You can tell it is back to school time when the Staples commercial that proclaims it’s the most wonderful time of the year where the kids are dreading going back to the classroom and the parents are ecstatic about having the kids back out of the house during the day is airing. Back to school shopping can be expensive, so the important thing is finding some items that complement that back to school shopping on a budget.

Some of the best places to find deals are under the radar, and one suggestion would be to go to consignment stores/shops. These stores offer a lot of stationary items, clothing for extremely cheap prices, children’s games/toys, as well as all sorts of great miscellaneous items like tennis and dress shoes.

If you are trying to find a local consignment shop you have a couple of options. You may use the traditional phone book to browse around, drive around the main streets in your town until you come across a store, or you can use the internet sites like Garage Sales Tracker which have a directory of consignment shops as well as garage sales on the web as well as well as turn by turn directions via their iPhone application.

If you are looking in the phone book for sales, you can either go to the shopping part of the phone book and then go to either the C’s for consignments or check out T’s for the Thrift Store directory as well. Some common places around the country such as Good-Will Stores and Salvation Army may have their own alphabetical listing.

If driving around to find shops is your preferred method, then check out the main streets in your town/neighborhood as often consignment shops will reside on the corners of strip malls.

If the internet is your chosen medium for finding a local store, then you can either Google consignment shops in (your city, your state) or utilize the search feature with Garage Sales Tracker where you can simply input your zip code and distance that you are willing to travel and then, voila, you will receive turn by turn driving directions and a map from Google.

No matter how you find your local consignment stores, the point is that it’s a different way to find, shop, and save tremendously right before the kids go back to school. These days clothes, shoes, notebooks, and accessories are getting more expensive, so I’m always glad to look down at my brand new Nikes knowing I only spent $25.00 on them thanks to a consignor!

This article was produced by Rich of Garage Sales Tracker who has been frugally bargain hunting since he was a kid attending flea markets, consignment/thrift shops, and yard sales and has helped turned the hobby into a website that allows people from all over the country to find all local sales in an easy to use manner born from the frustrations of not having a central resource for all of the places he loves to shop.


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