The average consumer spends $500 every year just on back-to-school supplies. This doesn’t even cover clothing. If you have three kids, you could easily spend $2,000 every August on back-to-school shopping. But, for every shopping nightmare, there’s a way to save money. In fact, I’ll give you 10 tips for how to save money this school season.

1. Shop at discount stores such as Marshalls and TJ Maxx for your children that are brand conscious. These stores carry many of the hottest brands at a much cheaper price.
2. Buy in bulk. If you have multiple children at similar ages, use it to your advantage. Buy in bulk to save on bulk rate prices.
3. Check online for discounts. You can often get better deals on items such as graphing calculators, shoes, and books by checking big online retailers such as newegg.com, amazon.com, and buy.com.
4. Don’t take your kids with you to shop. You’ll probably need to take them with for clothing, but don’t take them with when buying school supplies. They’ll have you buying supplies that they don’t need, and they always think that generic brands are dumb.
5. Stick to Wal-Mart and Target for supplies. Drug stores and other smaller retailers are still a rip-off. I’m a big supporter of small business, but not in this instance. They can’t compete with companies like Target on Wal-Mart in price, and the price of food and gas is making it tougher every day on the budget.
6. For younger children, try to contact the teacher directly for a list of supplies. I’m sure that many of you have followeed the check list for your 2nd grade child to the tee only to find that they use half of the stuff that you bought. Sometimes, the teachers don’t make those lists. If you’re able to get a hold of them directly, they’ll know exactly what your child will and will not use for the upcoming school year.
7. Take your teenager to high-end consignment shop. Stores such as Plato’s Closet and Buffalo Exchange carry some of the hottest brands with the latest styles at a fraction of the cost of new clothes. I know what you’re thinking. You work too hard to be buying your kid used clothing. But seriously, check the store out before you stick your nose up at it. They only accept clothing in pristine condition.
8. For older children, set a budget for their clothing. Give them a certain amount such as $100 or $200, and let them pick everything out. You’ll be very surpised at how far they can stretch a dollar when they know how much they can spend. If you don’t set a dollar amount, they’ll treat you like a bottomless money pit.
9. Use hand-me-downs from previous years. Remember to keep items such as pencil sharpeners, hole punchers, lunch boxes, back packs, and other reusable items for younger children to use.
10. Search Craigslist for higher priced items. People aren’t dumb when it comes to selling stuff in the classifieds. Craigslist is the biggest and most famous online classified on the internet. If there is a high-priced item that your child needs for school such as a calculator, check Craigslist first.

Don’t settle for getting ripped off from retailers this year. They’re biggest ploy is to make you feel like you’re getting all of these deals, when in reality, you’re spending much more money than you should have spent. Retailers live for this time of year. Don’t let them win.