TEXAS \u2014 It\u2019s almost back-to-school time, and most parents are expecting higher costs than normal, according to a recent national survey. Some Houston-area parents discussed their shopping plans, and an expert shared some recommendations for Texas back-to-school shoppers.<\/p>\n
\u201cPrices have gone up, I would say about maybe 25-50%. It\u2019s changed a lot over the last few years,\u201d said Desiree Ruiz, who was shopping at Walmart\u2019s Houston Heights location.<\/p>\n
National Retail Federation data shows 78% of shoppers expect to pay more for school supplies this year, and one-third plan to stretch their budgets by catching summer sales.<\/p>\n
Retailers like Walmart and Nordstrom Rack are welcoming customers in to catch some early bargain prices.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have almost 1,300 rollbacks all across the store, not just in back-to-school, but we want to fulfill all your needs,\u201d said Walmart Heights store manager Felipe Monroy.<\/p>\n
Staff at the Nordstrom Rack Centre at Post Oak near the Houston Galleria say they\u2019re ready to accommodate all budgets.<\/p>\n
\u201cCustomers can shop at their favorite brands, like Levi\u2019s, Nike, Addidas, Seven for All Mankind, Splendid and more, starting at price point of $15,\u201d said Morgan Valdez, store manager for\u00a0Nordstrom Rack Centre at Post Oak.<\/p>\n
Ben Hart, the chief financial officer at Texans Credit Union, said credit card debt for Texas households is at an all-time high, ranging anywhere from $8,000 to $12,000.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt might be better for you to go to a local credit union and get a personal loan. Those typically carry lower rates,\u201d he said, warning against the urge to stress out and overspend during back-to-school shopping. \u201cI would encourage all families to sit down, get yourself a written plan on the things that you need, take an inventory on what you already have.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hart said knowing the difference between \u201cneeds\u201d and \u201cwants\u201d can also help with stretching those dollars and reducing stress, and not just for back-to-school shopping.<\/p>\n
Some shoppers planning to catch bargains during the annual tax-free weekend.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just try to plan ahead, put the money aside and try to reuse and recycle as much as I can,\u201d said Darryl Smith, another parent.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TEXAS \u2014 It\u2019s almost back-to-school time, and most parents are expecting higher costs than normal, according to a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":397063,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[132,134,133,102,138,223,82,27,1569,15717,835],"class_list":["post-397062","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-austin","tag-austin","tag-austin-headlines","tag-austin-news","tag-dallas","tag-el-paso","tag-news","tag-san-antonio","tag-texas","tag-texas-what-you-need-to-know","tag-valencia-jones","tag-vod"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/397062","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=397062"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/397062\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/397063"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=397062"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=397062"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=397062"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}