still a few days away from getting paid.
So we have to think of some options for that Can we borrow from our savings and make the purchase and then immediately put back once we get paid? Do we have a credit card we can use to buy and then pay it off immediately? So we don't get those interest charges or do I have a close friend or family member? I can borrow money from until I get paid even if the store offers layaway I didn't realize this until I was doing a little research You can steal with the items in layaway during tax-free weekend and not have to pay the tax on the purchase So even if I'm not ready to pay the full amount I can pay down on my layaway and still not get charged the taxes Right so that may be an option for people who can't pay the whole amount And then there's some things we may just have to wait on if we can't afford to do it tax-free weekend and typically once school gets started And it's in session for a little bit.
That's when they mark items down anyway. They're gonna be running deals That's just the time of year right for this stuff, right? So don't panic if you're not able to get everything tax-free weekend and then stick to that supply list You know we might have to say no sometimes because the kids you know They see things that are trendy and that they want to have and you know There may be some options let them do extra chores to earn money for the the trendy items or the character themed items That cause a little bit more money or you know let them use their save of allowance, you know to do that Um, you want them to have their individual taste? Yeah, you want to have some fun stuff But if it's too big of a strain on your budget then they may need to do things to get Because some of those binders and things can get really high-frowned So you just gotta you know figure out what you can do and stick to that budget Right, but let them have input as much as you can afford to you know The colors of the boulders and you know which one of these lunch boxes, you know do you like?
Especially if you're in a uniform system where they don't get too much about the clothing Right, so it's fun to let them have a little say, but I'm with you don't break the bank to you know make make that Especially you got several children. Yeah, so another thing that you can do like you said after we say what's on hand You've made your list and you've got a budget you need to know your your top dollar, okay Then you can do some research and stack your deals and make them work for you a lot of ads that are gonna be coming out Starting in you know early July we've already started seeing some back to school stuff Check those ads for the stores that you know you're gonna go to you know, whatever It's a big box store if it's a local store wherever you know you're gonna be spending that money look at a couple of those same places And see what the ads are also you can follow your favorite stores on social media a lot of people will Put special online deals or special online coupons Yeah, that you wouldn't know about if you don't go looking for it. There's a lot of apps do that Have online coupons you don't have in the store. That's true and I this is my favorite several shops places I like to shop they give you reward bucks, you know if you spend a certain amount or whatever And then I'm gonna be saving more money.
Oh, yeah, either Right, so you know shop at those places that reward you for shopping with them Yeah, that's a good way to make the most of not having to pay taxes on your items And I know a lot of people just don't like crowds and tax free weekend is gonna be a crowded weekend in a lot of stores because Everybody's looking for a deal But try to shop on all peak times if you really want to avoid the worst of the crowds The tax free shopping begins at midnight Thursday night, so 1201 Friday morning You know have trouble sleeping some nights like I do just get the car goes on these doors They're over 24 hours and grasses and glue or whatever you need to do that one night Black Friday, but you know, this is like the back to school black Friday You know, this is an ideal and if you really want to you know miss those crowds off peak hours You know Saturday afternoon is probably not gonna be the best time to be out Trying to get the deals and then you mention the online shopping if you really hate crowds as much do something you're shopping online No, how to wear the retailer is based if you order from Tennessee during that weekend they don't charge you sales Pat so that's something to remember just consider that you may be paying shipping You know, so you just need to make sure that you're not spending money. You wouldn't spend regularly Yeah, so you definitely want to look for site to store options You know the ones that deliver to the store for free, so I don't like crowds I can purchase it online still not pick tax and pick it up at the local store for free And I don't have if you spend a certain amount of money, which you're probably gonna go through buying clothes Yeah, they'll ship it to you for free, right? So just be aware for those things too, and I just remember last year the dressing room wasn't nightmare You know that's something I wasn't prepared for with the crowds the dressing room was so crowded and I didn't want to you know Bali's clothes that didn't fit so that's something you have to bring your patients for right And everybody doesn't treat the dressing room the way you may know you got a deal with houses It's gonna be crazy and then the checkout lines another place that you need to bring your patients I think yeah, like if you know you're heading out into this just know what you're gonna be like right you mentioned like Friday We know we're gonna be in long lines on black Friday We know the lines are gonna be longer than usual on tax free we can just roll with it roll with it But get ready to save some money because we got to get the kids back to school and that's a goal Yeah, we want to say money while we save our sanity, too We definitely do so. Thank you for joining us on this edition of bringing it home with Sarah and Teneel and in the words of Marley live the life you love and love the life you wear happy shopping