How to Spend Less Time Back to School Shopping this Season

Entry #1460, August 12, 2012

Back to school season is here and between shopping for your kids’ clothes, school supplies, lunch box meals and more, you can quickly see your time diminishing. Have you ever experienced spending almost half of your day in the grocery store? Well, this is not only tiring but very unproductive. The extra time spent in the store line or just looking for your items can be equivalent to a quality time for the family and household chores.

Before facing back to school shopping, make a list

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To manage your time back to school shopping, consider the following:

Make a shopping list

Your shopping list gives a lot of advantages on your part. With the help of your shopping list, you can be sure that no item is missed and you will not exceed your budget. When back to school shopping consider making a list that is divided by child, what type of items they need, priority and what store you need to get the items at.  This will help you plan a strategy and avoid multiple trips back and forth to the same stores!

Use Smartphone Apps

There are several applications that you can download and save time in shopping. For instance, if you have lots of loyalty cards, it will surely take you some time to pick the right card and present it to the cashier. With Key Ring App, all you need is to show you Smartphone to the cashier and it’s done. Another notable application is the FastMal. This app has over 1250 malls in 27 countries that offer turn-by-turn navigation or map for shopping convenience and efficiency. Many big box stores such as Walmart, Target, and Kmart offer store apps that have maps of their stores and helpful shopping resources you can plan before walking inside the store.

Go shopping in off peak times

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Shop during off peak hour

This is very effective and really hassle-free. Off peak hours are usually between 10 a.m. – 3 p.m. These are working and school hours for many people who make it very suitable for shopping quick and easy. Also, during these hours, people are not rushing their way to their work, school or home. You will also find you are less stressed without tag along children, long lines to wait in, etc.. Have to work a 9 to 5 job? Consider getting part of your shopping done during your lunch hour, or leave work early to go to a shopping… I mean a doctor appointment? 🙂

Back to school shopping doesn’t have to be dreaded this season. Using your time efficiently and effectively is always a great way to be more productive and to actually enjoy your kids going back to school!

For more back to school tips on Stagetecture, click here.