Are back to school sales starting to pop up near you? Walmart near us is in full swing with back to school deals. One nice thing that they do here is put up a kiosk that has the school supplies list for every nearby school. You can grab a list as you walk in the door and then head over to the sale section. Do you use these lists? Do you buy every single item on the list, precisely as described? Some teachers will demand certain brands that are much more expensive. Do you still buy them or buy something comparable that costs less? I do the latter, and it has never been a problem. What other stores near you have good back to school sales?
There are no school children in our house anymore but I have colleagues who are busy with shopping before the school year begins. They would go to the place called Divisoria in Manila where the prices of school supplies are really cheap (although you have to be careful in buying since there are fake bags and other school items). Sometimes I also buy school supplies which I give away to children in the neighborhood who cannot afford to buy bags and notebooks.
I am glad to know that the sales have begun. My kids are grown and gone, but I always go to the back to school sales. I like to buy 20 - 70 ct spiral notebooks each year. I use the heck out of them and they sell the so cheap at this time of year! And I like to stock up of Bic Crystil blue pens cause they write so well. I also go for the index cards. I use a lot of index cards.
My girlfriend likes using coupon websites like this one to ensure she's getting the best deal: http://www.dontpayfull.com/ I find, you have to weight the prices of gas though as you drive all over the place when you could just go to a place like Target that has everything. I get very stressed and would rather just pay a few cents more. But if you can do most of the deal finding before you go, it wouldn't be so stressful. Something that alot of parents do in our area is only purchase quarterly, not for the entire year. Then as the school year progresses, they can get a better deal on the next quarter and so on. By the last amount of time, the school supplies are up to 80% off, and you may even consider buying for the following year.
You make an important point. It's always good to donate some things for those who don't have as much, and with the good sales going on, people can do more of that. @cluckeyo that's good advise as well. I always pick up some things for myself at these sales too. The spiral notebooks go so cheap that I often pick up a case of them. I used to buy that many for the kids. I only have one left in school, but I will keep the extras around the house, since I use them a lot myself. I'll also have extras for my kiddo if she needs more later on. At the super low prices, I can always give a couple to the grandkids for their drawings as well.
Our church has a project each year to supply backpacks filled with needed items to several schools in the area. I will start to pick up several items next week for the backpack project. I do try to get extra items to hold onto for the whole year when the kids in my house start to lose pens and run out of paper.
Nah, I recycle all the notebooks with spare blank paper sheets I can. Usually I copy all previous notes by typing them into a text editor, is quite hard work but I think is worth it. Sometimes subjects are repeated on schools and it could be handy to review in PC.
Someone else recently mentioned that some areas have a tax free weekend for back to school shopping. It usually applies to clothing and anything they classify as school supplies. I think it includes things like shoes and backpacks as well, so it might be worth it to try to focus the largest part of your shopping for that weekend (if applicable in your location). I'm going to at least try to get the big stuff during the tax free weekend. I have been picking up a few things here and there already when I see a sale or have a coupon, but I'll certainly be happy to take advantage of these additional savings.
I am so glad the back to school shopping is done for. I am homeschooling, so we only have to buy essentials, to get us through the curriculm, and have extra activity stuff. I dont mind buying what we need. My biggest issue is the crowds of people that take over the entire store!
