It’s that time of year again, time to purchase SCHOOL SUPPLIES.  It’s time to gather your coupons, look through sales papers and scout for the best deals.  Before you spend a billion dollars, I’ll give a few tips I use to conquer “The List” and cut the cost.

1.  If you’re anything like me, you can’t pass up a good school supply deal.  You probably bought extra last year just because you found a good deal and forgot all about the items.  It.s time to treasure hunt.  Look around your home for the extras you purchased previously.  Compare what is on your current list to the items you find, you may see where you are able to save time, money, and energy, looking for these items again.
2. If you work in an office like I do then I’m sure at some point supplies are inventoried.  Times change, new systems are implemented making some office supplies obsolete.  Before the office decides to pitch them ask if you can go through them.  I know personally in our office we are going paperless which mean the need for binders to store papers has gone down.  Binders can be pretty expensive and if you need 4-5, $$$$.  Most office will be happy to get rid of the stuff to someone in need instead of throwing it out.  Again compare your list and mark off what you were able to collect.  (Note:  Please get permission and make sure this is okay with the people in charge in your office, not verifying equals stealing and I know none of you want to steal.)
3. Listen out for school supply give-aways.  Your community wants to help, let them.  There are always places, recreation centers, churches, schools having back to school drives.  This not only is an opportunity to maybe pick-up some supplies, but also a change for you to get to know the people in your community.  Mingle, make new friends, and see what you can scratch off your school supply list.
4. If you have to make actual purchases, get your list and the papers of the stores who claim to have the best deals.  Now this is going to require some effort, but hey every dollar counts.  Compare the prices of the items you need to purchase and find out if those stores honor price matching.  Price matching is when a store you intend to purchase your items from has the item you want but another store has it at a cheaper price.  So say OfficeMax has mechanical pencils for $0.98, but Wal-Mart has them for $0.56, OfficeMax’s price match policy may allow you to get the item at the price that WalMart is offering it for.  Note the item has to be the same brand and type at both stores.  This may seem time-consuming but, hey those coins you save can add up and be used toward something else, like a mini-mom vacation.
5. And as always reach out to your village.  They are your support system.  Allow them to support you in this area as well.  Whether it’s buying supplies or using some of the other tips I’ve suggested, your village wants to help.

So, there you have it, a few tips to help you get those school supplies your child(ren) need to achieve greatness.  What handy tips do you have for cutting this expense?  Leave them in the comments below.