Back-to-school savings: an exhaustive guide

If you're gearing up for the new school year, you're going to need some fresh supplies, and we all know that's not cheap. Here are some of our best back-to-school deals and student freebies to help you maximize your money throughout the year!

|
Ann Hermes/Staff/File
Time to stock up on school supplies.

Fall is fast approaching, and soon students of all ages--from kindergarten to college--will have to say goodbye to the carefree days of summer, and hello to a new semester.

If you're gearing up for the new school year, you're going to need some fresh supplies, and we all know that ain't cheap. Here are some of our best back-to-school deals and student freebies to help you maximize your money throughout the year!

School Supplies

  • Barnes & Noble -- Save up to 90 percent off used textbooks.
  • Microsoft Store -- Students can save $30 on Windows 8.1 Pro AND get a free upgrade to Windows 10 Pro when they order online and enter the name of the school they'll be attending in the fall.
  • MYHABIT -- Shop durable SwissGear backpacks starting at just $19.
  • Oakley Vault -- Get an Oakley Streetman backpack in lightning green or pacific blue for just $18!
  • Office Depot/OfficeMax -- Shop select Texas Instruments calculators starting at $12.99.
  • Personalized Planet -- Make your mark with a personalized backpack for just $23 when you promo code BRADBTS at checkout. Best of all, shipping is free!
  • Staples -- Through August 8, you can get a 60 pack of BIC Round Stic Ballpoint Pens for just $3 online, and shipping is free for Staples Rewards Members.

Dorm & Apartment Essentials

Student Freebies & Discounts

  • Academic Superstore -- Students and teachers can save up to 75 percent off Adobe software.
  • Amazon -- Get a 6-month free trial of Amazon Student when you sign up with a valid .edu address.
  • ASOS -- Students take 10 percent off all online purchases.
  • Best Buy -- Best Buy is currently having a sale for college students who follow the link and sign up with a .edu address.
  • Levi's -- Students can save 15 percent off sitewide.
  • Microsoft -- Spend just $80, and students can get four years of Microsoft Office 365 University.

Many states offer tax-free holidays on a wide variety of back to school items from computers to apparel to supplies. Ditching the tax on your back to school shopping can save you big time, so here is a list of the remaining tax holidays around the country:

  • Alabama -- August 7-9
  • Connecticut -- August 16-22
  • Florida -- August 7-16
  • Iowa -- August 7-8
  • Louisiana -- August 7-8
  • Maryland -- August 9-15
  • Massachusetts -- August 15-16 (unconfirmed)
  • Missouri -- August 7-9
  • New Mexico -- August 7-9
  • Ohio -- August 7-9
  • Oklahoma -- August 7-9
  • South Carolina -- August 7-9
  • Tennessee -- August 7-9
  • Texas -- August 7-9
  • Virginia -- August 7-9

For more information on these upcoming tax-free holidays, check out our recent blog post on the subject. For more college student discounts, take a look at our list of more than 40 student discounts for everything from restaurants to apparel to travel and everything in between, and click below to browse our entire collection of back to school deals for the 2015-2016 school year!

This article first appeared in Brad's Deals.

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

QR Code to Back-to-school savings: an exhaustive guide
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/Business/Saving-Money/2015/0810/Back-to-school-savings-an-exhaustive-guide
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe