12 Ways To Save Money on Back-to-School Shopping (2026)

Last updated 07/30/2026 by

SuperMoney Team

Edited by

Andrew Latham

Summary:

Back-to-school shopping will cost the average family around $900 this year, and nearly half of parents expect to spend more than they did last year. The good news: a family with two kids can realistically cut $600 to $800 off an $1,800 back-to-school bill by combining tax-free weekends, refurbished tech, secondhand clothing, and a few timing tricks (close to $1,200 in a best-case stack). Most state tax holidays hit the weekend of August 7-9, 2026, so mark your calendar now.

Back-to-school shopping has quietly turned into the second-biggest spending event of the year for families, behind only the winter holidays. PwC’s 2026 back-to-school poll found parents expect to spend an average of $922 this season, and 47% plan to spend more than they did last year. The National Retail Federation puts the figure at $863.86 per family with K-12 students, with electronics ($293), clothing and accessories ($250), and shoes ($174) eating the biggest share.

Call it $900 per household, give or take. If you have two kids, you’re likely staring down $1,800 or more once you add the second laptop, the second backpack, and the second growth spurt.

Here’s the thing, though. Almost every line on that receipt has a cheaper version hiding in plain sight. To prove it, I’ll run every tip through the same scenario: a family with two kids (a third grader and a high school freshman) and an $1,800 back-to-school budget. At the end, I’ll tally up what all 12 tips are worth. The best-case stack comes to nearly $1,200, and I’ll be straight with you about why a realistic target is more like $600 to $800.

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1. Shop your house before you shop a store

Before you buy a single glue stick, empty out last year’s backpacks, the junk drawer, and the desk. Most families already own half the supply list: scissors, rulers, binders that just need new labels, a backpack with one more year in it, last year’s barely used earbuds.

Real numbers: Skipping two replacement backpacks ($35 each), two lunchboxes ($15 each), a binder refill ($12), and a scientific calculator you already own ($20) keeps $132 in your pocket. Add the half-used pack of loose-leaf paper and pencils and you’re at $150. That’s money saved in 20 minutes without leaving the house.
Savings for our two-kid family: $150

2. Shop your state’s tax-free weekend (dates below)

Eighteen states are running back-to-school sales tax holidays in 2026, and most of them land on the weekend of August 7-9. Florida’s runs a full month, July 20 through August 20, so Floridians are in the sweet spot right now. Illinois is back in the game for the first time since 2022, cutting its state rate from 6.25% to 1.25% for ten days. One catch for Illinois shoppers: that’s a rate reduction, not a full exemption, and local sales taxes still apply, so a Chicago receipt won’t drop to zero.

Most 2026 back-to-school tax holidays fall on August 7-9. In a state with a 9.5% combined rate, a $1,200 tax-free haul keeps $114 in your pocket.

One warning before you build your whole strategy around this: the Tax Foundation’s research shows some retailers absorb part of the benefit by holding prices firm during holiday weekends, and a tax holiday won’t turn a bad deal into a good one. Use it as a stacking tool, not the whole plan.

WEIGH THE RISKS AND BENEFITS

Here is a list of the benefits and the drawbacks to consider.

2026 back-to-school sales tax holidays by state

State	2026 dates	What’s tax-free (per-item caps)
Alabama	July 17-19 (already passed)	Clothing $156 or less; computers $1,173 or less; school supplies $78 or less; books $47 or less
Arkansas	Aug. 1-2	Clothing under $100; accessories under $50; electronics and school supplies with no cap
Connecticut	Aug. 16-22	Clothing and footwear under $300
Florida	July 20-Aug. 20 (running now)	Clothing $100 or less; school supplies $50 or less; computers and accessories $1,500 or less; learning aids $30 or less
Illinois	Aug. 7-16	Rate reduction only, not a full exemption: state rate drops from 6.25% to 1.25% on clothing under $125 and school supplies (no cap); local sales taxes still apply
Iowa	Aug. 7-8	Clothing and footwear under $100
Maryland	Aug. 9-15	Clothing and footwear $100 or less; first $40 of a backpack
Massachusetts	Aug. 8-9	Nearly all retail purchases $2,500 or less (excludes meals, vehicles, utilities, alcohol, tobacco)
Mississippi	July 10-12 (already passed)	Clothing, footwear, and school supplies under $100
Missouri	Aug. 7-9	Clothing $100 or less; school supplies $50 or less; computers $1,500 or less; software $350 or less; graphing calculators $150 or less
New Mexico	July 31-Aug. 2	Clothing under $100; computers $1,000 or less; computer accessories $500 or less; school supplies under $30; calculators under $200; bookbags under $100
Ohio	Aug. 7-9	Clothing $75 or less; school supplies and instructional materials $20 or less
Oklahoma	Aug. 7-9	Clothing and footwear under $100
South Carolina	Aug. 7-9	Clothing, footwear, school supplies, computers, printers, and software with no price caps
Tennessee	July 31-Aug. 2	Clothing $100 or less; school and art supplies $100 or less; computers and tablets $1,500 or less
Texas	Aug. 7-9	Clothing, footwear, school supplies, and backpacks under $100
Virginia	Aug. 7-9	Clothing and footwear $100 or less; school supplies $20 or less
West Virginia	July 31-Aug. 3	Clothing $125 or less; laptops and tablets $500 or less; school supplies $50 or less; instructional materials $20 or less; sports equipment $150 or less

