Back to school bargains

This week while my kids are at vbs, I took advantage of some shopping time sans kids. Hubs decided to go with me. I don't know why shopping without kids feels like such a vacation, but it IS!! I usually take my school-aged daughter to get her back to school supplies. But this year her supply list was much shorter, and we had a couple items already at home, so I decided she could skip out on this adventure this year.

Here is her list:

Pretty short, right? yay!

I started at Dollar Tree to get things that I knew were not on sale at Target. I got loose leaf paper, baggies, and a plastic shoe box....$4 total!

For everything else, I headed to Target, which seemed to have everything we needed on sale this week. My total...$8.

24 pack pencils...$1.12 each...the $1 ones were already gone:(.

Folders....   .49 each

Spiral Notebooks...   .17 each

3ring binder...$1.79

Glue bottle....    .50

Red pens...$1

I already had Kleenex and crayons.

The only thing I will need to find are a YELLOW notebook and folder. Her teacher has a color system for different subjects. Why, Mrs. Miller did  you have to pick the one color that Target did not have? :) oh well, back to school shopping would have been entirely too easy otherwise. I realize that many classes have much longer lists, but if you can get the most expensive items on your list on sale, you will save a bunch!

So my total for everything was $12. Even after the 2 items I still have to find (darn yellow notebooks), and the lunchbox I picked up for her last week, I will still be under $20. So if you have multiple kids with multiple lists, I suggest keeping an eye on the weekly ads starting around the beginning of August and when you see that the majority of the things you need are on sale, plan your trip!

I also purchased extras of the things that she tends to run out of during the middle of the year so that there are no last minute high priced purchases before the next round of back-to-school supply shopping. I will probably even have her pick out a backpack because the one she's using has lasted 3 years now, but this is probably it's last.

So have fun back-to-school shopping!

We are packed and ready for Meet the Teacher night!