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UAE: How I saved 50% while shopping for back-to-school supplies

Shopping for back to school is never easy, but with a little bit of research and ingenuity, you can get the best value for your money

From travelling abroad to summer camps, there is much to spend on during the summer vacation. So when the end of the summer season creeps up and it is time to buy books, uniforms and other necessities for the new school year, most parents end up with a hefty bill.

This year, like last year, I decided to get creative and shop around for some discounts and deals. First step was uniforms. The official school provider was selling uniforms for approximately Dh100 per piece of clothing. With one child starting secondary and needing entirely new uniforms and another that grows out of her uniforms relatively quickly, I was looking at a pretty hefty bill.

Finding alternatives

A little shopping around revealed that there were several smaller uniform providers around the country that were great alternatives for the school provider. After checking with a few, I found one that sells uniforms of the school my children went to. They were selling them at roughly Dh50 per piece. I had saved almost 50 per cent just shopping for uniforms.

What’s more, I came across laundries in several places where people donate used uniforms. These are cleaned by the laundries and then sold for as low as Dh10. Most of these uniforms are in near perfect condition as kids outgrow them pretty quickly.

Staying sustainable

Next stop was shopping for textbooks. My kids go to a British school and most textbooks cost around Dh150 per piece. I usually buy only a set of textbooks. As my children are just two years apart, I save my daughter’s books to be used by my son. This year, I decided to shop for second-hand books.

Luckily for me, our school has set up a group where parents can swap or sell their used books. I managed to find a parent who sold me an entire set I needed for roughly Dh150. This transaction saved me roughly Dh500 on books. More than just saving me money, buying second-hand books is a great way to ensure sustainability — a lesson we must all be racing to teach our children.

If your school does not have such an initiative that facilitates exchange of used books and uniforms, maybe it’s time for a group of parents to set it up. With COP28 just around the corner, such sustainability initiatives at school levels are the need of the hour.

Finding deals

The next thing on my shopping list were shoes. This is where I didn’t want to skimp. Good quality shoes are an absolute necessity to ensure good posture and foot health. On researching, I found a good summer deal at a reputed footwear retail shop and bagged it.

The last thing to shop for was supplies and stationery. I asked my children to take stock of what was remaining from the previous year and make a list of what was needed for the new academic year. From journals and notebooks to pencils and pens, there were many items on the list. It was their summer project to find the best deals. They were each given a budget to work with. Thanks to various back-to-school offers, we were able to find everything we needed within Dh100.

Shopping for supplies was also a great learning experience for my children. Sometimes, they would pick up the cheapest pencils in the rack, but I had to explain to them how such pencils ended up costing more as they would break easily. Instead, we went for good quality pencils that lasted longer. And in some instances, they wanted to buy journals from a fancy shop at a high price. A little bit of research got us some great unbranded journals at a much lower cost.

I completed my entire back-to-school purchase including uniforms, books, shoes and supplies for two children within Dh800. If I had not researched and found alternatives, I would have been spending at least double the amount of that. Shopping for back-to-school is never easy, but with a little bit of research and ingenuity, you can get the best value for your money.

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