Shopping thread

**SaintLouieWoman** · 08-05-2012, 08:25 PM

I was wondering if other states have those tax free weekends for clothes, backpacks, school supplies? Yesterday and today I took advantage of the whopping 7% savings.

My haul yesterday included such mundane things as white-out tape, dividers for a notebook, and super glue. I'm way extravagant, hee hee.

Today was another story. It didn't say how big the kids were returning to school, so SR had a minor wardrobe adjustment. He got 4 pairs of shorts and 4 white knit casual shirts. The old stuff went into the Goodwill bag. I got a sweater at 40% off that matched a pair of capri pants that I got last week (also 40% off). The grandkids got some adorable outfits.

The economy must be getting a tad better. The store was swamped (Sears, nothing extravagant) with moms buying stuff for the kids to return to school. Or it could be a sign of desperation, where even the 7% savings was important to their back to school budgets.

**linda22003** · 08-06-2012, 08:14 AM

Originally Posted by SaintLouieWoman

The store was swamped with moms buying stuff for the kids to return to school.

I think Virginia just had a tax free weekend. I didn't participate for the reason stated above.

**Zathras** · 08-06-2012, 08:29 AM

Here in California the state doesn't do it but individual companies will do it on occasion. We have a hardware store chain here in the SF bay area, Orchard Supply Hardware, that has a "We Pay The Sales Tax" weekend event every 6 months or so but I haven't heard of any other business doing the tax free thing in this area.

**noonwitch** · 08-06-2012, 11:42 AM

We don't have anything like that in Michigan. We do have a lot of charitable school supply giveaways-mostly churches who decide to sponsor a specific school and fill up backpacks full of school supplies.

JC Penney is giving free haircuts for kids throughout the month of August, though. That's a good thing for parents with low funds who want their kids to look nice for school photos.

**Zeus** · 08-06-2012, 12:44 PM

Texas shoppers get a break from state and local sales taxes on August 17-19, 2012 - the state's annual sales tax holiday. Lay-away plans can be used again this year to take advantage of the sales tax holiday.

A complete list of tax-free items .

**SaintLouieWoman** · 08-06-2012, 01:07 PM

[QUOTE=Zeus;519308]Texas shoppers get a break from state and local sales taxes on August 17-19, 2012 - the state's annual sales tax holiday. Lay-away plans can be used again this year to take advantage of the sales tax holiday.

A complete list of tax-free items .[/QUOTE]

Texas has a better deal than Florida, which also covers all clothes (under $75 vs $100 in Texas), footwear, backpacks and school supplies.

Florida does not allow lay-away plans. Texas is more compassionate, maybe because it's so conservative.

**SaintLouieWoman** · 08-06-2012, 01:10 PM

Originally Posted by linda22003

I think Virginia just had a tax free weekend. I didn't participate for the reason stated above.

It's for clothes (doesn't say kiddie sizes) and footwear, as well as school (or office) supplies. They prohibited buying cartridges for printers or computers. Drat.

The limit was $75 per item, so doubt if you could get much at Eileen F. for that.

**Gina** · 08-08-2012, 06:59 PM

Originally Posted by noonwitch

We don't have anything like that in Michigan. We do have a lot of charitable school supply giveaways-mostly churches who decide to sponsor a specific school and fill up backpacks full of school supplies.

JC Penney is giving free haircuts for kids throughout the month of August, though. That's a good thing for parents with low funds who want their kids to look nice for school photos.

Art Van furniture comes to mind, they pay the sales tax around a holiday, maybe tax time even. Other than that yeah it's just churches and boys/girls clubs. When my youngest was in elementary school, the school had a back to school picnic and gave away tons of stuff.