Finding School Supplies for the Budget Minded Consumer

Like it or not, that phrase "back to school" is just around the corner. Going back to school means having to purchase school supplies and for those on a tight budget that can be quite an expense, especially if you have to shop for more then one child. Here is a list of stores that I found in the area where I live that have the least expensive school supplies, and they also carry a nice variety of them.

Walmart: While browsing both online and in the retail store itself, I found Walmart had some of the best prices and largest assortments of the basics like pens, pencils, paper, binders etc. They also had a very nice selection of kids back to school wearing apparel including school uniforms if you have a need for that. Some their recent featured circular items for back to school that were very inexpensive were Crayola crayons for $.20 for a box of 24, 70 sheet notebooks at $.15 ea., 1'' economy binders at $.75 ea. and Elmer's school and glue sticks for $.55 ea. These are what I call their "door busters", but they had many other school items not mentioned here at very good prices. There are 2 Walmart stores within a 25 mile radius of where I live in Mora.

Pamida: I don't know how popular these discount stores are nationwide, but us Midwesterners are very familiar with them. There's one just a few blocks down the street from where I live and for the size of the store, they have some very good back to school bargains. Some their recent very inexpensive highlighted items included twin pocket folders at the bargain price of 20 for $1.00, assorted Crayola products including erasable color pencils, Extreme color pencils and twistable crayons as well as dry erase crayons all for a sale price of $2.99 ea. Another featured item at Pamida were backpacks and lunch kits at buy one at regular price and get one for 50% off. They also carry shoes that are on sale many times throughout the year at the buy one get one 50% off sale price.

Walgreens: I was surprised myself to find the selection and inexpensive prices that Walgreens has on back to school supplies. Crayola 8 count washable markers at $1.49, one subject notebooks at $.29, 10 count #2 pencils at the whooping price of $.09 and 280 count filler paper at $1.29 were just a few of the many back to school items they had at very reasonable prices for the back to school gang. This chain of pharmacy stores can also be recognized as an inexpensive supplier of school supplies.

Dollar Stores: There are a number different Dollar Stores in most areas and they carry school supplies that are priced right for the budget minded consumer. Although their variety of supplies probably isn't nearly as large as your Walmart stores, most of them have the basic supplies that the average student will need. As I searched through their ads for school supplies, I noticed they had very good prices on their backpacks as well as all the basic paper, pens, pencils etc. There is a Dollar store right here in the town of Mora where I live as well as the surrounding towns within a 25 mile radius, so they are conveniently located for anyone looking for those rather inexpensive school supplies.

Sources: Walmart
Pamida
Walgreens
Dollar Stores
personal experience