Back To School Shopping Is Big Business

I know it's only late-July and you may not want to start thinking about back to school just yet (or at least your kids don't!), but the stores are striking up the deals already in hopes of getting your spending dollars this back to school season. And it's no wonder why!

A recently survey from the National Retail Federation found that back to school spending is some of the highest of the year. Between grade school and college spending it's a $75 billion industry!

So how much of that does the average family spend when getting those essential supplies?

For families with school-aged children the average this year is expected to be $635 for the clothes, shoes, supplies and electronics. Which is actually down about $50 from last year's spending.

Many families are looking to save this time around with 23% saying they'll make do with last years things, 1/3 of families planning to use coupons on supplies and 45% says they'll shop nothing but sales this time around.

So are you finding back to school shopping is getting too expensive? How are you planning to cut back this year to make those dollars go further?