School Supplies Cost $81.83 on Average

Aug. 7–TROTWOOD — With a Wal-Mart sales flier in one hand and a school-supply handout in the other, Charmaine White was trying to get some bang out of her 40 bucks.

Like three-fourths of parents this year, White was shopping at discount retailers to save money.

“Now what do they need a steno book for?” she said, exasperated. White was at the end of her budget, and the end of her rope.

The average parent will spend about $81.83 on supplies a month before school starts, according to the National Retail Federation.

“They want us to buy too much stuff,” White said.

The majority of parents — 61 percent this year –find staying within a budget a challenge, according to a Harris poll conducted in April for PersonalShopper.com.

Sixty percent are also stressed out about it, and 20 percent actually dread it.

It’s no surprise to White, dragging her cart through the aisle Tuesday night and dodging cartwheeling kids for the last item on her list.

She has shopped for two weeks. The whole experience, she said, “gives me a headache.”

—–

To see more of the Dayton Daily News, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.daytondailynews.com.

Copyright (c) 2005, Dayton Daily News, Ohio

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

For information on republishing this content, contact us at (800) 661-2511 (U.S.), (213) 237-4914 (worldwide), fax (213) 237-6515, or e-mail reprints@krtinfo.com.