CHESAPEAKE, Va. — Without a tax-free holiday weekend in Virginia, families like the Marsh’s will be spending more money on back-to-school supplies.
"Between me and the girls it’s at least $400,” said Mom and teacher, Brittany Marsh. “I've already started my list of things that we need.”
During tax-free weekend, which used to happen at the end of summer, people could buy hurricane preparedness products, back-to-school items, and specific environmentally-friendly products without paying taxes on them. Virginia families relied on the weekend's tax relief for school supplies since 2006 when the General Assembly declared the sales tax holiday weekend.
However, that is not happening in 2023. After a vote by legislators, as of July 1, 2023, the holiday expired.
“I relied on [the holiday] a lot. I know that I am going to be [getting] less since that tax is added in now,” Marsh says.
With no relief this year and prices up, News 3 Anchor and Problem Solver Erin Miller called up Smart Shopping Trae Bodge for advice.
“I am seeing reports that school supplies, in general, are up to 20% more expensive than they have been in previous years,” Bodge says.
To save, she recommends making a list to narrow down the deals.
“That can include using coupon sites to look for cashback or coupons. A couple that I like are PayPal Honey, Slickdeals, and Coupon Cabin,” she says.
Marsh agrees, adding that she has joined community Facebook pages where people share discount codes and sales.
“I’ve literally found stuff that [cost], like, pennies from Amazon because of these codes, and it just helps out so much,” Marsh says.
Bodge recommends leaning on store memberships to buy in bulk or tagging along with a friend if you do not have one.
“Most wholesale clubs, like your BJ’s, Sam's Club, [and] Costco, have lots and lots of school supplies,” she says.
Also, Bodge advises shoppers to watch out for impulse buying.
“This is a problem around back-to-school because retailers are using this language like ‘limited time’ or ‘buy three get one free.’ Just be very mindful of returning to your list and staying on budget,” said Bodge.
While Marsh fine-tunes her list for her daughters, she says she is evaluating what can be recycled from last year and looking for educator-specific discounts.
Bodge says it can also be fun to make back-to-school shopping a teachable moment for kids. She says parents and guardians can pick a spending limit and put it on a pre-paid gift card for a child and/or teenager, so they can learn how to make financial decisions.