Real numbers: Say our two-kid family in Texas buys $1,200 of qualifying items (clothes, shoes, backpacks, supplies) during the August 7-9 holiday. At the state’s combined state-and-local rate of 8.25%, that’s $99 they don’t pay. In Tennessee, where combined rates run around 9.5%, the same haul saves about $114. Live in a state with no holiday? Check the map anyway. If you’re within a short drive of a participating state, a big shopping trip can still pencil out.
Savings for our two-kid family: $96 (assuming a typical 8% combined rate)

3. Buy refurbished or open-box tech, not new

Electronics are the single biggest category on the back-to-school receipt, and it’s the category with the most padding. A certified refurbished laptop from the manufacturer or a reputable retailer typically runs 25% to 40% below new, comes with a warranty, and is often just a returned item someone opened and sent back.

Real numbers: The high schooler needs a laptop. New, the model they want is $700. The same machine, certified refurbished with a one-year warranty, is $480. That’s $220 saved on one purchase. Trade in the old tablet collecting dust in a drawer at Best Buy, Target, or Apple and you can pick up another $30 to $50 in store credit. Total: about $250.
Savings for our two-kid family: $250

4. Ask for the student discount, every time

Apple knocks $100 off a MacBook Air with education pricing and usually throws in a gift card during its back-to-school promo. Best Buy, Dell, HP, Samsung, Nike, and Adidas all run student programs worth 10% to 20% off. Most only require a school email address or a free verification through UNiDAYS or SheerID. And check the software before you buy any: many school districts provide Microsoft 365 and Adobe licenses free, which saves you a $70 to $100 annual subscription you might have bought out of habit.

Real numbers: A 10% student discount on $600 of tech and clothing purchases is $60, plus a $15 software subscription you didn’t need. Call it $75.
Savings for our two-kid family: $75

5. Go store-brand on the supply list

Nobody’s third-grade teacher can tell Target’s Up&Up glue sticks from Elmer’s. Store-brand notebooks, pencils, markers, and folders routinely cost 30% to 50% less than the name brands sitting next to them. The exceptions worth paying for: one good pair of scissors and crayons that don’t snap. Everything else, go generic.

Real numbers: A fully name-brand supply list runs about $125 per kid. Swapping the interchangeable stuff for store brands brings it to roughly $82. Across two kids, that’s $85 saved.
Savings for our two-kid family: $85

6. Split bulk purchases with another family

Warehouse clubs sell pencils, paper, and snacks at half the per-unit price of a drugstore, but no kid needs 96 pencils by Friday. Team up with another family or two. One Costco run, split three ways, covers everyone’s consumables for a semester. This works especially well for lunchbox snacks, which PwC found cost families a painful $235 per month once school starts.

Real numbers: Splitting $130 of bulk supplies and snacks that would have cost $175 at regular retail saves each family about $45.
Savings for our two-kid family: $45

7. Buy clothes secondhand first, retail second

A third grader will outgrow everything you buy by March. That’s not a reason to buy junk. It’s a reason to buy barely used. Consignment shops like Once Upon a Child, plus ThredUp, Poshmark, and plain old Facebook Marketplace, sell kids’ clothing at 50% to 70% below retail, much of it worn a handful of times. Teens are trickier, but thrifting is actually trendy with high schoolers right now, so lean into it.

Real numbers: Our family planned $550 for clothing across both kids. Buying about $250 worth of it secondhand at an average 60% discount means paying $100 for those items instead of $250. That’s $150 saved.
Savings for our two-kid family: $150

8. Buy two weeks of clothes now, the rest in October

Retailers mark up back-to-school apparel in July and August because they know you’re shopping on a deadline. Then the weather turns, and everything goes 40% to 60% off. Your kid doesn’t need a full fall wardrobe on day one. Buy enough for the first couple of weeks, then hit the clearance racks in late September and October for the rest.

