When Is The Best Time For Back To School Shopping?

Is there such a thing as getting back-to-school supplies too soon? Well for me it has been many years since I have had to deal with that issue, but I would have to say no. It can be very expensive and if you have more than one child it can seem like a metric ton of things they need. I know a handful of teachers and believe me I am not complaining, many of them buy tons of school supplies out of their own money, which is an absolute shame and should not be the case at all.

Many stores like Target have already made room on their shelves for back-to-school supplies or thanks to the internet many parents order the supplies online. This for me would be the way to go so you don't have to deal with the crush of parents reaching for that last pack of number 2 pencils.

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WCCO-CBS News Reports that Claire Tassin, a retail analyst with Morning Consult says: "36 percent of parents, that is of a survey this week, have already gotten their shopping started for back to school. But here's a lot more stress this year than there has been in previous years."

In a recent survey by Morning Consult, about 25 percent of parents expect to spend more than $500 on back-to-school shopping this year. That's up from just 7 percent last summer. Parents also don't have the benefit of stimulus checks and the advanced Child Tax Credit like a year ago.

Of course, we are talking about more than just school supplies, new clothing and shoes are generally a must-have as well. On average most families that were surveyed by WCCO-CBSNews said that they do not start shopping until mid-August which in some ways is wise too because many items are on sale to meet the demand.