Tips to avoid overspending on back-to-school items

SHREVEPORT, La. (KTAL/KMSS) – As parents shop for back to school, they will find that much like the price of food, home goods, and other daily necessities, the cost of sending kids back to school has also risen considerably, according to a new study.

Savings.com is an online resource for finding cost savings on a wide range of retail items. They also have a blog and shopping insights that provide tips to help shoppers save and find great deals.

Beth Klongpayabal is the analytics manager for Savings.com and said the site’s annual back-to-school spending report is compiled through a survey of nearly 800 adult caretakers of children in K-12.

“We do an online survey and we ask them a lot of just open questions about what are your costs, what are you planning, how are you going to save and, you know, what are your concerns,” Klongpayabal said.

The back-to-school shopping study found that parents will spend an average of $628 per child on school supplies, clothing, and technology, which they say is a 4% increase from 2024 and the highest increase in the past four years. The study also found that parents of high schoolers will spend more to send their teens back to school, while families in grades K-3 will see a considerable increase of about 26% over previous years.

“So, parents, they told us that they are 70% of them about are taking steps to either increase their income. They might be doing part time jobs. Uber Eats deliveries. They’re finding every gig they can to kind of add to their, budget allowances, but they’re also cutting back on non-essential expenses,” Klongpayabal said.

She explained that cutting luxury, leisure, and other experiences such as dining out or ordering food deliveries helps many parents make room in their budgets for back to school.

In preparation for back to school and ever-changing tariff status, parents in the study said they are cutting back on other spending, such as:

• Eating out less and avoiding spending on non-essential luxury items.
• Taking on part-time jobs, freelancing gigs, or selling handmade items.
• Strategically plan to purchase essential items first and take advantage of tax-free shopping holidays.
• Create a dedicated back-to-school budget.
• Utilize community support through back-to-school giveaways, supply drives, and accepting gently used items from family and friends.

Klongpayabal suggests asking church members, community organizations, and even social media groups about back-to-school giveaways, some of which have no income requirements to receive supplies. She also advises looking out for coupons and sales at major retailers and specialty stores to get tremendous savings on back-to-school needs.

“I know on my social media there’s a lot of parents asking, what are the drives that are happening? When when do I sign up? What do I need to bring with me? How do I take advantage of this? Because we’re all struggling and we all just want to help each other, too.”

Many parents said they will opt for secondhand goods, maximize member shopping benefits at grocery and retail stores, and select generic or store brand goods over name brands.

Seventeen states, including Texas and Arkansas, will have or have had tax-free shopping holidays that parents can take advantage of to save this back-to-school season.