Browse the Blog
Browse the BlogClose
A young boy stands next to his mother and father in the aisle of an office supplies store. The family is facing a wall full of writing utensils and other back-to-school supplies, with the father reaching to pull an item off the shelf.

Back-to-School Budget-Friendly Shopping List

Back-to-school shopping can include supplies, clothing, electronics and more. Learn which items should go on your must-buy list.

Portrait of Lora Shinn

Lora Shinn
Contributor
Updated Jul 24, 2025 in: Spending & Shopping

Read time: 7 minutes

Takeaways About Back-to-School Shopping

  • On average, parents expect to spend less on back-to-school purchases in 2025, despite inflation's impact over the past several years.
  • Consumers are expecting to make more cost-conscious choices regarding their school shopping lists, with many people cutting back on tech purchases.
  • Back-to-school supplies can be expensive, but regional resources are available for struggling families.

Many families of K-12 kids start planning school-year purchases in summer. An early start ensures you have everything you need and that you have more time to shop for deals and save money. But it can be tough to figure out what you need, when you need it and how to prioritize.

A 2025 Deloitte survey found that parents plan to spend $570 per child on back-to-school shopping in 2025, down 7% compared with 2021. Another survey from marketing firm Zeta shows a similar estimate, with more parents expecting to spend less than $400.

This is despite the fact that inflation has pushed up prices since 2021:

  • Supplies increased by 30%.
  • Boys' apparel increased by 14%.
  • Girls' apparel increased by 4%.
  • Footwear increased by 4%.

Only tech is less expensive now — down 11%.

Use our handy supply checklist to ensure you have everything you need.

School Supplies Checklist

Organization Tools Checklist

School organization supplies help contain clutter and tools for everyday use. These include:

Paper Checklist

Depending on your child's age and grade, you may be asked to get various lined and unlined paper. Be sure you know whether your child's teacher asks for wide-ruled or college-ruled paper before you buy it. Paper supplies might include:

Writing Supplies Checklist

Mechanical pencils are often a coveted item — and often outsell regular pencils. But the teacher may prefer old-fashioned No. 2 pencils that require a sharpener instead. You may be asked to buy the following:

Art Supplies Checklist

Art supplies are often on the school supply list for elementary grades, particularly kindergarten through third grade. These include:

Math Supplies Checklist

Elementary schools may ask for rulers and protractors. Pay attention to calculator specifications by the time your child reaches middle school because required features can differ by course. A few math supplies that may be needed:

Personal Supplies Checklist

Many of the below are optional or depend on whether your child qualifies for free or reduced lunch, wants to buy school lunch or can reuse last year's backpack, water bottle and lunchbox.

  • Backpack
  • Insulated lunchbox or lunch bag
  • Reusable water bottle
  • Reusable freezer pack
  • Hair care (comb, hair ties, or styling products)
  • Tissues
  • Sunglasses
  • Hand sanitizer or sanitizing wipes
  • Menstruation (period) supplies
  • Print the full school supplies checklist (PDF)

Gold Star Bonus: Class Supplies Checklist

Some teachers depend on or appreciate parent help to support everyday needs for the whole class.

  • Disinfecting wipes
  • Hand sanitizer
  • Resealable, zipper-to gallon bags
  • Reams of white copy paper
  • Glue, tape, or masking tape
  • Snacks
  • Boxes of markers, crayons, colored pencils and writing pencils
  • Print the full school supplies checklist (PDF)

Clothing Checklist

The Deloitte survey notes that 93% of parents expect to spend on back-to-school clothing — and pay about 6% more, too. Parents estimate that clothing alone will eat up 43% of the back-to-school spending budget.

Everyday Clothing Checklist

  • 1-2 jackets or flannels
  • 5-7 jeans, pants or skirts
  • 7-10 long-sleeved and short-sleeved shirts
  • 2-4 sweaters or sweatshirts
  • 2 sets of PE clothes (shirt, shorts, socks), one for washing and one for wearing
  • Print the full school supplies checklist (PDF)

Basics Clothing Checklist

Outerwear Checklist 

Shoes Checklist

While the price of kids' shoes prices skyrocketed in 2022, they have remained around $142 to $147 since then.

Look for good values, as you may return to the shoe department sooner than you think. Children's feet grow faster than the rest of their bodies, so you may go up in shoe sizes in just a few months. Think about the year's total costs when shopping for:

Electronics Checklist

Electronics are the most expensive category of back-to-school shopping, and in 2025, around 25% of parents expect to spend more than $500, according to a PriceWaterhouseCooper survey.

Yet another 25% of parents expect to spend under $50, and the survey notes that technology is a top target for cutting back.

Why the difference? Carefully review your school's requirements — all tech may be provided by the district.  

Electronics that a school may require or may want you to get include:

Extracurricular Activities

On average, 90% of parents in 2025 expect to enroll their children in extracurricular activities such as sports, art or dance, says the Deloitte survey. Of those parents, 70% expect to buy supplies for those activities — spending an average of $532 on activities alone.

The checklist for supplies will vary based on the activity, some extras costing far less than others. In general, you'll need to prep your budget for:

  • Participation fees
  • Apparel for the activity (jerseys, dancewear, uniforms)
  • Equipment (art supplies, racket, cleats, mouthguard)
  • Supporting items (hair supplies, stage makeup, resistance bands, foam rollers)
  • Out-of-pocket sports physical check-up costs, including copays or coinsurance
  • Costs for travel to games, events and competitions
  • Print the full school supplies checklist (PDF)

Other Surprise Expenses

While you may not add these items to your shopping list, you might budget for the following for the school year:

Get Help With Back-to-School Expenses

Depending on income and location, your family may qualify for free school supplies and back-to-school clothing. A few organizations offering free supplies, clothing, and vouchers:

For example, Assistance League of the Eastside provides pre-selected school district students with $150 shopping vouchers. Children can shop for clothes, shoes, supplies and other necessities.

In general, a good place to start to get financial help with school supplies is with your child's school or school district. Some districts such as Shoreline offer help via the PTA and school foundation.

If you want to help others in our community, The Seattle Times School Drive raises funds for Hopelink, YWCA Seattle-King-Snohomish and the Seattle/King County Coalition on Homelessness to provide students with backpacks, hygiene items, educational electronics, and gift cards.

The above article is intended to provide generalized financial information designed to educate a broad segment of the public; it does not give personalized financial, tax, investment, legal, or other business and professional advice. Before taking any action, you should always seek the assistance of a professional who knows your particular situation when making financial, legal, tax, investment, or any other business and professional decisions that affect you and/or your business.

Related Content

Back-to-School Savings Tips

Young girl sporting a light blue backpack smiles as she stands in front of her smiling mother, who has placed her left hand on the young girl's shoulder, a showing of support as the young girl readies to leave through the front door of their home to go back to school.

Use these simple tips to budget for back-to-school shopping and save money.

Credit vs. Debit Card Options for Kids

Mother holding a mobile phone sits next to her child who is holding a credit card. They are sitting at a table, smiling. A large green plant is in the background.

Learn how to help build kids’ credit and teach them about managing finances.

5 Banking Tips for Kids and Parents

A mother and her teen daughter stand together in their kitchen facing the camera for a photo. The mom has her arm around the teen and is resting her cheek against her daughter's head.

Get tips to help kids start banking and building good financial habits.
Portrait of Lora Shinn

Lora Shinn
Contributor

Lora specializes in personal finance topics for BECU, and has also written for regional and national publications such as The Balance, U.S. News and World Report, LendingTree, GoodRx, CNN Money, Bankrate, The Seattle Times, Redbook and Assurance IQ.