It’s hard to believe that the summer is already two-thirds over and that “Back to School season” is upon us. Those of you with kids needing school supplies, new clothes, shoes and other accessories know how quickly the cost of all those needs can add up. Josh had a bit of a growth spurt this summer so he is needing new shoes and new clothes for sure. That’s why I was so thrilled to partner with Southridge Mall to highlight the upcoming sales tax holiday. (We received a mall gift card to facilitate our shopping adventure.)
We started off by going through everything in Josh’s closet and dresser to see what (if anything still fit) and what were our “must get” items. We discovered that we had bought pants last year in a size bigger than he needed that I had totally forgotten about. So we only needed new jeans in the pants department. He definitely needed some long sleeved shirts plus a jacket and new sneakers.
We headed down to Southridge and noticed our stomachs were growling on the way. Shopping when hungry is never a good thing, so we popped into the Explorium Brew Pub and fueled up for our shopping adventure. I highly recommend their black bean burger – yum!!
First, we headed to Shoe Department Encore to find the perfect pair of sneakers. I had never been there before and was immediately impressed with the huge selection of both brands and styles!
Josh loved that they had ALL of his favorite brands in one place – Vans, Converse – all of them! Then he spotted a pair of Levi’s shoes (I didn’t even know they made shoes!) that were exactly what he was looking for. He tried them on, they fit, I loved the price so we grabbed them!
With one item off our list, we headed out and Josh immediately spotted the “perfect jacket” on a mannequin in the H&M window. He tried it on and I have to admit it looked really good on him!
We grabbed it and continued looking through the store. Josh found two longsleeved shirts he loved and a light green sweater (marked down to $7!!). Even though they weren’t on our list, he also found two hats and a bag that is perfect for a carryon or overnight trip.
We spent another few hours at the mall and picked up jeans, underwear, more shirts and a quick coffee break at Starbucks to refuel. All in all, a successful trip. I loved that we were able to find everything we needed at the mall!
Wisconsin is finally holding its first sales tax holiday from today (August 1st) through Sunday (August 5th).
What does this mean exactly? Basically, it means that during this five-day period sales of certain items, including clothing, school supplies, electronics and more, are tax exempt.
• Clothing – sales price of each item must be $75 or less
•Computer purchased by a consumer for their personal use – sales price of each computer must be $750 or less
•School computer supplies purchased by the consumer for their personal use – sales price of each item must be $250 or less
•School supplies – sales price of each item must be $75 or less
There are some pretty specific things that are and aren’t covered by this tax holiday, so I’m including a list that you can click on and download for reference while you are planning your own tax holiday shopping spree
Taxable Items
Exempt Items
Just to give you an example of how much you can save, take a look at our purchases:
Shoes: with tax $36.95 without tax $34.99
Jacket: with tax $52.78 without tax $49.99
Shirts: with tax $13.72 without tax $12.99 (x2)
Sweater: with tax $7.39 without tax $7.00
Bag: with tax $10.56 without tax $10.00
Hats: with tax $13.72 without tax $12.99 (x2)
Jeans: with tax $34.53 without tax $32.70 (x2)
Shirt: with tax $14.25 without tax $13.49
Underwear: with tax $12.62 without tax $11.96 (x4)
Total purchases with tax = $296.25 and without $280.67 Now multiply that times the number of kids you are shopping for!!
That savings will be going towards the pile of school supplies we still need to buy…
Josh is loving his new outfits though!!
Aditya says
In our country, Summer is literally over and it is now filled with Rain and will continue till September end. But yes, you guys are lucky to have the summer and this is a great list.And I never knew, that Wisconsin has a sales tax holiday along with Labour day holiday as well.
Mommy Sigrid says
Wow it’s so awesome that you have tax holiday. We don’t have that there. If we had, I would really save up and shop only twice a year, the second one being the black friday sale. hihi
Monidipa Dutta says
It is great to have a tax free day. I can forward this article to my friends in Wisconsin they will love it..
Jade says
A tax free shop sounds amazing! We don’t have that here but I wish we did! I’m amazed by the amount of stuff you can purchase and save at the same time!
Jennifer L says
Wow that’s really cool that wisconsins has the tax holiday. Back to school shopping can be steep so any breaks definitely helps the wallet.
David Elliott says
That is so cool that they are doing this. I have never heard of a holiday from sales tax. That’s great Wisconsin does this.
J. Shan’Trice says
Sounds like the kickstart to this school year will rock for you guys. Way to go and congrats on the great deals.
Nidhi Fouzdar says
Tax holidays i never heard before about it, good to know that! Happy summers.
Autumn Murray says
I am so jealous of your tax holiday. We used to do same in Georgia but they stopped doing it two years ago.
Cassandra Rose says
This holiday would be perfect for work! I’m a teacher so finding supplies at the right price is so hard sometimes.
Michele Dennis says
I love the Tax-free Holiday weekends and thankfully I live in a state that participants. I really wish all states offered the Tax-Free Holiday weekends.
London Mumma says
I wish we had tax free days here in the UK. My daughter starts school this September and uniform can be pricey.
Karla says
That’s a lot of savings! It’s a shame that we don’t have any tax free holidays here in the Philippines. Btw, your son looks so handsome in his new clothes!