I reflect fondly upon yesteryear mother-daughter days of Back to School stationery shopping. This is perhaps where my love of lists was incubated. Post shop, I enjoyed the task of putting new pencils in the carefully selected pencil case. Going through magazines and trimming the pages to create perfect personality statements. Finally, enshrining books in contact. Oh the pain when you caused a bubble!
There were also some painful moments throughout the year caused by a bad choice of magazine cut-out. Like if Dylan from 90210 wasn’t the “it” guy any more and he was featured on many exercise books. Oh the shame! Exercise books were so difficult to ditch when they contained so much important ink, and difficult to re-cover. So, you held your head high and carried on.
To make your life as a parent a bit easier and cheaper for the Back to School Stationery and Tech shopping, we wanted to share some money saving tips from Femeconomy approved Officeworks‘ Finance Expert, Canna Campbell.
1. Make a list
Having a shopping list will not only help you stay organised and prepared, it will also keep you focused so that you only buy what you need instead of the newest, most exciting products.
2. Check what you already own
Go through your home and see what items on your list you already own. This may take a while but it will force you to get organised and will stop you from wasting money by doubling up. Consider what you could get your hands on from family and friends too, hand me downs are a great option to save costs!
4. Free School List Service
Officeworks also has a free School List Service where you can upload your kids’ Back to School list online or drop it off in-store, and they will gather all the products for you and package it up, so all you need to do is swing by your local store and collect it. This saves you from purchasing any unnecessary items or succumbing to pester power.
5. Officeworks will beat identical items by 20%
Officeworks have a Parents Price Promise, which means if you find an identical stocked item on a quoted school list at a lower price, Officeworks will beat it by 20%. When comparing school lists, a family of three who shops at Officeworks can save approximately $300 on their back to school shop.
6. Focus on quality
If something looks poorly made or won’t survive your kid’s wear and tear regime, simply don’t buy it.
Back to School Stationery and Tech Femeconomy approved brands
- Big W
- Coles
- David Jones
- HP
- JB Hi-Fi
- Kmart
- Officeworks
- Target
- Woolworths
