Connecticut parents and experts share ways to save on back-to-school shopping

HARTFORD, Conn. (WFSB) - The first day of class for most Connecticut students is only a few weeks away. The National Retail Federation surveys parents every year and found this year 50 percent of families are shopping earlier than last year out of concern prices will rise due to tariffs.

Channel 3 spent a morning at the Ocean State Job Lot in Berlin talking to families. When we asked the kids, they were excited about new school supplies and clothes.

“I like that we can get new stuff for school. If we’re going into like a higher grade, and we need more stuff we can get them,” said Jacoby Boisvert from Newington. Boisvert is entering 4th grade.

Jacoby’s mom Kristen Boisvert is less excited.

“I don’t want to think about back-to-school yet,” said Boisvert. “I know that there are certain things that they do need and other things like a new backpack every single year is not always needed, but sometimes that’s an expense that we need to pay.”

RetailMeNot, a website dedicated to finding coupons and cashback deals, also surveys parents each school year. This year it found 50% of parents are stressed about the cost of supplies. That’s up 9% from 2024, but people are still planning to shop. RetailMeNot estimates families will spend $177 on average for grade school students and $212 for high school students. That’s less than what parents were expected to spend last year.

Stephanie Carls is a retail insights expert with RetailMeNot.

“We’re not really seeing a pullback in participation. We’re seeing precision. Budgets aren’t being slashed, they’re being stretched,” said Carls.

Carls has a couple of suggestions on how to save money.

1. Stop shopping early. That way you can avoid last-minute price hikes or issues with items being out of stock. 
2. Try to stack promo codes with cash back offers.
3. Take advantage of tax-free days.

Connecticut’s tax-free week runs from Sunday August 17th through Saturday August 23rd. If you live close to the border, the Massachusetts tax-free weekend is Saturday August 9th and Sunday August 10th. In Massachusetts, the tax-free limit on an item is up to $2500, with some exceptions. In Connecticut, the per-item limit is only $100.

“This year’s carts are filled with real life needs, so it’s less about the extras and more about what’s going to show up in the backpack every single day,” said Carls.

The parents we ran into at the Ocean State Job Lot in Berlin have their own tips.

“We shop around, not just go to one shop, shop around,” said Jimmy Abraham.

“The good news is now with the Chromebooks and everything, you don’t have to get as much,” said Shane Munoz.

“Tax-free week, we kind of wait for that and make sure that we’re not spending too much because we need to replace them like halfway through anyway,” said Boisvert.