This is definitely not last year! Last year Tax Free Weekend was all about getting my new computer, which we still love and enjoy! Last time I had just paid off my car and was excited to put that extra money to use. SN: it’s been a year with a paid off car and I definitely don’t have a full car payment to spend every month. smh.
This tax free weekend I wasn’t really looking for anything big. But it did fall on payday and it does pay to save a bit of tax when one can. However, I am not a fan of all the crowds and such. So last weekend I went and looked at Old Navy online, wrote down the prices and prepared to do a big online order. That’s what I did on Friday and for the most part everything was still same price. A couple of items I wanted to get where no longer available in her size or went up in price by a couple of dollars, but no biggie. No tax, free shipping, and a lil cash back thru ebates…can’t beat that with a stick.
Brianna is entering the 2nd grade this year and after two years of buying school uniforms I have concluded that Walmart is not my choice anymore. Now for the basic uniform polo shirts, Walmart online is a great option because they have great bundle packs. But everything else…pants, skirts, jumpers…the material that it’s made out of starts to have those little fabric nicks {for lack of better word} after a few washings and looks old quickly. So you will find that not only do you have to buy new ones throughout the year due to your child growing, but because they start to breakdown and fall apart. And that’s just not ok. Especially because trying to find uniforms in the middle of the school year is not easy, even online. After reading the reviews and feeling the fabric in store, I think Old Navy may be the best bet. It’s cheaper than JCP and Kohl’s and manage to have a little more style than the Walmart uniforms.
When it comes to school supplies…Walmart has the market beat. I got off early on Friday and attempted to go to Walmart Hell. After not being able to find a parking spot, and already feeling my heart start to race, I knew that Walmart was not a good idea. So I got up early Saturday and tackled Walmart. Friday I ended up going to Target. As much as I love Target {they had Itunes cards on Sale} sometimes they just don’t cut it. I wasn’t impressed by the selection available nor the prices. So I did get a few things but new that Walmart would be the mainstay. I got almost everything I needed off the list at Walmart.
One great thing about tax free weekend is that you can get a lot if not all of your back to school shopping done in one sweep. But it’s just like Christmas…it’s not always the best deals. You can find great deals the closer you get to school starting. I’m all about the deals. So I have to get a book bag and more shoes for Brianna but that’s it. She told me what she wanted, which is another reason why I hadn’t already bought it…Heaven forbid I get her a Princess backpack if she wants Hello Kitty! lol
This year I had planned on doing a lot of the office store deals, like Staples and Office Depot but just coming off from vacation, I actually forgot about tax free weekend and need I remind myself how broke I am? But I will still be on the lookout for any deals that will benefit me because it seems no matter how much you buy at the beginning of the year, you’ll always need more!
I did score pretty well at Payless. I went to Harris Teeter Friday and Saturday and both days it gave me a Catalina Coupon for $10 off a $25 purchase at Payless good thru 9/3! So I was pretty stoked! I had an email coupon from Payless for 20% off but I came out better with the dollar off coupon. So I got Bri a pair of mary janes and Jordan some sneakers and I spent $22! And I will go again next paycheck and get Brianna two more shoes. I took the kids with me only to get their feet measured {Lord knows I can’t stand to shop with them!} and I was shocked that Jordan is in 11.5!!! The shoes we bought at the beginning of Summer were 10s! That’s so crazy! Which is why I don’t buy him sneaks from Foot Locker or anything like that. I know many parents do it. And yeah the lil dude looks fly. But I’d rather spend less than $20 for shoes for my kids than to spend $50 when at the end of the day one of two things are still going to happen….(1) they’ll be outgrown or (2) they’ll get torn up. Or is that just for my kids? lol
One last note: my cashier at Walmart was very friendly and it’s so rare to get great service at Walmart so I really appreciated her. I don’t make convo with strangers like that regularly, I’m polite, say “Hey how are you” but that’s about it…but I really liked her and we talked about kids and supplies and let’s just say she made me even more grateful that I only have one child in school right now. My head starts to spin just thinking about all of the costs if you were putting 2 or 3 kids thru school…and the older they are the higher the costs! oh wow!! Just even further drives my point home about how I need to move so that I can provide better for my family.
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