Real numbers: Deferring $300 of the remaining clothing budget to clearance season at an average 40% off saves $120. Same clothes, six weeks later, much smaller receipt.
Savings for our two-kid family: $120

9. Stack cash-back portals, card rewards, and coupon extensions

This is free money for 10 minutes of setup. Start every online purchase through a cash-back portal like Rakuten (typically 2% to 10% back), pay with a credit card that rewards the category, and let a browser extension like Honey or Capital One Shopping auto-test coupon codes at checkout. Each layer is small. Together they add up. One caution from a CFP: rewards only count as savings if you pay the card in full. Carrying a balance at a 21% APR wipes out a 2% reward 10 times over.

Real numbers: On $800 of online purchases: 3% average portal cash back ($24), 2% card rewards ($16), and a coupon code the extension found ($10). Total: $50.
Savings for our two-kid family: $50

10. Pay with discounted gift cards

Gift card resale marketplaces like Raise and CardCash sell store gift cards at 3% to 15% below face value. Buy a $100 Target gift card for $93, then spend it on things you were buying anyway. Warehouse clubs also sell third-party gift cards below face value. It’s an extra step, but it’s a discount that stacks on top of every other discount in this article.

Real numbers: Covering $500 of planned spending with gift cards bought at an average 7% discount saves $35.
Savings for our two-kid family: $35

11. Price-match and put AI to work

Target, Walmart, and Best Buy will match a lower price from major online competitors. Most parents never ask. Price trackers like CamelCamelCamel show you whether that “deal” on Amazon is actually a deal or a markup with a sale sticker. And you’re not alone if you draft a chatbot into duty: PwC found 73% of parents plan to use AI somewhere in their back-to-school shopping, from comparing laptop specs to hunting coupon codes. A simple prompt like “find the lowest current price on this exact model” takes 30 seconds.

Real numbers: Two successful price matches ($25) plus catching one fake “sale” on a $60 backpack that was $45 three weeks ago ($15). Call it $40.
Savings for our two-kid family: $40

12. Start next year’s sinking fund the day school starts

The most expensive way to shop for school is on a credit card you can’t pay off. If our family carried an $1,800 balance at a 21% APR and chipped away at it over six months, they’d pay roughly $100 in interest. That’s a 5.5% surcharge on everything they bought.

Flip it. Divide this year’s total by 12 and auto-transfer that amount ($150 a month for our family) into a high-yield savings account starting in September. Top HYSAs are paying around 4% APY, which adds about $35 to $40 in interest over the year. Next August, the money’s just there.

Real numbers: Roughly $100 in avoided credit card interest, plus $35 or so in interest earned. Conservatively, $100.
Savings for our two-kid family: $100

The grand total: best case versus what you’ll actually pocket

Here’s the full tally for our two-kid family with an $1,800 budget:

Tip	Savings
1. Shop your house first	$150
2. Tax-free weekend (8% on $1,200)	$96
3. Refurbished laptop + trade-in	$250
4. Student discounts + free school software	$75
5. Store-brand supplies	$85
6. Bulk buying, split with a neighbor	$45
7. Secondhand clothing	$150
8. October clearance for the rest of the wardrobe	$120
9. Cash-back portals, rewards, and coupons	$50
10. Discounted gift cards	$35
11. Price matching and AI price checks	$40
12. Sinking fund instead of credit card interest	$100
Best-case stacked total	$1,196
Realistic total after overlaps	$600 to $800

The best-case stack comes to $1,196. A realistic target after overlaps is $600 to $800, which still takes a third or more off an $1,800 bill.

Now let me be honest about why you probably won’t pocket the full $1,196. These line items overlap. The tax-free math in tip 2 assumes you pay full price on $1,200 of gear; once refurbished tech and secondhand clothes shrink the receipt, the tax savings shrink too (think $60, not $96). You can’t stack a student discount on top of a refurbished laptop from a reseller. And the $100 in tip 12 only counts if you would otherwise have carried a credit card balance. Nobody executes all 12 perfectly in one season, either.

So here’s the realistic version. Do most of these reasonably well and $600 to $800 in actual savings is a fair expectation. Only pick the easy half (shop your house, store brands, tax-free weekend, cash-back stacking) and you’re still keeping $400 to $500 that would have walked out the door. Either way, that’s real money for a few hours of effort.

Key takeaways

Parents expect to spend an average of $922 on back-to-school shopping in 2026, and 47% plan to spend more than last year, per PwC.
Eighteen states are holding back-to-school sales tax holidays in 2026, and most fall on August 7-9. Florida’s runs a full month, through August 20.
A two-kid family with an $1,800 budget can realistically save $600 to $800 with solid execution of these strategies. The best-case stack is about $1,200, but overlaps between tips make that a ceiling, not a forecast.
Refurbished tech is the single biggest lever: one certified refurbished laptop can save $220 or more versus buying new.
Carrying an $1,800 back-to-school balance on a card at 21% APR for six months costs about $100 in interest. A sinking fund in a 4% APY savings account flips that cost into a gain.

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