Let's face it back to school is a stressful time.  Either your child is stressed about starting school, or they are ready to go back.  You may be stressed because your baby is about to start kindergarten, middle school, high school or their senior year.  Those are stressful milestones.  Don't even get me started on the financial aspect of back to school, it can get expensive.  However, I think for me, the most stressful part of back to school is buying the school supplies.

Backpack with school supplies
david franklin
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It's crazy buying school supplies, you have these long lists of what you child will need.

Some of the items you might find crazy, why does my child need 1000 pencils, why do I have to buy 50 dry erase markers?

I went by Walmart on Friday planning on doing some back to school shopping, and got there and decided that wouldn't be happening, the place was crazy.  You would have thought 12 inches of snow was about to drop. I went and peeked at the school section and instantly thought nope, not today and left.   Yesterday, I went back to Walmart and went school supply shopping.

I got the folders with pockets and brads, the composition notebooks and spiral notebooks.  I found the markers (after digging through all the fancy markers with cool colors and smells, I just need regular), got the box of crayons, the colored pencils, scissors and pencil bag.  Well for a pencil bag you need pencils. Were there pencils? Nope, not really.  I could get 8 pre-sharpened pencils for $2, but I need 48 pencils and my budget cannot handle the $2, for 8.  I searched and searched and found a box of 20 hidden.  I grabbed it as quickly as I could.  Next, the dry erase markers, these have to be the first to go and they don't seem to restock them.  I found the package of 13 with pretty colors, and fancy tips.  I don't need those I need the basic four pack.  I found a pack with an eraser and cleaner for the discount price of $7, but I need two packs.  I finally went back to the office supplies and found a basic four-pack, but they are fancy they have magnets and they were only .50 more than the plain (which I'm sure you could find on the black market at this time of year).  Now the glue sticks, I just needed 4, but those were MIA as well.  I could get 3 gigantic sticks or 20 small sticks, but again, just needed 4.  I dug around the shelves and found some hidden in the back.  Went and grabbed a backpack and the Kleenex and was finished.

Except for all the pencils...I still need 500.

So keep in mind if you haven't done your school supply shopping be prepared to have a hard time finding a few items.  Mainly, pencils and dry erase markers.  Best time to go do your school supply shopping is early morning or late evening, and avoid the weekends, they are insane.

Researching this morning, I found out that you can go to Walmart.com, pull up your school supply list and you can order everything right from the site.  Target offers this as well and you have the choice to pick it up in store or have it shipped to your house.  I will definitely be trying this our next year.

How do you handle school supply shopping?  Do you have any tips?  When to buy, where to buy, etc?  Share your stories with us.

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