Some words for thought on saving money on back-to-school supplies such as calendars, calculators, rulers, paper and pencils. Find out how to fill your child’s desk the cheapest way.
1. Stock up. Buy in bulk when supplies go on sale. If an item goes on sale, buy enough to last the whole school year. There is no point in making more trips than you have to or paying full price later down the road. Try hitting the supply store after school starts when sales on supplies are inevitable. Buy the necessities for next year. If you buy slowly throughout the year, when things go on sale, the hassle of back-to-school supply shopping will be gone next year and you won’t deal with the whole expense at once.
2. Keep your options open. Look in flyers or go to the stores and compare prices. Maximize each store’s sales. One may have a great deal on a calculator and another store on loose leaf paper. Ask the supply store about a price match. Many stores will match another store’s price if it is lower. This will allow for deals, yet require less travel time to other stores.
3. Buy store name brands. Office supply stores typically make their own office supplies that run cheaper than big brand names. A notebook is a notebook, even if the Five Star logo is not on it. A Five Star notebook may cost more than $2 more than a generic brand notebook.
4. Don’t buy unnecessary supplies. Avoid items such as pencil boxes or pencil sharpeners that you know will get lost or broken. Instead use some scraps of fabric and sew a case to hold pencils. Book covers are also unnecessary items. Use brown grocery bags and let your kids decorate the covers themselves. You can even use wrapping paper.
5. Don’t forget what you already have. It’s easy to forget you packed away that extra paper or last year’s ruler. If you search your house, you probably have more supplies than you thought. If you have more than one child, make sure that the supplies the older child cannot use any longer are passed down to the younger child.
6. Don’t buy everything on the list of “needed” supplies right away. Teachers usually hand out a supply list in the beginning of the year. Teachers are humans too, and may change their minds about what activities will be done. Buy the basics–notebooks, pencil etc.–but avoid items that are too specific. Often supplies might never be used, so hold off until the time the teacher says they need it. Maybe they won’t get to that art project that requires a pound of clay.
