I can’t believe school is almost here! Some of you may have already started back to school and are well past Back to School Shopping. If so, definitely save these tips to your Pinterest Board for next year. Some of you may not even be teachers and that’s ok! Don’t you still tend to think about refreshing your wardrobe around this time of year? There’s just something trained into us from our school years that says this is when you start over!

Over the years of teaching I have learned some things about teacher back to school shopping. Some of these things I’ve learned again and again because I forget each year! Not this year though, and so I share them with you as well, hoping that I save you some time and some cashola!

Tips for Teacher Back to School Shopping:

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Start by assessing your own closet.

I always look forward to teacher back to school shopping because it gets me excited to be back in the classroom. Just like a kid on their first day of school, I’m excited to figure out what I’m going to wear for that first day. Because of that, it’s easy to go overboard and buy “all the things.” So, I would advise you to take stock of your current closet.

What do you have already that is in good shape?
What do you have that needs to be thrown out? – If you have worn it so much that it needs to be thrown out, consider buying a replacement. This might be one of those items that would be worth paying more for (see more about that in this post).
What do you need more of? (For me, this is always basic tunics or tanks!)
What are you missing that you wish you had? – For this I tend to reference my Pinterest Boards. I look across my pins and notice patterns. For example, one year I noticed I had pinned tons of outfits with white blazers. That was one of the items I purchased that year and it has become one of my “teacher outfit staples.”

Check out the trends

This is a tip I would treat carefully. Some of you might not care about the trends, and that’s fine. It will probably easy to tell if you walk through your local mall. You’ll notice that many of the store windows have similar items or similar colors (see an example from two years ago in this post). Be careful of this…just because it is trendy doesn’t mean you have to buy all the trends.

If you love the trend and you know you’ll wear it for years to come, go ahead and buy the trendy item. But try to balance out any trendy items with closet basics. I put together a post a few years ago on my favorite teacher outfit basics and I still believe they all still hold true.

Shop Outlet Malls or Resist the Urge and Wait for Labor Day!

This one was the hardest tip for me to learn! By mid-August I’m ready to start shopping for back to school clothes. It helps me get back into the mood of school (and then I can make myself go in to my classroom and start planning!). But, though back to school sales can be good, that doesn’t mean they’re great!

Every year I would head to the local outlet mall and get 40-50% off the outlet mall prices. Many of my favorite places to shop for teacher clothes are in the outlet mall. But then, Labor Day would hit (right after school started usually…) and those same stores and same items would be on sale for 60-70% off!! So, I know it’s hard to wait, but Labor Day sales are worth it.

My advice is to buy some items at the Nordstrom Anniversary sale (end of July – beginning of August) and then if you have to, go window shopping in August to get a sense of your shopping list for Labor Day. Trust me, your wallet will thank you!

Use your Discounts

Don’t forget that if you’re a teacher, many stores give teacher discounts (some only this time of year)! You can get that great sales price + 15% off! Grab my free mega-list of the best places to shop for teacher clothes! It includes my favorite teacher discounts! Click the image below to get it now!

Also, this blog post has a great run-down of teacher discounts for this year, including non-clothing discounts.

Make sure you have a good bag.

This is one of those things I always forget about and then regret it later. Teachers are always carrying laptops or grading back and forth between school and home. Just like kids need a good backpack when they’re getting ready to go back to school, teachers need a good quality bag. My favorite places to shop for teacher bags are Ross and TJMaxx. You can get good quality bags for a decent price. I tend to look for either laptop bags or tote bags with a laptop sleeve.

Lately though, Kristin over at Countdown to Friday blog has been featuring this bag and since it’s currently on sale, I’m almost ready to pull the trigger! See one of the ways she styled it here.

Those are my top tips for teacher back to school shopping! If you found any of these tips useful, please consider pinning this post to your Pinterest board! And if you’re interested in my favorite places to shop for teacher clothes (along with recommendations, warnings and teacher discounts!), make sure to grab the list here!

Thanks so much for stopping by! Are there any tips you would add to this list?Let me know in the comments below!

-Virginia