Preparing to shop for schools clothes and supplies? WAIT! Your state, or one near you, may be offering a tax holiday soon, a few days in which the sales tax on such items is waived. Why wouldn't you wait a little to save 6% or more?

North Carolina, for example, will drop sales tax on clothing, school supplies, computers, sports equipment and more from August 7-9. Louisiana broadens this to all tangible personal property, up to $2,500, and hurricane preparedness items up to an additional $1,500, on August 7-8.

If you're planning to hunt this fall, you might want to schedule a visit to South Carolina, where on November 27-28 sales taxes are 0% on handguns, rifles and shotguns. Need a stove, refrigerator or other appliance? Buy an Energy Star product in West Virginia between September 1 and November 30 and you'll pay no sales tax.

In all, 15 states and the District of Washington offer tax holidays. An excellent list of those states, dates and items included can be found on the Federation of Tax Adminstrators site.