Shopping for School Supplies on a Budget

This year school is going to look so differently for my children! Not only are they learning at home, but all their supplies will be home too! Yikes! So, we aren’t really buying too many extra supplies and definitely aren’t buying everything on the school supply lists. If they reopen schools, we will buy the extra needed then. No point in storing it for so long when we probably won’t even need it. However, these school shopping tips are just as valuable today as they are any new school year.

How to Get the Best Deals when School Supply Shopping

So here’s the deal with school supply shopping and the best deal, you need to decide time or money. If you have the money, the PTO or PTA school supply packs are amazing since they save you so much time! And if you aren’t a deal shopper, they may actually be cheaper than buying everything through Target or Amazon. On the other hand, if time is your friend but you want to save on money, these tips below will guide you in the process.

School Shopping Tip 1: Combine all the Lists

We began by printing all the school supply lists. Then we made a master list to show how many of each item we need together. This is one list to show the quantity of each item needed total. Simply add all your children’s different school supply lists together, figuring out how many of each item you need to purchase.

Afterwards, we repurposed the supplies that we currently had left over from last year. To ensure that you can repurpose supplies, try to label supplies with only your last name or last initial. Not only does this help when two students share the same first name, but you can repurpose the supply to another sibling next year. Be sure to mark off the supplies you have repurposed from your master list.

School Shopping Tip 2: Shop Around

Now you are ready to hit the shops to grab up good deals on school supplies. BE sure to watch the ads from your local stores to find where the supplies are cheapest. Sometimes an office supply store, drug store, or supermarket will run a great sale on a specific supply. I tend to start at Walmart or Target and buy anything that costs less than $1.

Then, I’ll check out the local dollar stores for other supplies. You’ll be amazed to find so many school supplies available at the dollar stores. I’ve even found calculators there! After I’ve gotten everything that can be gotten for $1 or less, then I really check my local ads for sales and pick up the few extra items that I might need. During this time, keep an eye out for any really difficult items to find (orange folders, pink notebooks, etc).

School Shopping Tip 3: Buy in Large Quantities

When shopping, always try to buy the total quantity needed of each item. If I need 4 red folders, I try to buy all 4 red folders at the same time. This saves me time because I can check off the entire item, instead of only marking off 2 or 3 and still needing more red folders. Also, try to buy all the color varieties of an item needed at the same time. If I can buy all the different color folders on the same trip, I can now cross off all the folders on the list. Of course, you may have 1 or 2 difficult to find colors that you might need to search around for.

Usually buying larger quantities at a time will help with cost too. Buying an 8 pack of glue sticks generally costs less per glue stick than buying a pack of 2. Be sure to check if buying a few extra or downsizing to a smaller amount saves you money. We usually find that buying a few extra is cheaper, plus we have a stash of supplies for the last minute presentations and homework. No more running to the store at 11:30 at night because we have run out of glue.

School Shopping Tip 4: Can you Repurpose?

When buying supplies, think about durability for things that can be repurposed. Folders, notebooks (especially if they only use a few pages), pencil boxes/bags, erasers (we’ve used the same erasers for 3 years now), mechanical pencils, scissors, math supplies (rules, protractors, calculators), colored pencils, and even backpacks and lunchboxes. You might spend a little more now, but use the same items for 3 or 4 years, thus saving some good money in the years to come. Plus you save so much time by not having to add these items to your shopping lists!

Just be sure to note if your teacher collects supplies for classroom use or if supplies are individual for each student. Some teachers collect all the supplies and use them in the classroom, thus you cannot count on supplies being returned. This is definitely more common in the younger grades: kindergarten and first. But I have seen a few middle school teachers who do this as well.

School Shopping Tip 5: Buy Cheaper Products

For more consumable items, buy in the cheapest quantities that you can. When our supply simply says crayons, my kids get the cheapest box of Crayola crayons despite the size. Same for markers, colored pencils, and glue. Of course, if the size is specified, we try to purchase the size on the list. And by try, that’s what I mean. Don’t stress yourself out chasing the elusive 10 marker box set when everywhere is selling only 8 markers in a box.

With consumable items, I always try to purchase a few extras while the prices are so low. There always comes a time when your child will need an extra box of crayons or more pencils throughout the year. It’s so much easier to head to your extra supply box to get these then to run out to the store. Plus, they are cheaper now. And, if your child doesn’t need them this year, they will most likely need these next year. So no waste at all.

Finally, be sure to start early and take your time. Once you have your master list, you can bring it with you on your regular shopping visits and grab things as you go. No need to get everything in one trip. Just be sure you have a special place to store all the school supplies until they are needed!

Check out additional tips in our post Smart School Supply Shopping. Drop of us a comment below and let us know what you thought of these tips. Have another favorite tip, share it with us. We love to find new ways to save money. Looking for some family friendly freebies and practical tips to parenting? We’d love for you to subscribe to our newsletter.

Hi, I’m Nicole.

Here at Creatingbutterflies we provide families with practical solutions to real life problems for everything parenting, scouting, dual language, and enjoying time outdoors. We are a family of 6 with 4 wonderful becoming bilingual children who loves scouting, camping, and hiking with their family. Mom is an educator and dad is a firefighter/paramedic.