Forecast shows Hoosiers will increase back-to-school spending - 13 WTHR Indianapolis

What is your budget for back-to-school?  A new study to be released later today will show how much parents are spending to get their kids ready.

It may mean better deals in Indiana stores where you buy school supplies. We are just a couple of weeks from the start of the school year here, and the survey will show consumers are feeling more optimistic about their personal financial situations, so they are expected to increase back-to-school spending. 

"In Indiana, we have a lot of things going for us," said Purdue retail expert Richard Feinberg. "For one, our unemployment is significantly down from last year. It's still high, but it's lower. That means more people working and more money to spend. And gas prices are significantly lower than last year, which means people have more money to spend."

According to early details in the Chase Card Services survey, 38-percent of parents set up a budget for back-to-school spending, which is up 12-percent over last year. The bulk of the planned spending will go for clothing and apparel, books and technology.

The average K-12 budget is $688.22. Broken down by category, planned spending on clothes totals $246.10, electronics  $217.88, and supplies $95.44.

Backpacks will be the big item when it comes to apparel, but not backpacks with characters like Barbie, according to the new survey. And more people are using smart phones to compare prices in stores, which means those stores have to stay competitive with better deals for you.

Believe it or not, what you spend now will have an impact on what's available during the holiday season. For retailers, this is the second-highest spending season of the year, with about $2-billion forecast to be spent in Indiana alone, and that number is a predictor for the holiday season.

"They have to order now for the Christmas season," Feinberg says of retailers. "So if they have a big back-to-school season, they have more money and they have to replenish merchandise and they are more optimistic. And so retailers will spend more to get merchandise in-store for the holiday season, so it's a very important sign for them."

For consumers, that means more merchandise to choose from during the holidays.