How to Save Money on School Supplies – 5 Great Tips!

As I have recently been learning as a new foster momma with one kiddo in elementary school and one in preschool, this time of year can get very expensive very quickly! Binders, notebooks, pencils, highlighters, erasers, clothing, shoes, backpacks, lunchboxes….the list goes on! I love to save money where I can and I wanted to share with you some of the resources that I use in order to help save money on school supplies.

5 great tips how to save money on school supplies. — PIN FOR LATER

Buy school supplies right after “peak season” You may already know this to be true about things like Halloween candy, Valentine’s Day gifts, Christmas decorations, and other holiday-related stuff, but did you know that right after “peak season” for school supplies, they ll go on a super sale??

That’s right! For those of you who love to stock up on all the yummies after a big holiday, you can do the same right after school has started! So if you can hold out and make due with what you already have for a few weeks you will find beautiful discounts on things like supplies, backpacks, clothes, and more.

If you can’t wait that long here are some other tips on how to save money on school supplies.

Instead of going to your name-brand office supply store for school stuff, start your search at the Dollar Store or Dollar Tree. You’d be surprised at all the things you will find there that are on your kiddo’s school supply list.

Another good place to get discounted back-to-school items is a thrift store. You will find binders, lunch boxes, snack containers, rulers, calculators, clothes, gym shoes, and much more all at a fraction of the price. I also highly recommend this if have or are a college student. This is the perfect place to find dorm room decor and necessities!

Do you happen to be a Foster Parent? If so there are a lot of awesome ways you can get free and discounted school supplies. Talk to your licensing agency first, they often have supplies to give away at the beginning of the school year. Register for a free account on iFoster, and they can hook you up with a special membership to get up to 80% off at Office Depot! Check out this article for more ways to get free and discounted stuff as a foster parent.

My favorite way to save money on school supplies is by using Rakuten to earn cash back on my online shopping!

It is easy and you don’t have to do a lot of thinking, nor do you need to scan receipts to get your cash back. Not only that, but with Rakuten, you can earn cash back on practically anything you can buy online; all year round!

They offer easy cash back from popular stores. They have different deals going on throughout the year. Right now you can earn up to 10% back on purchases from Dell and up to 4% cash back on supplies from Office Depot, OfficeMax, & Staples.

Rakuten is super easy to use, here are the steps you need to take to get it set up.

Download the free Rakuten App to start earning cash back on things you buy every day. Get the app on your phone or the browser extension for your computer (better yet: both!)
You can type in a generic term like “school supplies,” “laptops,” or even, “kid’s clothing” to find out which stores offer cash back for those kinds of items.
Shop like you normally do online. You’ll receive an email once the cash back has hit your account!

Bonus tip: If you download the Rakuten browser extension, you will never forget about earning cash back again when you shop from your computer. Because anytime you go to an online store that Rakuten offers cash back from, Rakuten will pop up and remind you to activate your offer!

Didn’t I tell you it was sooo easy??

Check out some of the stores you can earn cash back with the help of Rakuten while shopping for school supplies.

Like to do your shopping in stores? No problem! Rakuten offers a variety of in-store cash-back opportunities as well. Just add your credit card information to your account, add the preferred cash-back offer to your account from the app, and go make your purchase! Boom!

Other Cash Back Shopping Apps for Back-to-School Shopping

Besides Rakuten, I use a combination of other apps to save money or to get cash back while I shop for school supplies. Many of them can be used together on the same items AND you can use manufacturers coupons too. It’s a pretty sweet deal.

A couple of the other shopping apps for cash back or gift card rewards include:

Fetch – Get points for ANY receipts you can. You read that right. You can earn points just for scanning a receipt (both physical and digital, which means all of your Amazon purchases too!). Fetch is great for grocery purchases. Not only will you earn points per receipt, you can get extra points for certain brand-name items, and earn rewards. Earn gift card rewards. Get 250 points when you join for free today. Use Code NEGGG if prompted.

Dosh – Link up your cards and earn cash back for purchases. Purchases automatically show up and give you credit. No need to snap receipts! I just transferred over $50 from my Dosh account to my Venmo account from all the cashback I earned recently. Join for free today.

Upside – While Upside isn’t cash back on school supply purchases, you do earn cash back primarily from your gas purchases. They also offer cash back opportunities for purchases in gas stations as well as Starbucks, Chipotle, and Papa John’s! Sign up today and earn an extra $7 cash back the first time you use the app. Use Code UKCWW if prompted.

There are plenty more out there, but these 4 of the top favorites that I have been using consistently for over 3 years and have earned HUNDREDS of dollars in cash back from each year.

Know of some other great ways how to save money on school supplies? Share them in the comments!

Ready to transform your financial journey through faith-based guidance? Book an empowering call with Katie Jones, a Certified Christian Financial Counselor, today and pave the way for abundance and blessings in your life!