It’s almost that time of the year again. School’s right around the corner and it’s time to head out to Wal-Mart or Target to grab all those school supplies. If you remember when you were a kid, your school supply list would be found at your local department stores. It made sure that your school life was a luxurious one with having to buy all those binders for each class, as well as separate folders and even an accordion folder, you know just in case you needed more space. It made sure you had the best pens, including eraser pens and ballpoint pens, along with different color notebooks you would need for each subject, not to mentions the stacks of wide ruled loose-leaf papers. It carefully chose Watercolor paint, Elmer’s glue and the Fiskar scissors because other pairs wouldn’t make the cut. Not only did the supply list ensure the completion of your supplies, but the teacher’s as well, as it made you buy colored pencils, crayons, makers, tissues and hand sanitizer that were only meant to be given up to the teacher on the first day of school.

Now, being in high school or college, you are wiser and realize you don’t need to shop for all that unnecessary stuff. For my first two years in college, I was able to save a lot of money on my supplies. I bought a very sturdy folder with multiple folders within it and I am still able to use it now being my junior year. I also bought a five subject notebook/folder. This allowed me to save money and use up less space in my backpack. But you may be thinking that you still need so much more like all your writing utensils such as highlights, pencils, dry erase markers, sharpies and pens. Yes, those may be necessary and helpful, but there are still good ways to find deals on those. When we go out to shop for supplies, we end up buying so much of what we don’t need even though we’re not kids anymore simply because there are so many things just waiting to be picked up and used, or never used. However, you must think about saving on those supplies and here’s how to get the most out of your shopping without spending so much.

Binders/Folders

You do not need a three ring binder for each class subject. Your teacher may tell you that you do, but trust me, you don’t. You probably will not even end up using your folder or your paper. I strongly suggest that you get a multiple subject folder and notebook such as a five subject binder with folder tabs and notebook paper. Whether you like them to be separate or combined folder and notebook, try this out, because it gives you everything you need in one and all your stuff will be one place making it easier for organization. It definitely won’t give you headache when you leave some of your folders and notebooks at home and bring the wrong ones for the day. I find these to be extremely convenient because it’s all you need to carry and all you need for your classes. Even if you place a certain document in the wrong slot, you are easily able to search for it because all you got is one giant folder.

Notebooks

It absolutely irks me when I see students using single subject notebooks because I am unable to understand how they get all their notebooks and separate folders to fit in their backpacks. If you haven’t tried the combinations folders like I mentioned, you probably won’t understand the amount of space it will actually save in your backpacks until you try one yourself. My first two years of college, I used the same five subject notebooks for both semesters even though there were different classes because I had so much paper left over from the first semester.

Writing Essentials

Instead of buying different pack of each writing essential, why not try to get it all in one pack. I recently visited Costco and was able to find many deals on school supplies. From Expo, Paper Mate and Sharpie, I was able to find dry erase markers, highlighters, ball point pens, felt tip pens, mechanical pencils, led, eraser and even a half stylus, half ball point pen in one pack with 34 pieces in total, and I it picked up for just $8.99. Typically, each pack of its own is a couple dollars each and I was able to get a better, easier deal.

Pencil Case Hoarding

I do not recommend putting all your writing essentials in one pencil case. In fact, don’t even get one. Carefully pick out a couple pencils and highlighters for the day and place them in a zipper in your backpack. That’s why they’re there. If you put all your pens, erasers, sharpies in one bag, it will be too much to carry around and your stuff will be more vulnerable to getting lost. I know this from experience. Leave most of your writing utensils at home on your desk and take a few with you to school, until it gets lost, broken or is out of led.

Pencils!

The only thing you really need is a pencil. During the second semester of my sophomore year, I got really lazy and didn’t even use my binder anymore. All I had was some loose-leaf paper in my bag for note taking and some pencils to go along with it and it worked out just fine for me. Except, I kept loosing pencils, so I like to keep a whole bunch of them at home so I can restock from time to time.

Miscellaneous

If you manage follow good school supply shopping practices and save a lot then you may have room to buy some extra exciting stuff. Now you can look at all the cute, unique and helpful supplies they’ve got on the shelves such as note card holders, mini thesauruses/dictionaries, mini staplers and more!