It’s that time of year again! Yep, stock up time. Anyone who doesn’t stock up on a year’s worth (or more) of school supplies in August is just throwing away money.
I was in Staples yesterday and there were parents mulling around the school supplies, working from their school’s lists and spending over $100. If they’d started shopping in June, the bill would’ve been considerably less. In an effort to have those $100 per student bills spent at their stores, most office retailers offer back-to-school savings. The loss leaders are excellent!
This week, Staples incredible deals include a penny for an 8-pack of #2 pencils, .20 for binders, .20 for folders, and .50 for pencil boxes. Office Depot has 4 packs of Post It notes for free after rebate, .10 glue, .15 paper, and .25 packs of Crayola colored pencils. Rite Aid and Walgreen’s have good ads, too. You don’t have to run all around town. The best way to do this is through price-matching. For us, our Staples and Office Depot stores are literally across the street from each other. OD usually runs out of their advertised goodies on the first or second day of the ad. To combat this, I price match to Staples. I’ll get the limit of goodies at Staples, price match the better things from OD and Walgreen’s, then head off to Office Depot to do the same thing. The Sunday paper is your friend!
How many school supplies does one family need? We have tons of supplies; we’ll never run out. However, they make great gifts later in the year. We have friends whose children are thrilled to get markers, colored pencils, boxes, and art supplies as birthday presents. They can also be given to local shelters, crisis pregnancy centers (often these women have other children), or your local school district to distribute to those who can’t afford that huge bill. This year, we’re sending a huge box to Afghanistan through AnySoldier.com for a rural Afghani school. I’m especially glad to see the plastic pencil boxes on sale for .50. These are great for First Aid kits, emergency kits, and storage.
Back to school sales mean getting creative! At a penny for eight pencils, I don’t care if they get used as Lincoln Logs!