back to school

A couple of years ago I passed along a few basic tips for back to school shopping.  Here's an update for 2014.

Parents doing back-to-school shopping will have to open their wallets a little wider this year. A survey from the National Retail Federation found the average family with children in grades K-12 will spend $669.28 on clothes, shoes and supplies.

Most schools in New Jersey only ended a few weeks ago, but that hasn't stopped stores from rolling out back-to-school deals.

In our little household, the annual ritual of back to school has come and gone. My son Jack started 3rd grade yesterday and my daughter Mina began 1st grade. As a single father, and I assume any single parent feels the same way, I always feel more pressure than I probably should.

As New Jersey students head back to school, the safety experts are reminding students, parents and motorists to be safe on the road and on the streets now that kids are back in the classroom.

This week can be an emotional week for many parents as their kids are either starting or going back to school. Some parents can be happy to get their kids back to school, and some others are a mess, watching their kids get onto a buss or walking into a school for the first time by themselves...

Back to school time means backpacks will be stuffed to the brim with textbooks, notebooks, and even a laptop or tablet. However all that weight being carted around by kids can result in significant danger to young backs and spines.

Parents are not the only ones doing back to school shopping, teachers are also hitting the stores to buy supplies for their classrooms, and paying largely out of their own pocket.

Are you finished with your back-to-school shopping? If you answered yes, you're not alone.

As students across New Jersey and the rest of the nation plan to head back to school over the next month, spending on items to mark the occasion is expected to be substantially lower.