Back-to-School with TJ Maxx & Marshalls

Is it that time of year again. Back-to-school is a hectic, crazy neverending time when all I seem to do is rush, rush, rush.

But I love shopping. I always have and probably always will. I especially love shopping even more now that I am raising two budding fashionista's. My older daughter is as much of a shoe lover as her mom. She loves clothes and is really developing her own personal style.

I love supporting that style and one of our favorite places to shop are the stores of TJ Maxx and Marshalls. I have been shopping at TJ Maxx since they first opened in the 70's. My mother used to take me so it is a pretty cool tradition that I am carrying on with my daughters.

So about back-to-school…

Did you know that 25% of Moms wait until the last minute to do their back-to-school shopping?

About half of Moms shop at 2-3 stores when shopping for back-to-school items.

About 1/3 of Moms prefer to shop at ‘one-stop’ stores vs. specialty stores

81% of Moms said that the rising cost of items (i.e. gas, groceries) negatively affect their family’s back-to-school budget this year.

When it comes to Moms and their kids agreeing on fashion choices, 75% say they only sometimes agree.

Sneakers (84%) are the most important type of new footwear during this years back-to-school shopping trip.

My oldest daughter is six, sassy and knows exactly what she wants. And for back-to-school, she wanted boots and a sweater dress. So we came away with one pair of boots for each daughter, two sweater dresses for my older daughter and a couple of uniform items for my son.

The boots are Michael KORS. This is a brand that I already know and love. So do my girls. As soon as we entered the shoe section, my girls tasked themselves with finding either matching or similar boots. They came pretty close. Both girls found really cute boots. The boots are leather and cost $5 more than comparable boots in a local major mass retailer. But the mass retailers boots were not made of leather. They were synthetic. So these boots were really a steal.

One of the biggest challenges that I find when back-to-school shopping is being able to locate sizes for my kids. It always seems that my kids are wearing whatever the most popular size is because I have problems locating what I need for them.

I really don't have these issues when shopping at TJ Maxx and Marshall's. Everything that we wanted and more was available in  all of the sizes we needed.

At TJ Maxx and Marshall's, I really let my kids have a lot more creative freedom when it comes to picking out their clothes and putting outfits together. I love the name brands and I especially love the prices. I know that we are buying quality items and I feel good about it.

Tell me about your back-to-school finds!

Disclosure: I wrote this review while participating in a campaign by Mom Central Consulting on behalf of T.J.Maxx and Marshalls and received a gift card to facilitate my review and thank me for taking the time to participate.