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When it comes to back-to-school shopping, Karen Metcalfe doesn't waste time.

As a working mother of three children, ages 11 to 19, who also coaches girls' soccer at Walkersville High School, Metcalfe, 45, of Frederick, says her schedule is full in August. Spending time in crowded stores is not an option.

"It gets to the point that the back-to-school aisles are so crowded you cannot even get a cart down them," she said. "The amount that needs to be done is so stressful and a lot because even if you try to prepare ahead, you end up needing to pick up additional things."

Her plan of attack for keeping stress levels low is to minimize trips to the store. Metcalfe keeps a shelf in her basement stocked with school supplies she has bought on sale throughout the year. Before heading out, she shops her basement first, cutting down her list.

In an effort to keep costs low, she also buys the basic supplies her kids need every year, such as pencils, pens, and paper, in bulk and hangs onto the extras for following years. Lastly, Metcalfe says to save time and money, it is important to stick to a list in the store and not buy other items that catch kids' eyes.

"Staying focused in the store helps," she said.

Ryan and Angelique Chatman, of Frederick, think shopping for school supplies for their two daughters, ages 9 and 12, is important.

"I believe education starts at home, and it's necessary for parents to supply the basics for their children to succeed," Angelique Chatman said. To do that, and keep costs low, she starts a savings fund in June, setting money aside all summer for back-to-school shopping.

"It's easier to save over the long haul instead of taking one chunk out of a paycheck if you know you have a lot of purchases come August or September," Ryan Chatman said.

Cameron Bell is a certified financial planner and the executive director of Wealth Management Institute in Gaithersburg. He also has taught classes on personal finance at Frederick Community College for more than a decade. He says for times of the year when a family will need to make a lot of purchases the best thing to do is "follow a regular plan of savings."

Bell says there are two core principles to keep in mind when it comes to the family budget: "Keep it simple and track where you spent your money," he said.

By keeping things simple, he means the fewer credit cards and bank accounts to manage, the better. And tracking purchases is important because it allows a family to plan ahead for times of big spending, like in August for school supplies and new clothing.

He says if parents track the family's spending, they can see how much they spent on school shopping in previous years and save for it in the future.

"This way, you won't go into debt," Bell said. And his final bit of advice as a father of three, two of whom are in school, is to "only buy what you need, not what you want."

Good advice, but Metcalfe admits it is hard to resist buying a few pieces of new clothing for her kids come school time.

"Back-to-school shopping seems to be a rite of passage," she said. So she buys a few outfits for each of her kids, but keeps the bulk of her shopping for other times of the year.

"Typically, I tend to shop end-of-season sales," she said. At the end of last winter, she bought several pairs of jeans in larger sizes when stores were marking prices down. Come this fall, she'll pull them out.

The Chatmans pick a weekend they all can go and head to the outlet stores in Hagerstown for deals on clothing. They also make sure they allot enough time to shop around at stores and compare prices before they make any big purchases, noting that at this time of year, stores are very competitive.

And both the Chatmans and Metcalfe wait until December holidays and birthdays to supplement needed clothing and supplies so as not to overspend in August.

Susan Lindstrom, supervisor of the Community Agency School Services (CASS) program of Frederick County Public Schools, agrees with the idea that purchases for school can be deferred to other times throughout the year. She says that the list of school supplies that schools provide is what schools "would like," but that "some purchases can be delayed."

"I would call the school and ask what is absolutely needed for the first couple of months," Lindstrom said, regarding families who do not want to overspend at the start of the academic year.

"No child should start school without their new pencil, new backpack, new notebook. That's all part of the fun of starting school," Lindstrom said. But she stresses that if a family cannot afford the items, there is help available.

"If they cannot afford it, they need to call their school or their CASS coordinator because there are always resources out there that can help with this," she said.

Frederick County Public Schools: fcps.schoolwires.com

Click on the link ‘Get Ready for School!' in the lower right corner to find school supply lists. To find the CASS coordinator for a school's cluster, click on the ‘For Families & Students' link on the upper left side. Then click on the ‘Counseling & Student Support' link to take you to the ‘CASS' link option.