Durham, NC - Joanne Field knows where she'll be this weekend: in the malls with her daughter, Kimberly, shopping for clothes, school supplies and college necessities. 

The Fields will join thousands of shoppers for North Carolina's annual sales tax holiday Aug. 3-5.

During these three days, the state waives the 7 percent sales tax on eligible items such as clothing, computers and school supplies.

Field, a nurse at Duke Hospital, said she and her daughter have shopped during the sales tax holidays before, "but this year, more of the money she is spending is her own, and she's eager to save."

The tax holiday begins at 12:01 a.m. Friday and ends at midnight on Sunday. All retailers in the state, including those on Duke's campus, participate in the tax holiday.

During the three-day event, the following items are exempt from sales tax:

• clothing, footwear and school supplies of $100 or less per item (including lab coats and scrubs)
• school instructional materials of $300 or less per item
• sports and recreational equipment of $50 or less per item
• computers of $3,500 or less per item, including tablet computers and netbooks (but not eReaders)
• computer supplies of $250 or less per item

The sales tax exemption adds up to a savings of $7 for a pair of shoes that costs $100, or $245 on a computer that's $3,500.

The biggest savings for the Field family will be on a laptop. Kimberly, 18, and her father have been spending evenings comparing prices at stores to figure out where to go this weekend for the best deal.

"It's worth waiting for," Joanne Field said. "It's nice to have a weekend when your money will go farther."