Let the Hunt Begin!

The weekly store ads have started including sales on school supplies. So I tracked down school supply lists for my girls (1st and 4th grades - wow). I know from experience that you must shop for school supplies with great care.

If you just go to one store and get everything, you might pay $2.29 for 2 boxes of crayons without realizing that another store has those crayons on sale for 22 cents a box.

Or if you buy the markers this week on sale for 88 cents a box, that would be a good deal -- unless they are on sale for 44 cents a box two weeks later. But you don't know if that will happen. And then there are the mail-in rebates. You might be able to buy the markers for $2 a box and then send for a $2 mail-in rebate and get the markers for free -- but only if you actually follow through and send in the rebate. If you forget the rebate (as I've done before), you've over-paid.

And then there are the hard-to-find items on the list. Where can you find D'Nealian Picture Story Paper, 1/2 inch? (Last year I found some at Staples, but I'm not sure about the 1/2 inch.) Sometimes manila paper is hard to find, and this year I need the large size, 12 x 18, at least 50 count.

If you wait too long, hoping something will go on sale for an even better price, it might be almost impossible to find at all. Then you'll drive all over, and hunt through disorganized boxes and shelves, willing to pay anything just to get the coveted item.

Of course, you could avoid all this by paying $50 (or more) to order the school supplies from a company recommended by the school and have them shipped to your house. But I think I can spend less doing it myself, and besides, you wouldn't want to miss out on all the fun. So, let the hunt begin!

*The examples given above are actual prices seen in this week's store ads.