How I Saved on Back to School by Thinking Early

With back to school just around the corner I knew I had some money to soon put out. With two great kids not so ready for a new school year I decided to try a new back to school strategy this year versus the usual wait until the last second approach I normally take. My new strategy would be to plan early.

Plan Spawned by Mom

It's almost comical how my strategy was put in place this year and in fact I kind of owe the strategy to my mom. See, my kids start school on August 22, which is one day before my mom's birthday. One day in early June I was thinking about this very fact when I remembered something from my childhood.

My mom always used to use layaway to get all kinds of things for our family when I was younger. I never really knew what the heck layaway was other than it meant I didn't get my toys that day. Actually layaway was almost torture for me as ever couple of weeks my mom and I would go into the store and go to the counter where I knew my toys were but we wouldn't get them for what seemed like forever.

Then one day I asked my mom to explain what was going on and she did her best to put in plain words the ins and outs of layaway to an impatient child. Suddenly that memory led to my new back to school strategy.

Making a Game Plan

I decided to check into layaway for my kids back to school needs and I only knew of the one place my mom used to use when I was younger; Kmart. Kmart may have had a bad rap in years past, but let me say, they have some great items that are high quality and lots of brand names.

I began my research online and found that my strategy idea was already posted all over the home page of Kmart. So, I did some clicking and found everything my kids needed to go back to school like their semi-uniform clothes. There was even a way to find their school supply lists by simply typing in my zip code.

How it is Working

I chose to go to my local Kmart in order to put my plan into effect, though I could have done my layaway shopping online. At the store I got all the clothes and supplies for both my kids and even gathered up some other items I had been meaning to buy. Then I took them to the layaway counter and put my plan into action.

The total for my purchase was almost $200 for everything, but I'll use the $200 figure to make the illustration a little clearer. I was only asked to put down $20 as their policy is $15.00 or 10% down, whichever is greater. That left my balance at $180 which I was then told that I had eight weeks to pay off and that I had to make equal payments every two weeks in order to pay off my balance. While there was a service charge I had to pay, that too was broken up in the payments and it was only $5.00.

Things to Know

While there I asked many questions as I have a lot of friends with kids getting ready for back to school as well. What I found out that is certainly worth mentioning is that they will also do layaway for 12 weeks on in-store purchases of $300 or more. The down payment is the same and the only difference for the extension of time is an extra service fee which brings the total service fee amount up to $10. This is a fact that I have already shared with several friends who have more kids than I do.

Layaway - Affordable Back to School Alternative

I put my kid's back to school stuff on layaway on June 4, which is seven weeks before school starts. So, I will have to pay off the balance a little early in order to get everything in time, but that won't be a problem. Now that I know the strategy, I will certainly use it for next year's back to school and give myself even more time to plan. For me, layaway has proven to be an affordable solution for back to school financing. Sure beats using credit cards and paying tons of interest.

Source: Kmart, Clothing, Toys, Electronics, Jaclyn Smith - Kmart.com , Kmart.com

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