Your kids don’t want to hear it, but a new school year is right around the corner – and a new survey conducted by RetailMeNot finds that people will be spending more on back-to-school needs than last year.
Here’s the higher cost of learning compared to last year:
--Clothes ($189 vs. $153).
--Electronics ($186 vs. $121).
--Shoes ($95 vs. $71).
--Backpacks ($45 vs. $33).
--Art supplies ($24 vs. $17).
--Pencils ($15 vs. $13).
--Folders ($15 vs. $12).
The survey also found that more parents are buying common school items this year compared to 2017:
--Clothes (92% vs. 86%).
--Shoes (89% vs. 84%).
--Technology (37% vs. 32%).
Shopping expert Sara Skirboll tells Newsradio 740 KTRH that even though online shopping is popular, parents still plan to do plenty of in-store shopping for back to school. The survey found that 96% will shop in a brick-and-mortar store at least once – and 58% plan to do the majority of their shopping in-store. That’s even though 50% find in-store shopping stressful.
Also:
--87% of parents say back-to-school shopping stresses them out.
--43% of parents worry about getting the most out of their budget.
--40%, get stressed thinking about how much money they are going to have to spend.
-- 37% are concerned about finding the best deals on items.