Tax-free spree?
By all accounts, Oklahoma’s first back-to-school sales tax was a big success — for shoppers at least. (The state lost $6.4 million.)
For one weekend last month, no tax was charged on most clothing for children and adults. The event aimed to give a break to families preparing for the start of school.
Now one state lawmaker, Sen. Don Barrington, wants to expand the sales tax holiday to include school supplies. Items would include paper, notebooks, crayons and calculators. Barrington says he’ll introduce legislation to this effect next session.
While the proposal is likely to be met with enthusiasm, it also could lead to lots of questions. Would computers be included since they are pretty much essential to education today? What about text books? The average college student pays $900 a year on assigned texts, according to the General Accounting Office.
What do you think? I don’t think saving 8-cents on a box of pencils is that great a deal, but getting hundreds off the price of a laptop would get my attention. E-mail me at ssimpson@oklahoman.com
Susan Simpson, Education Writer
What’s Your Style?
Dorm dwellers have a new tool for decorating their digs.
Wal-Mart has launched a Facebook group, Roommate Style Match, where rooommates can jointly plan their dorm room decor.
Some features:
- A “Roommate Style Match Quiz” that allows roommates to take an interactive personality quiz to determine each roommate’s college decorating style
- Personalized shopping lists to fit your style
- The ability to mesh your style with your roommates
- Access to Wal-Mart Soundcheck
- A “Go Green” section
- A direct link to Walmart.com, where students can shop for merchandise
Is this a great resource for roomies, or another marketing trick by the giant retailer?
Tell me what you think and if you’ll try it at ssimpson@oklahoman.com
Susan Simpson, Education Writer
How Do You Manage?
Do you have any tips for shopping with kids?
Lots of families are shopping this weekend to take advantage of the state’s sales tax holiday. I spoke to a few parents today, and they took various approaches.
Some took all the kids at once so they could try on items and complete shopping in one day.
Some took their children in shifts, so they could focus on one wardrobe at a time.
Some left the kids at home, and picked out the clothes they thought would best fit.
Vaden Twidwell of Piedmont was shopping for school uniforms for her two grand-daughters. Bringing them along would have cost her more, she said. “They put everything in the basket and pretty soon we’ve spent $300.”
I have two daughters, and find it’s easier to shop alone for the four-year-old. But the 9-year-old has her own sense of fashion and would prefer to pick out her own clothes.
When I must take them both to the store, I find it’s easier to put the toddler in a shopping cart and distract her with a toy or candy while I shop. It might not be the best parenting method, but it usually works.
How do you handle things? Send me your tips at ssimpson@oklahoman.com and I’ll share them with our readers.
Susan Simpson, Education Writer
Work Hazard
Memo to Boss: You knew this would happen.
Sending me to talk to shoppers on this first day of our state’s first sales tax holiday … well, that’s like sending the fox to the henhouse.
I couldn’t help myself. Surrounded by sales signs, and feeling peer-pressure from the enthusiatic consumers I encountered, I put down my notebook and picked up my checkbook. (For the record, I’m counting the buying time as my lunch break.)
But wow, did I hit the jackpot! Regular readers here know about my store coupon savvy. I had a 15 percent-off coupon for Kohl’s, where everything in the store was on sale — some things 90 percent off, plus there was the sales tax break.
I got two t-shirts for my girls, two dresses for my toddler, two shirts, a skirt and dress for me — all for $118.65. I saved $20 on sales tax alone. And then, I got a $20 coupon good for my next visit to Kohls.
Fellow shoppers seemed to be doing as well. The check-out line wasn’t long, but took awhile because some customers were really stocking up, buying dozens of items, their carts overflowing.
So, Boss, I’d like to go ahead and volunteer to do this story next year. And the year after, and after….
Memo to husband, balancer of all checkbooks: My boss made me do it.
Susan Simpson, Education Writer (and shopper extraordinaire)
Shop-nanza
Kohl’s department store opened at 8 a.m. today, an hour early. But customers started lining up at 7:30.
When I got there a few hours later, the store was busy, but not packed with shoppers, probably because many people had to work today.
Not Abby Thomas. The mom of two took off work today to beat the crowds and save money on school clothes. She was joined by her mother, Carol Smith, who was buying clothes for four grandkids. The sales tax savings, 8.35 percent at this store on Northwest Expressway, was icing on the cake, she said. That’s because every item in the store was on sale.
“When you are buying a lot, outfitting four kids, it is a significant savings,” Smith said.
Tina Novak had considered going to Dallas to shop during the Texas sales tax holiday, so she was happy to hear that Oklahoma established its own weekend to help parents save on back-to-school clothes. Her 12-year-old son Hunter needs jeans, shoes and t-shirts for school.
“I had planned to spend $250 this weekend,” she said.
The sales tax break will save her $20.87. Not a bad deal, if you ask me.
Let me know about your bargains at ssimpson@oklahoman.com
Susan Simpson, Education Writer
Shop Talk
Tomorrow is a good day. I get paid — to shop.
Well, not to actually buy things (though I might) but to hit the stores and talk to shoppers taking advantage of our state’s first sales tax holiday.
Most clothing items (for children and adults) under $100 each qualify for the three-day sales tax exemption approved this year by state lawmakers
And many stores are adding their own discounts to the mix, in order to lure more back-to-school shoppers to their aisles.
Quite naturally, I volunteered for this story. How often do you get to call the boss and say “I’m at the mall now. I’ll be in later.”
I’m not sure when and where I’ll be, but if you see a nosy redhead eying your purchases, don’t call security. I’ll just be asking if you got any bargains.
And I’ll let you know, on this blog, how things are going. You can e-mail me as well at ssimpson@oklahoman.com
It’s a tough job but somebody’s gotta do it.
Susan Simpson, Education Writer
