The Inevitable War Over School Supplies

Ah its that time of year when the kids start ogling over the most expensive items on the store's shelves. What color? What size? Which one would be the best and all the kids would think that they were cool?

Then there are the parents. Standing in the middle of the aisle, gripping the shopping cart until their knuckles turn white, deciding. Deciding what is the cheapest item that they can buy for their precious child without that child thinking that their parents' choices are lame. Deciding if they can go just one month without making that car payment to afford the expense of this yearly tradition. Deciding if the way to go is either layaway or just a bank loan larger than the one they took out for their house.

Wintry good tidings or Santa does not bring on this once-a-year rush to the store's aisles. It's that inevitable time every August when parents have to divvy up for school supplies. An average child will cost about $100 minimum in school supplies and the older they are, the more expensive this shopping trip becomes. And if you have more than one child, the idea of layaway isn't such a bad idea. Schools come up with more and more items that the student "just has to have" such as clear backpacks, certain colored folders that you have to drive through three counties to find, duffel bags with the school's name on it (that you can only buy at the school for twice the price of course) and how about that controversial favorite, uniforms!

Oh, there are ways to help parents cut costs like Texas' 'Free Tax Weekend' that has been pushed back so that it is closer to when school begins. A large amount of districts, now, won't hand out school supply lists until the first day of school. That is not a good move especially when the majority of supplies, which hit the shelves in May, have already been sifted through and the remains are lying on the aisle's floors.

Then there is Wal-Mart's grand announcement in July that they were going to lower prices on their supplies to help the average working Joe or Josephine. Due to poor sales, the discount store leader stated that 10-15% discounts on over 16,000 items. This was great news but, as I stated earlier, school supplies hit the shelves in May, and where were those discounted prices then?

After checking out these 'discounted prices', there wasn't that much to write home about. Yes, they lowered prices a few cents here and there but have changed the way they package certain small items. Last year, you could walk in and buy a package of 10 plain wooden pencils for under a dollar. But now, novelty pencils fill the racks and just try to find a package of 10. The majority of the pencils now come in packages of 25 thus driving up the price and forcing you to buy something that you neither want nor need. How many kids do you know that will go through 25 pencils in one school year?

So why are school supplies expensive? It's quite elementary. Packaging and supply and demand. The majority of the stores selling the accoutrements for school put the name brands out front and center while placing the cheaper ones out of your view and, in some instances, high on the shelves where extra inventory is kept. Just try to find a store employee to drag a ladder down the aisle and get that for you in an area that will have not only 40 screaming kids and exhausted parents but also the wider-than-the-aisle shopping carts filled to the brim. A daunting task and not one that most parents would take on willingly, they would just rather do the 'grab-and-go' shopping technique that so many have favored over the years.

Aside from Christmas, this is clearly the discount store's biggest selling holiday. Parents become dizzy with all the choices and don't want to drive to half a dozen stores just to find the best deal on pens and notebooks. I hate to break it to Wal-Mart CEO, Lee Scott, Jr. but even if gas prices weren't high, parents still don't want to drive to Hell and back to buy these items!

So what do you do to avoid losing your kid's college tuition on their educational provisions?

Shop early. I know that advice is under the too little, too late category but it is still good advice for the following years. Even if your district won't hand out lists until that first day of school, you already have a basic idea of what junior needs which is your basic pencils, pens, erasers, etc. When the supplies hit the shelves, begin filling a box at home with items that you know that he or she will need throughout the year. You might even want to buy extras for the following year and store them away.

Have you checked the Internet? If you haven't waited until two days before school begins, then shopping via computer may save you a lot of money in the long run. There are plenty of sites that are selling school supplies at cheaper prices to lure you away from the discount stores and then there's EBay! If you have an idea of what your child needs EBay is one of the places to check out. The price plus the shipping costs can be less expensive than running around all day and not to mention the gas you will use.

Another venue to consider is home school sites. There are hundreds of home school sites that sell school supplies. There are also home school websites that sell in bulk at cut-rate prices. The more people that buy, the more of a discount you will get. Who said you had to be a home school to shop there? Money is money or more importantly, saving money is saving money!

Don't feel as if you have to buy everything at once. Get the store's advertisements and shop around and don't rely solely on one or two discount stores. Look at the Dollar store chains; convenience stores, and the office supply stores. Competition is fierce for your back-to-school bucks and you will be surprised at places that are usually higher-than-normal will have cheaper prices than your local Wal-Mart, Target or Kmart.

Who said that they need a brand new wardrobe? In Texas, you are in luck. Tax Free Weekend means that you're exempt on a lot of clothes items (and backpacks; remember backpacks fall under this category). But buy your children what they need and not what makes them look like they just jumped off of 'High School Musical'. Are the clothes in their closets disintegrating as you read this? If not, then they could most likely get by with one or two outfits and maybe a new pair of decent priced shoes. I repeat, 'decent priced' and not the newest and coolest, light-up, do-your-homework-for-you, name-brand shoes. By Christmas, you will most likely be buying another pair since the first will already be worn out so why throw down a month's paycheck?

Use what you have, especially with the younger ones. Pencil boxes, pencil bags, three ring binders (that haven't been decorated to death), erasers, crayons, and scissors can be reused for the next year. Instead of that brand new box of 24 crayons, what is wrong with a Ziploc baggie filled with all the colors that they'll need in half-used ones? And unless those scissors broke in half, is it really necessary to buy another pair?

I wish you luck on your back-to-school adventure and just keep on telling yourself, "This is free education, and this is free education."