The average price variation of school supplies and transport items in Brazil remained below inflation. The survey held by FGV’s Brazilian Institute of Economics (IBRE) for February 2017 to January 2018 showed an average increase of 1.60% compared to last year – below the Consumer Price Index (CPI-10), calculated by IBRE, which was 3.05% in the same period.

Non-text books dropped -1.65%, while literature books had an average decrease of -0.07% in prices. School supplies, which include items like notebooks, rubbers, pencil sharpeners, pencils, and pens, rose 2.01% in the period. School transport stood out among other categories with an increase of 6.02%.

According to André Braz, CPI Coordinator at IBRE and in charge of the survey, this is good news, but consumers still need to keep a tight leash on expenses so far.

“Parents need to plan and save for these purchases, as January concentrates a lot of expenses that eat through the family budget,” he said.

The economist also gave other shopping tips that may be useful. One of them is round up other parents to make group purchases at a discount. Another advice is to check out leftover supplies from the previous year and only buy what cannot be reused. According to the IBRE researcher, comparing prices on the internet, stationery stores, and supermarkets is the first step to save money.

Go to the website to read the complete study.