Today starts Virginia’s 3-day sales tax holiday when you can buy school supplies, school clothing and emergency preparedness products tax free.  Remember, not everything qualifies and you need to  pay attention to the cost of each item to verify it qualifies. (Honestly, it does not all make sense to me! You can buy some wedding apparel tax free.  How is that a school supply?) But, some savings is better than none!

You can find a link for the qualifying items here:

https://tax.virginia.gov/virginia-sales-tax-holiday

Please remember, just because there is a sale does not mean you need to spend money you do not have. Remember to only purchase what is essential.  And, if you are financially strapped, remember to check out your school system and see if they have free supplies available.

Roanoke City Schools has a Back-to-School Extravaganza where the school system provides free basic supplies yearly. This year’s event is Saturday, August 18, 2018 at William Fleming High School from 9 a.m. to noon.  The link for bus routes and more information is here:

https://www.rcps.info/news/what_s_new/back-to-_school_extravaganza

You should check your individual school system for options, as well as organizations in your geographical region.  In  Roanoke the Rescue Mission offers a “Back 2 School Blast” on August 11 for free supplies, sports physicals, immunizations and new shoes for families in need.  It looks like the registration date has passed for this year, but this is a yearly event.

In the New River Valley, family needing assistance should contact the United Way of Montgomery, Radford and Floyd at 540- 381-2066 or by email at info@unitedwaynrv.org.

There are a lot of folks helping folks out there so all the kids can start the school with the supplies they need.