Back to School Bargain Thread

[MoeFam]

The Children's Place Backpacks are great! I stocked up at the Outlet last year for $1.99 Whoooooo! I think I got three backpacks and three messenger bags. My sister uses one of the messenger bags as her diaper bag and loves it. I also have the matching lunchboxes as they were .99. Def. something to keep your eye out for if you have an outlet near you. I gave one to each of my kids for Christmas and will donate the rest to our areas Back to School drive.


ETA: For those with older kids- our Target had a whole rack of "skinny jeans" for $2.48 they were in the back on the walls behind the clearance racks.

 

[torinsmom]

Check Staples and Office Depot. I am looking for a new one also.

Staples has a laptop and a desktop for $299 this week. They are from Compaq. office Depot has a desktop for $279 by Compaq almost like the one at Staples except the one at Staples has 3gb memory and Office Depot's has 2gb memory.

This week only..until Saturday.

Ugh, why do they have to be by Compaq? I almost bought a Compaq laptop a few weeks ago to replace the one my son had(screen got cracked, but Square Trade Warranty paid off ;-)) Then I noticed on the box that Compaq is HP and said No Way! We have a paperweight right now that lasted exactly 13 months, yes, 1 month after the warranty ran out. It had to go back to HP 4 times for continuous problems, burned through 3 hard drives and was on its 4th, had constant power issues, etc. After it died, I discovered that a similar model--one letter off--had had the same issues and was recalled. Was my model recalled? Of course not. No more HP for me. That was $800 down the drain. If you get one, I suggest a warranty from the store or Square Trade.

Marsha

 

[StitchandPooh'sMom]

The Children's Place Backpacks are great! I stocked up at the Outlet last year for $1.99 Whoooooo! I think I got three backpacks and three messenger bags. My sister uses one of the messenger bags as her diaper bag and loves it. I also have the matching lunchboxes as they were .99. Def. something to keep your eye out for if you have an outlet near you. I gave one to each of my kids for Christmas and will donate the rest to our areas Back to School drive.

My DD's Children's Place messenger bag didn't make it to Christmas. I think she was in third grade at the time. Same thing for the Gap messenger bag in fourth - dead by Christmas.

I bought LL Bean last year (always buy their backpacks, but hadn't bought the messenger bag) - it survived fifth grade and still looks great, but she did sometimes just carry a binder.

 

[StitchandPooh'sMom]

I went to Wal-mart this morning and Elmer's school glue and 2-pack glue sticks were 25 cents each. No crayons or markers at my store yet unless they are in another area.

Our Target is setting up school supplies, but the prices are not great. I'll definitely need to watch the sales there.

 

[torinsmom]

Best Buy also has 2 laptops for $299.99 from Toshiba, if you are like me and don't like HP/Compaq.

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olstemplatemapper.jsp?_dyncharset=ISO-8859-1&_dynSessConf=3329532895682833284&id=pcmcat138100050016&type=category&usc=abcat0500000&cp=1&sp=%2Bcurrentprice+skuid&nrp=15&qp=crootcategoryid%23%23-1%23%23-1~~q2f~~f349||546f7368696261~~cabcat0500000%23%234%23%23o~~cabcat0502000%23%233%23%23h~~nf534||31352671756f743b202d2031362671756f743b&add_to_pkg=false&pagetype=listing

Marsha

 

[momof1princess]

thank you everyone for the laptop posts! these all look good, i can't decide! lol. keep 'em coming!

 

[dawson5]

Have you looked at salescircular.com ?

You choose your state and then at the top there are options for computers (packages, monitors and laptops). This is a listing of most of the sales in your state. I live in Indiana, we have a ABC Warehouse, those are not listed in there and Meijer's aren't. I think those are the only two stores in my area that don't make their list.

 

[LoriNSC]

Does the class have a communal supply or does each child have their own? Also, is it like a wish list request or is she asking everyone to bring in more? We do the communal thing and because so many kids are using the markers, they do run out mid-year. The glue sticks go quickly as well. We sent out a wish list for these items last year, and not one parent sent them in. Neither I or my assistant were in the position to buy supplies at that time, so we just did not have marker coloring for the last 1/3 of the year. We conserved the glue sticks for special projects as well. That's why I'm buying things cheap now, because everyone is struggling, and I don't know if I can even depend on getting supplies at the beginning. The kids don't stop wanting to color or glue when the economy is bad, unfortunately.

Marsha

The extra supplies (wipes, sanitizer, ziplocs) I listed are communal. No one else would send in any so I kept doing it to help the teacher out. I coupon & can get a decent deal most of the time but I was frustrated because other parents didn't contribute (and I know a lot of the parents & they could afford it.) I don't mind the extras like glue sticks, pencils, paper (I always stock up & have them on hand.) I know it's not the teachers fault they run out of supplies but more parents need to step up instead of always depending on someone else to do it. (Many of them know I coupon & I guess expected me to do it. But I am on a strick budget right now with being a fulltime student, raising 3 kids & only DH working.) Ok-I vented & am done.

 

[cmrules]

Great deals, thanks!

