Kids Online Clothing Swap And Other Back-To-School Savings Ideas

If you're like the average American, about 25 percent of the clothing in your closet and in your kid's closet goes unworn. And that's what is making thredUP — an online clothing exchange that allows you to mail off the duds you no longer wear and receive new-to-you ones in return — such a growing concept.

Indeed, at a time when families are struggling to make ends meet, thredUP is just one idea to help you save money during the upcoming back-to-school season. With thredUP, you just use a form on the site to describe the items you'd like to hand off and then fill in another form with your size and brand preferences. The thredUP matchmakers then tell you who to ship your clothing to while scouting out items for you.

Meanwhile, there are other ways, too, to save money this fall, a time when parents often will be asked to not only help with traditional school supplies, but also may be asked to purchase other items such as tissues and hand sanitizer.

Consumer affairs experts advise parents to first snoop around their homes before going out to buy supplies. You might find that some of the supplies leftover in your child's backpack from last year are still okay for this year.

They also say — perhaps above all else!!! — to never buy all your school supplies in one place. Smart stores know that many parents will be tempted to buy everything in one stop and so they may lower prices on a few key products while jacking up the prices on many other items.

And don't forget to price match. Target, Walmart, Staples, Office Depot, and Office Max all price match identical items so bring in the competitor ads and you'll save yourself some time and a trip to a different store.

Check out generic brands of items such as crayons as they may be half as cheap as the brand name items.

In the end, comparison shop. If you go to Office Depot's Web site, you'll see the Texas Instruments TI-83 Plus Graphing Calculator on sale for $99.99. But if you look up the same item on Amazon, you'll find it used for $49.95.

If you know of any deals around Montclair, post a comment or email me at Shelley@patch.com. We'll be updating the site with back-to-school specials until the start of school next month.