How Do You Save On Back To School Supplies?

**disneysteve** · 06-23-2007, 07:56 AM

Best advice? One word - TARGET. We find their back to school sales are the best around.

**Joan.of.the.Arch** · 06-23-2007, 08:37 AM

I agree with DisneySteve about Target shopping for school supplies. They have good sales on good supplies. Every year their spiral bound notebooks are about 10-25 cents for a 60 sheet book. Last year though we could not find college-ruled ones among them.

I have a pencil gripe. There are a lot of cheap pencils on the market whose erasers smear rather than erase, whose wood makes a splintery fuzz when you try to sharpen them, whose leads are already broken inside of the channel so that it takes a lot of sharpening down and waste to reach a stable portion of lead that isn't just going to fall out. I've learned to not buy the cheapest of pencils. Too much waste.

Likewise, I'm afraid I have gotten bad bags of name brand ballpoint pens at back-to-school sale time. I think they must have been old stock pawned off on the public as a bargain at a time when we are wanting and expecting some big sales on school supplies.

Walgreens has been the scource of these writing instrument frustrations more than once. So I do avoid Walgreens for pens, pencils.

**Lori63** · 06-23-2007, 10:04 AM

I unpack all the junk they bring home at the end of the year, and usually have half of what I need for the next year-binders, pencils, looseleaf paper, a notebook or two. Also have folders.
Now that they are older (middle school, high school and one in college) they use whatever free pens/pencils I get from fairs, workshops, banks etc.
I end up buying some nice, new things also, but anything that they can be reused is reused.

**Kirbycruiser** · 06-23-2007, 02:54 PM

When the flyers start arriving in the mailbox I start making a list of what I will get from where. I won't drive to a different store just for one item but I usually hit about two places. It seems everyone has really good buys on certain stuff but not on everything.

**Cassandra** · 06-23-2007, 04:09 PM

You can get binders at thrift stores for under a dollar each. At a thrift store near me, they're sold for .50$ each. I've also found unopened packets of paper, dividers, and new folders for about the same price.

If you need a lunch box, go to Michaels and buy a pail (comes in different shapes and sizes) for about $6.00. Best of all, it can be decorated!

For everything else I second Target. In addition to great prices, they have everything you need.

Cassandra

**Hez** · 06-24-2007, 06:30 PM

Originally posted by Joan.of.the.Arch View Post

I have a pencil gripe. There are a lot of cheap pencils on the market whose erasers smear rather than erase, whose wood makes a splintery fuzz when you try to sharpen them, whose leads are already broken inside of the channel so that it takes a lot of sharpening down and waste to reach a stable portion of lead that isn't just going to fall out. I've learned to not buy the cheapest of pencils. Too much waste.

I've had that problem before...bad pencils are so frustrating! I used to use only pencils I received for free, but I couple years ago I "splurged" and bought a pack of Dixon pencils (No.2/HB) and it was a great decision. I still have many left & they don't splinter, the lead is smooth, and best of all the eraser doesn't smudge or fall off! It used to be my #1 pencil pet peeve when the silvery eraser bit loosens then falls off! I'm sure there are other comparable brands as well, but this is the first one I've found that I'm satisfied with.

Sorry for sounding like a commercial! LOL

**BaseballDad** · 06-24-2007, 08:08 PM

I love target. I have 2 sons and target is just around corner. Especially when you find coupons online.

**mom-from-missouri** · 06-24-2007, 11:21 PM

I buy for the next year when they go on sale this year. Usually in Sept Walmart, Dollar General and such mark stuff way down. I have on the school shelf in the basement pantry rulers that were 5 cents, packs of pencils that were 24 for 25 cents, binders from my old employeer that I dug out of the dumpster, packs of paper that were 15 cents, Elmers glue that were a nickle...
Now that we home school, we reuse paper--DH work printer prints a banner page with nothing on it but his name. He saves it, and we flip it over and use the backside.
We also get freebies from home shows and such--rulers, pens, pencils, memo pads...

**PrincessPerky** · 06-25-2007, 05:54 AM

Ditto the empty out your bag/desk/whatever at the end of the year, we have enough pencils from when my husband was in school (he is 30 now) that I don't know we will ever need to buy another!

Also reuse lots of paper, I don't care if the back has a big flag with the company logo on it, I care that my kid managed to compute properly.

How Do You Save On Back To School Supplies?