India Wayman, 40, a stay-at-home mom in North Syracuse, NY says she’s never felt so much stress shopping for back-to-school clothes for her daughter.
“I have to walk too many avenues to find affordable clothes, way too many avenues,” she said.
In previous years, Wayman has shopped off-season and in the clearance section. But this year, she said, even the clearance section was out of reach.
A pair of jeans costs $40, Wayman said. “My daughter is 11 and growing rapidly. She kind of skipped the junior stage.
Children will return to school in a few weeks in some places, and many parents say they are stressed about how much they will have to spend as record inflation has driven up prices.
“Higher prices for back-to-school clothes add a new layer of concern as parents have been hit with challenges from all sides. ”
Two years into the pandemic, with most students back in class full-time, analysts expect parents to abandon buying electronics in favor of clothes and accessories .
Higher prices for back-to-school clothes add a new layer of concern in a year when parents have been hit with challenges from all sides.
To name a few: the shortage of infant formula; an ongoing shortage of child care that has driven up after-school care prices; a shortage of teachers that has forced some schools to reduce their programs.
Meanwhile, record inflation is eating away at household budgets at a time when parents don’t have the cash cushion that last year’s child tax credit gave them.
India Wayman, 40, is a stay-at-home mom to an 11-year-old daughter in North Syracuse, NY
Courtesy of India Wayman
An unprecedented comeback
Retailers expect back-to-school shopping to peak this week, and apparel is “the #1 item on shopping lists, surpassing even school supplies,” according to a recent LendingTree survey. an online lending market.
About three quarters of parents say they are stressed by this new school year, up 12% from last year.
The back-to-school shopping season is typically the second biggest spending event of the year for parents, right after the holidays, but analysts said inflation will further increase the amount of money parents spend this season. .
“Parents say they plan to spend an average of $661 on back-to-school shopping this year, up 8% from the 2021 season.”
Parents say they plan to spend an average of $661 on back-to-school purchases, 8% more than the 2021 season, according to a recent Deloitte survey. The advisory and tax group estimates the related market will reach $34.4 billion this year, up 24% from 2019.
The rise in the cost of living is already eating away at the budget that parents reserve for back-to-school purchases. The cost of consumer goods rose 9.1% in June from a year ago, a 41-year high.
Rising food and gas prices have left little room in consumers’ wallets for many back-to-school items. Global disruptions pushed grocery prices up 12.2% in June from a year ago; the average gasoline price was $4.14 a gallon on Thursday, down from $3.18 a year ago.
Parents are in shock from the stickers. A majority (68%) said they noticed higher prices on school items, citing school supplies and clothing, according to a recent survey by the National Retail Federation.
Another key in the works: Many Americans have been dipping into their savings to pay their bills, and the personal savings rate has hit one of the lowest levels in decades, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis.
Search for offers (and the latest fashion)
Kids need clothes after studying remotely during the pandemic.
“We saw fatigue in the technology primarily because families bought heavily into the category over the past two years when schooling was virtual or hybrid,” wrote Lupin Skelly, one of the Deloitte survey authors. , in an email to GameSpot.
She said a “strong reorder cycle” means parents are spending more on clothes and more money per child.
Parents are looking for ways to save money by buying early and finding discounts, as well as buying alternative brands. According to the National Retail Federation, traditional sale events such as Amazon’s Prime Day sale will play an even bigger role this year for parents securing school supplies.
An Amazon AMZN,
-1,24%
The spokesperson said many of its customers made their back-to-school shopping earlier this year by taking advantage of some “significant discounts” during Prime Day.
“When shopping for clothes, India Wayman turns to online fast fashion brands such as Fashion Nova and SHEIN. ”
Meanwhile, more deals and discounts might be on the horizon. Big box retailers like Walmart WMT,
+0,80 %
are considering new apparel discounts to incentivize spending as inventory builds up.
A Walmart spokesperson told CNET its mission is to make clothing and other back-to-school items affordable for parents.
It’s a balancing act. Parents aim to provide the essentials for their children while their children seek out the latest trends. These sometimes conflicting priorities mean everyone has to invest extra time and effort.
Wayman said it was difficult to follow her daughter’s wishes and stick to her budget. She also buys fewer clothes due to rising prices.
Inflation is “killing” her portfolio, she said. “I’m in a store for about an hour, not having fun, looking for clothes my daughter likes to wear, but also making sure it’s affordable.”
For clothes, Wayman said she turns to online fast fashion brands such as Fashion Nova and SHEIN. And for school supplies, Wayman hit the dollar stores to buy items like pencils, notebooks and erasers.
“I’m grateful for the dollar store, I really am,” Wayman said.
(Fashion Nova and SHEIN weren’t immediately available to respond to a request for comment.)
The time of sacrifice
“Back-to-school shopping is stressful, even in the best economic times,” wrote Matt Schulz, chief credit analyst at LendingTree, in a blog post accompanying LendingTree’s Back-to-School Survey.
“With rampant inflation and ongoing supply chain issues, this is certainly not the best of times. Many families are going to have to make real sacrifices and have uncomfortable conversations this back-to-school shopping season,” he added.
Some parents are taking on more debt: 37% of parents said they couldn’t afford school supplies due to rising inflation, according to a recent survey by Credit Karma, and 42% of parents surveyed said that they planned to use credit cards or “buy now, pay later” to pay for back-to-school purchases.
U.S. credit card debt rose 5.5% from the first quarter to the second quarter and 13% from the first quarter of last year, the largest cumulative increase in more than two decades, according to a published report Tuesday by the Federal Reserve Bank. from New York.
Rising debt is another sign that US households are struggling financially amid rhetoric of recession and record inflation.
““It will be a very stressful time for many families who have not seen their wages increase.””
“It will be a very stressful time for many families who haven’t seen an increase in their salary, but are seeing the price of everything else around them go up,” said Maritza Guridy, deputy director of outreach. parents from the National Union of Parents, a grassroots organization that campaigns for the improvement of the education system and the quality of life of children.
In June, the average hourly wage rose 5.1% year on year, failing to keep up with an 8.6% increase in the price of consumer goods and services in the same month.
Guridy said parents are going through a tough time. An expansion of the Child Tax Credit helped parents with up to $300 per child every month during the pandemic, but that ended last winter.
Adding to the stress of expenses: Many K-12 teachers quit their jobs as they saw long hours of work with low pay. The result : Some parents have learned that their children could not take certain subjects because no one is available to teach the course at school.
As parents try to cover rising grocery and gas costs, they are also facing rising childcare costs due to labor shortages and school closures. daycares during the pandemic.
Due to all these factors, some parents will be short. “Not everyone will be able to afford to have everything their child needs to succeed this school year,” Guridy said.
Learn how to shake up your financial routine at the Best New Ideas in Money Festival on September 21-22 in New York City. Join Carrie Schwab, President of the Charles Schwab Foundation.