Back to School Supplies: 6 Tips to Save Money with Coupons

Kelly Aug 16 • 23 min read

Welcome back, eager learners and savvy shoppers! As the summer sun begins to wane, it's that time of the year again—back to school season.

Amidst the excitement and anticipation of new classes and friendships, there's one thing that can often put a strain on both parents' wallets and students' budgets: school supplies. Fear not, for we have the perfect solution to help you navigate this annual shopping spree without breaking the bank.

In this guide, we share Back to School Supplies: 6 Tips to Save Money with Coupons, your ultimate resource to master the art of smart shopping.

Uncover the secrets of couponing prowess, discover unbeatable deals, and learn how to maximize savings without compromising on quality. Prepare to ace this academic year with a well-stocked backpack and a wallet that stays happily intact!

Find Coupons on Social Media

Yes, our good old friend social media can be a great place to start. Follow stores on Twitter or Facebook because many of these companies send their followers coupon links and advanced warnings of future sales events. Stores such as Target, and Marshalls are great places to start but there are hundreds of stores with social media accounts.

Follow who you like to use and keep an eye out for coupon offers. Putting some time into this can be hugely beneficial. To increase the benefit, have friends and family sign up too! Additional coupons you can get from them will add to the savings for you! It might even be worth setting up social media accounts for the specific purpose of coupon links and sales events.

The Power of The App

Similar idea to following social media accounts but just as effective. We nearly always carry our mobile phones around with us so why not put them to use in your mission to reduce back-to-school spending?

Stores generally have an app to download to your phone which contains offers, deals, and discounts. These are in the palm of your hand and notifications tell you when things are happening.

Walmart and Target have some great saving perks on their apps. Again, friends and family can get involved here and download the apps too! They might even get a different notification to you, so you get additional information on deals.

Amazon Deals

It’s not just a site to buy and sell products. Amazon offers a wide range of Amazon deals on back-to-school supplies. This is a great way to save online as you browse products that you need for this academic year and check for the best coupon codes to use.

You might find items cheaper from different suppliers on Amazon. A word of warning here, don’t mistake cheaper for better. Same brand at a lower price yes. A cheaper imitation no: you’ll end up buying another one when it breaks.

Bonus Tip: use your Amazon Prime Card and claim 5% cashback too!

Honey! I’ve found us a coupon

No, I’m not shouting at my wife or creating another family film from the '90s! Honey is a Chrome Extension that saves you money as you shop online. It searches for coupon codes to use on the items you are buying.

There are over 30,000 stores that are linked to this Chrome Extension so you would be very unlucky to be shopping somewhere that isn’t linked. Simply install it on your browser and shop as normal. Honey does the rest – AND it’s free too!

Circulars

Old school but still very useable and does the same job as the online versions. Coupons in circulars or local papers have coupons that you need to cut out and not lose. A few seconds of carefully clipping around them is well worth it in the long run. Use them individually or try to combine them to maximize your savings further.

Friends and family again can be very useful here. They will probably get the same circulars as you so ask them nicely to save the coupons for you. Save them up and use them as you need them. Check there isn’t an expiry date on these though!

Search Online Coupons

Kind of obvious for the modern-day but a simple search into a well-known search engine can prove to be money saved in your quest for school supplies. Some of these searches will give you a code to enter at checkout and some will give you a coupon to print and use in person at a store.

Either way, use them to save money. As well as search engines for actual coupons, there are dozens of websites that show you the latest deals on various sites. Strictly speaking, these are not coupons but they do the same job.

Couponupto.com is one of the best coupon sites which aggregates the best back-to-school sales from thousands of stores worldwide. Shop around as you would in physical stores and see what savings you can find in coupon form. You can save money on back-to-school supplies with the deepest coupons on CouponUpto.

Bonus Tips

Not coupon-related tips but always worth mentioning when it comes to shopping for back-to-school supplies. Budget and don’t try to buy everything at the last minute. Pens and paper don’t go out of stock very often so if there is a deal in July, stock up then.

Thrift stores and dollar stores can have some hidden gems. Yes, there will be a lot of stuff in there you don’t need but clipboards and stationery items will be available there. Finally, shop around. Don’t be afraid to buy lots of things from lots of different stores. A dollar saved here and there will soon mount up to serious savings.

Back to school can be a nightmare but can also be a serious learning experience for everyone involved. Children learn that money doesn’t grow on trees or just appears from an ATM and adults learn to be savvy with their money.