Tax Free Weekend - Are You Shopping?

[DVCLiz]

My state has a tax-free weekend this weekend - does yours? Are you planning to shop for anything in particular?

We will make a school supply/office supply run to Office Depot at some point during the weekend, and I am sure my daughters will want to do a little tax free clothing shopping.

I'm also in the market for a netbook - do you know if any of the major retailers are going to be offering deals like they do for Black Friday, etc? Just looking for the best price on a medium quality netbook.

Happy shopping if your state has a tax free weekend!!

 

[Handbag Lady]

We don't have that at all!

We do have some retailers that do their own tax-free weekends. OSH is one of them.

 

[PirateSnowmen]

I'm not sure when our tax-free weekend is, but whenever it is I will make sure to stay FAR away from the stores. All the stores/malls around here are just PACKED on tax-free weekend and it's way too much of a hassle to go out shopping in that madness. I'm talking shoulder-to-shoulder people, people diving at clothing racks to get what they want, people pushing & shoving... not fun.

 

[DVCLiz]

I'm not sure when our tax-free weekend is, but whenever it is I will make sure to stay FAR away from the stores. All the stores/malls around here are just PACKED on tax-free weekend and it's way too much of a hassle to go out shopping in that madness. I'm talking shoulder-to-shoulder people, people diving at clothing racks to get what they want, people pushing & shoving... not fun.

Hmm, that sounds horrible!!! I'm going to avoid any clothing store like that - my girls have a small boutique shop in mind - DD20 is working there part-time this summer - so they have a little list of things they've been waiting to get on sale or at reduced prices.

I will probably venture into Office Depot and Best Buy but I don't think it will be that bad!! At least, I hope not!!

 

[Liberty Belle]

Kentucky never has those. Never has, as far as I know.

Have fun shopping!

 

[PirateSnowmen]

Hmm, that sounds horrible!!! I'm going to avoid any clothing store like that - my girls have a small boutique shop in mind - DD20 is working there part-time this summer - so they have a little list of things they've been waiting to get on sale or at reduced prices.

I will probably venture into Office Depot and Best Buy but I don't think it will be that bad!! At least, I hope not!!

I'm sure the small boutique won't be bad at all. We've tried shopping on tax-free weekend twice, and it was horredous both times. I remember last year we were in an Old Navy with shoulder-to-shoulder people, clothes all over the floor, people tackling other people to get to certain clothes. Some kids even decided to start a tackle football game in the middle of the store and the parents couldn't have cared less.

 

[DVCLiz]

I'm sure the small boutique won't be bad at all. We've tried shopping on tax-free weekend twice, and it was horredous both times. I remember last year we were in an Old Navy with shoulder-to-shoulder people, clothes all over the floor, people tackling other people to get to certain clothes. Some kids even decided to start a tackle football game in the middle of the store and the parents couldn't have cared less.

Yep, we'll be avoiding that like the plague.

 

[java]

We're in NJ were it's always that way. So yes they kill us with property tax- but we get a little break on clothing.

 

[sbell111]

This coming weekend is 'tax free weekend' in Tennessee. Normally, we will go buy some covered item if we need it anyway, but we don't go shopping just for shopping's sake.

That being said, my wife has a little side business making and selling hand-made writing instruments. Since they are 'pens and pencils', they fall within the 'tax free zone'. Generally, sales are a bit better on the tax free weekends because people like the idea of saving 9.25% on items that cost between $20 and $70 each.

 

[MarkBarbieri]

We have them in Texas. I stay as far from stores as possible during that weekend. The hassles aren't even close to being worth the savings.

 

[DWGal210]

We have it in my state (Iowa) but I am also going to avoid the stores that day. They get crazy busy, and people act nuts.

I am all for saving some money, but to me, it isn't that much of a savings to justify going into the madness. We have 7% sales tax, and you would have to spend $1,000 to save $70 bucks. I guess if you are going to spend a lot of money for clothes and supplies for the whole school year, then it could be worth it, but I'll be staying far, far away!

 

[momof1princess]

nooooooooo...this weekend is tax-free weekend in alabama, and i'm staying HOME!

 

[Deb in IA]

We have it in my state (Iowa) but I am also going to avoid the stores that day. They get crazy busy, and people act nuts.

Oh YES!!!

I am staying far, far away from the Coral Ridge Mall - it is a ZOO!!!!

Besides which, our school is going to uniforms - I did all my son's school clothes shopping, got free shipping, and finished it all in about 20 minutes from my computer!

 

[ericamanda01]

I have to say that is one of the perks of living in Oregon, no sales tax.

 

[Bella the Ball 360]

Well in MA we just had our MORE TAX week end as out sales tax went up 25% forever!

 

[cinmell]

Well in MA we just had our MORE TAX week end as out sales tax went up 25% forever!

And don't forget, there's no tax free weekend here this year either.

 

[Kickapoo Joie Juice]

Yep, we had one this weekend in Georgia.

I approached it like I do disney: itinerary (in this case list of stores I wanted to hit and corresponding coupons), get there before it opens, be well stocked with snacks and water (had both DD's with me-one tween, one almost), and have clothes/shoes on that were suitable for the task at hand.

I hit the outlet stores and was the first one at the Justice store. I had an additional 40% off coupon that I had saved from their catalog that came in last month. Second store was Pacsun, I had a spend 50 get 5 back. Spent 50.22 before rebate. Third was Nautica, same coupon, same thing.

Fourth was the Gap, this was my big store and I had an additional 30% off coupon on the lowest prices. It was starting to get crowded by then and we had about a 15 minute wait for the dressing room. I had both kids in there and I just kept going back out into the store to get things for them to try on. Yeah, it pissed off the people in line. Yeah, I totally didn't care. I was spending money there, the girls weren't going to get back in line every time they had something that didn't fit. Sue me. Lady in line next to me at checkout got incredibly pissy that she didn't have the coupon and that her checkout girl couldn't use mine for her (it was barcoded).

Then we stopped for lunch, hit one more store (rack room shoes), got everything on our list and we were done for the year-we may need some sweaters in december but that's it for the 09-10 school year.

It got *really* crowded after lunch, I was glad we were heading out. Dh was not sad to have missed the weekend insanity, though-I went on the first day of the sale which was Thurs so he was at work. I heard that Saturday at the outlets was absolutely crazy....

 

[Chicago526]

Nope, IL doesn't have those. I wouldn't mind them doing it once, just to see how it works. I'm sure our retailers could use the sales boost. When I shop I tend to buy a lot all at once, I can't buy just one or two items here and there. When I shop, I mean business! So I could save quite a bit on a tax free weekend. I'd treat it like Black Friday, and get up at the crack of dawn and hit the stores/malls early and know exactly what I was looking to buy, I'd think that would help with the crowds and madess.

 

[Bella the Ball 360]

And don't forget, there's no tax free weekend here this year either.

I LOVE our governor. It makes so much sense to do this during a recession. Wow I sure hope he gets reelected.

 

[sbell111]

Well in MA we just had our MORE TAX week end as out sales tax went up 25% forever!

I think you mean that it went up to 6.25% (except on food, utilities, and clothing), but I could be wrong about your post.