Well, as you may or may not know, today begins Tax Free Weekend in Texas. So what exactly does that mean?
If you have not been keeping up with this yearly event, it basically means that today through Sunday, you will not have to pay tax on clothing, shoes, backpacks and school supplies priced at under $100 each. There are of course some exclusions, so be sure to go here.
Now as most of you may know, the highest amount of tax that can be charged in the state of Tx is 8.25%.-thanks Houston proper :(
Basically you can potentially save $8.25 for every $100 you spend on qualifying items. So, now, what are your thoughts on this weekend. Do you plan on heading out and finding the crowds?
Wonder what I am doing? Staying HOME! I know I know, sad right. I am about as frugal as they come, but I also HATE crowds (seriously!). Granted there will probably be some really really great sales to combine with the tax free weekend, but for me, my sanity is worth more than $8.25.
I would love to hear my readers plans. Are you gonna tackle the crowds head on this weekend? Share your stories and your hot deals here (maybe you will even convince me to get out in the fray.)
OR perhaps some of you plan on staying in and shopping online, I am getting several emails from various stores (Lands End, JcPenney etc) offering online deals as well. Just make sure you go through a cash back site when shopping online. My personal favorite is ShopDiscover. They typically pay higher than any other site for the shopping I am doing, and you don't have to meet a certain $ amount to get the cash back, it shows up on your next statement. The downside is you can only use this if you have a Discover card.
Others to consider looking at are Shopathome, Ebates, Shortcuts, and Upromise.
Some links provided in this post may help fund my blog - see my disclosure statement here.
14 comments:
I know this sounds backwards, but the Galleria is the most tame out of all of the Houston area malls this weekend. I've worked there since before Texas had a tax free weekend. Every year for tax free weekend, all of the other malls get more traffic and business than the Galleria does. So if you want to take advantage of tax free and more importantly all of the deals the stores are offering for the big weekend, head to the Galleria. Like I said, I know it sounds backwards, but you'll find a normal weekend crowd and not the chaotic craziness that the other malls will have this weekend.
Stephanie, I'm like you: I HATE crowds. Hate them so much that last night I ran into Target at 9 pm to get some awesome deals on Ortega Taco Seasoning for $.20 each JUST so that I wouldn't have to face the crowds this weekend. And what did I get in return? CROWDS. And when one woman behind me in line saw my (short) stack of 6 coupons, she asked me if I was an extreme couponer (to which I gave a firm NO) but someone behind her in line heard that, and suddenly I got the stink-eye. Not worth the savings, IMO.
I have found if you go early its just like shopping on a normal Saturday morning. I went at 9am and was finished with school shopping at noon. We went to 4 or 5 stores.
Typically, I don't purposefully go out on tax free weekend to shop. I don't think that you really save THAT much money to be honest.
However, I always end up shopping on tax free weekend anyway! I always say I won't, and then I forget that it's tax free weekend and head out to shop anyways!
I don't usually shop on Tax Free weekend. However, my kid has had 50 hrs of band camp for the past 6 weeks, so I haven't had a good chance to take him for new shoes. We're going to have to go out.
shopped online at kohls and got charged no tax, 15% off coupon and $10 kohls cash for every $50 spent..awesome deal.
I went earlier in the week to avoid the crowds. Apparently, everyone else had the same idea. The stores were completely picked over!
I do not shop on tax free weekend. I hate the crowds, and I just think that shopping online is much more convenient and you can also score great deals online. It's not worth it to save $9 and have to fight the crowds, and waiting the long line at the register.
As one anonymous said about the tax free weekend at The Galleria mall, I may head over there..:)
I never participate. I hate crowds too and its not worth fighting that just to "save" 8. And I find better deals throughout the year and stock up then. The only reason I have to shop today is bc my daughter apparently needs manila paper in Jr high. So I wasn't prepared for that. Oh well. Fighting this gosh awful heat for paper! It was worth a dairy queen visit tho! And for an impulse buy, we got blizzards at b1g1 1/2 off! Sweet!
We *usually* go shopping this weekend for athletic shoes and work shoes for my husband, and just to browse the clearance racks. But this year our athletic shoes are still in pretty good condition and we are just flat broke at this moment and trying not to use credit cards, so no shopping this tax-free weekend for us. Which eats me up, because two weeks from now, when we have the money to buy DH's work shoes, they won't be near as good a deal. Oh well.
If anyone IS shopping, I have a list of coupons to take with you on my blog!
I usually avoid the crowds, but needed scrubs this year so I stopped on the way home from work and got them tax free.
Thought this was interesting too:
http://www.dailyfinance.com/2011/08/12/the-true-cost-of-state-sales-tax-holidays/
I don't have kids but I needed stuff for me that was on a really good sale, so I went this morning, completely forgetting that Friday is part of the tax-free weekend. It wasn't too bad when I checked out of Walmart at noon. I'm still debating going to Target to price check the Walmart ad tomorrow or Sunday, though... (Walmart was out of all but one of what I wanted.)
Well LAST weekend, when JCPenney had their $10 off $25+ coupon in the ad, I went to see if there were any good deals on athletic shoes, and there were not. I said to the guy in the shoe department "maybe next weekend there will be some deals", but he said "No, next weekend is tax-free weekend, so we aren't having any great deals on shoes!" I have the $10 off 10 to spend, and it expires on 8/23, so there's not much hope of getting a good deal on shoes before it expires!
I've always had lots of success on tax free weekend. I'll plan ahead of time where I want to shop, and use my credit card points to redeem for gift cards, and locate coupons. I will go pick out and try on my clothes the day before tax free weekend, ask the customer service to hold my clothes. Then the next day, I'll try to go early, pick up my clothes and check out. I shopped at Kohl's and was able to get $60 of clothes/shoes, used a 15% off coupon and my $50 GC. Paid a little over $1.00 OOP AND got back $10 in Kohl's cash. I'd say that's worth it for me!
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