There are a lot of sales now being advertised, but with school starting in just a week or two, you aren't going to find any close out sales
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"We want to find something that is a good price", Danielle Berthold tells me, "but I don't imagine stuff will be on sale in august, a week before school starts."
But that doesn't mean you can't create your own sale. The gift card girl friend, Shelly Hunter, has a couple of ideas.
"If you want to save money on back to school shopping, my favorite thing to do is, look for the sales already going on, " She tells me, "Then look for discount gift cards to increase the savings."
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She points to websites like carpool.com where you can buy gift cards at a discount.
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She says unlike coupons there is no limit to the savings you can pile on.
"With gift cards," she points out, "you can stack those savings on anything you are already buying in the store."
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She says it is best to look for and buy gift cards before going into the store to buy, however, while waiting in line you can use your smart phone to buy and download discount gift cards.
And here is another trick. Many stores are offering buy one, get one free gift cards.
See all our Back-to-School coverage here.