How To Save on School Supplies

  • August 8, 2009
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It may seem impossible, but you can fill your child’s backpack without going broke!

You Will Need

  • Your child's required school supply list
  • A dollar store
  • Loss leaders
  • Online deals
  • Coupons
  • A recycling nonprofit
  • Bulk buying
How To Save on School Supplies: Step 1

Step 1

Stick to your school’s list of required supplies. Contact the school if you haven’t received one.

How To Save on School Supplies: Step 2

Step 2

Ask your child’s school if they know of any community programs that are distributing free school supplies. Or check for them online.

How To Save on School Supplies: Step 3

Step 3

Start at the dollar store, where you can almost always find pens, pencils, notebooks, and other items.

How To Save on School Supplies: Step 4

Step 4

Scour weekly store sale advertisements so you can snap up items you need that fall into their “loss-leader” category – items they sell at a loss each week to lure you into the store.

How To Save on School Supplies: Step 5

Step 5

Check the web sites of big discount stores before you head out the door; they often have downloadable coupons and deals you can only get online.

Join forces with other parents so you can buy school supplies in bulk and split them.

How To Save on School Supplies: Step 6

Step 6

Talk to your school principal about the school joining the National Association for the Exchange of Industrial Resources or a similar organization, which collects overstock donations from businesses and redistributes them to nonprofit organizations, like schools.

The average American family with school-age children spends $594.24 on back-to-school purchases.

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Comments (3)

chilbert007

Just a note here, Dollar Stores often sell items like paper and notebooks for more than a retail store like Wal-Mart, Target, etc. You may be able to find good deals in prices, but if the quality of the product you purchase suffers and you have to use more of the product to make up for the lack of quality, such as a set of ink pens that don't work or pencils that are poorly made; you may be better off going with something your child can really use, abuse, and get the full life out. Teaching your child how to shop and locate deals that are not ";too good to be true,"; and real life lessons will go well farther than just buying cheap school supplies. This is not to say that you should spend inordinate amounts of money on name brands, but rather to say you should buy what works for you. For example, if you use certain brands of ink pens at your job on a daily basis and love (or hate them) then you can make the educated guess that your child may love (or loathe) them as well and from that experience, you can purchase what you KNOW works. Hope this helps.

over 2 years ago by chilbert007

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saraangel1

u give me a headache

about 1 year ago by saraangel1

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FunniBaby

Thanks 4 the info, it's extremely helpful. And true.

about 1 year ago by FunniBaby

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