 

[torinsmom]

The extra supplies (wipes, sanitizer, ziplocs) I listed are communal. No one else would send in any so I kept doing it to help the teacher out. I coupon & can get a decent deal most of the time but I was frustrated because other parents didn't contribute (and I know a lot of the parents & they could afford it.) I don't mind the extras like glue sticks, pencils, paper (I always stock up & have them on hand.) I know it's not the teachers fault they run out of supplies but more parents need to step up instead of always depending on someone else to do it. (Many of them know I coupon & I guess expected me to do it. But I am on a strick budget right now with being a fulltime student, raising 3 kids & only DH working.) Ok-I vented & am done.

That's what I see in my classroom too. It seems like one or two parents are always volunteering and bringing things in, and noone else does. It blows my mind, because is is usually the middle or lower income parents who are doing this, while the ones I know can afford it aren't. I don't know why that is.

I did the same thing when my DS's high school algebra teacher requested clorox wipes and hand sanitizer during the swine flu mess. I sent in 2 of each and then when my son told me noone else had sent any, I took 8 of each to the office and left it for the teacher to pick up. You'd think parents would want to prevent their child from being sick???

Marsha

 

[KayW]

Has the Staples 1 cent or 5 cent sales started yet? I haven't been checking the ads.

 

[luckey-lasvegas]

I just found my DD13 a really cute lunch bag at Homegoods $12.99. It's very tall so a bottle of water can stand up in it, and it has a shoulder strap. It came with 2 plastic containers, one has the buit in blue ice in the lid. They had some great bags for older kids.

 

[HLDisney]

Thanks for the heads up about the Walgreens 19 cent stuff for this week. I picked up some of the pencils and pens for my DD and I may go back again today to get more. Interestingly, they were marked as 79 cents on the shelf with nothing to show the markdown. The only way to know about the markdown is if you looked at their flyer. That's probably why the displays were still very full when I went Tuesday evening.

Helen

 

[mrsbornkuntry]

At Walmart today I found:
2 pack glue sticks- .30
mechanical pencils 24- $2.50
mechanical pencils 6 - $1
mechanical pencils 10- $1.50
composition books - .25
crayola crayons 24- .30
crayola markers - $1
crayola washable markers- $2
loose leaf paper- .75
pencils (not sure how many) - $1
Fiskar scissors (child size) $1.50

These are the things I paid attention to since I needed some of them. The paper and composition notebooks were completely sold out, I think because the county I was in has year around schools, I'm going to check a different walmart later or tomorrow.

I bought a few things, mechanical pencils, glue sticks, markers and scissors, I'm still holding out for the Staples sales for some things.

 

[Nik's Mom]

Thanks, mrsbornkuntry. Sounds like Walmart has some good deals again this year.

 

[rumrunnergirl]

.

 

[denecarter]

Has the Staples 1 cent or 5 cent sales started yet? I haven't been checking the ads.

Next week!!! I went to the Staples website and clicked on the Weekly Ad tab. They have this week's AND next week's ads.

These were for 1 penny Sunday through Wednesday only:
Two-pocket folder with fasteners
8 pencils
A ream of multipurpose paper

http://weeklyad.staples.com/staples/default.aspx?action=entryflash&adref=%20staples_right_hand_nav&cm_sp=marketing-_-Weekly%20ad%20header-_-weekly%20ad%20header and then click on "Upcoming Weekly Ad"

 

[esox]

At Walmart today I found:
2 pack glue sticks- .30
mechanical pencils 24- $2.50
mechanical pencils 6 - $1
mechanical pencils 10- $1.50
composition books - .25
crayola crayons 24- .30
crayola markers - $1
crayola washable markers- $2
loose leaf paper- .75
pencils (not sure how many) - $1
Fiskar scissors (child size) $1.50

These are the things I paid attention to since I needed some of them. The paper and composition notebooks were completely sold out, I think because the county I was in has year around schools, I'm going to check a different walmart later or tomorrow.

I bought a few things, mechanical pencils, glue sticks, markers and scissors, I'm still holding out for the Staples sales for some things.

Do you think this is the same for Walmart in MN?

 

[Leajess99]

Next week!!! I went to the Staples website and clicked on the Weekly Ad tab. They have this week's AND next week's ads.

These were for 1 penny Sunday through Wednesday only:
Two-pocket folder with fasteners
8 pencils
A ream of multipurpose paper

http://weeklyad.staples.com/staples/default.aspx?action=entryflash&adref=%20staples_right_hand_nav&cm_sp=marketing-_-Weekly%20ad%20header-_-weekly%20ad%20header and then click on "Upcoming Weekly Ad"

Did you read the fine print though?? You have to spend $5.00 before tax and not including the folders or pencils to get the deals. There is a limit of 10 on the folders and a limit of 2 on the pencils. The paper is an easy rebate with a limit of 2 and no requirement of spending the $5 so that is a great deal.

I hate that they have added the have to spend thing this year as it kind of takes away if there is nothing else you really need.

For those needing plastic folders for their little ones, Target has them for 50 cents and they are a decent quality.

They also have coupons for 20% off TI Graphing calculators, 25% off construction Paper, etc.

 

[Leajess99]

Do you think this is the same for Walmart in MN?

The Walmart in Louisville, Ky had the crayons and glue sticks for 25 cents so the price seems to vary.