With gas prices soaring and the economy stagnating, a lot of families are looking to cut the back to school shopping budget this year.

A suggestion if you fall into that category: try Target. The prices are in the same range as Wal-Mart, cheaper on certain items on sale, and the quality is so much better -- essentially comparable to Old Navy or similar lower-end well-known labels.

A quick search through the clearance section of Target's website turns up a great sale on Cherokee-brand corduroys: all boys sizes $7.49, 50% off the retail price of $14.99. Take a look and, if your son is into cords, buy them in both colors:

• Boys' Cherokee® Carpenter Corduroy Pants - Ebony
• Boys' Cherokee® Carpenter Corduroy Pants - Olive

To browse the rest of Target's back to school clothing selection, click here for boys and here for girls.

Some deals only come around once or twice a year, but offer savings that justify the wait. This post is part of our series on such 'don't miss' sales.

When I think about dressing for business, it's usually just that, thinking. In my world, a stout pair of jeans, a clean t-shirt and a sweatshirt will serve you for just about everything. Yet there's always been a part of me that wanted the natty look of a midnight blue, three piece, pinstriped Brooks Brothers suit. The company is famous for outfitting dignitaries from Abraham Lincoln to John F. Kennedy, as well as popular figures like Clark Gable, Andy Warhol and the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, so it should be able to gild me as well.

The suits normally cost a minor royalty's ransom-- the Golden Fleece two-button pinstripe, for example, retails for $1,600. However, the company's semi-annual sales bring them a little closer to the Earth I inhabit. After Christmas and in June, Brooks Brothers knocks 25% off of much of its stock. If you open a Brooks Brothers credit account at that time, you can bump this discount up to 33%, quite a healthy savings on an outfit just south of $2,000.

Brooks Brothers was established in 1818, during the administration of John Quincy Adams, making it the nation's oldest clothing retailer. With 170 U.S. locations and 70 in other countries, even we in the hinterlands can dress like the famous. You may use this store locater to find Brooks Brothers near you.

Even at 33% off the regular price, those fantastic Golden Fleece suits are still a bit out of my reach, though. For now, I'll just have to imagine how a $1,600 suit must feel. Perhaps I should resume pursuing that law degree after all. Ya think?