Back to School Shopping

For many parents, "back to school" means "back to shopping"—whether you're buying items off your child's classroom list or making sure your college-bound kids have all the necessities.
While many parents still go from store to store to pick up the right items at the right prices, the Internet allows for one-stop shopping. Online, you can easily and quickly find the right products at the best prices.

Start by visiting your child's school Web site. Most schools post each grade's school–supply list, which you can download and print. Then shop around at these sites to get the best prices—while saving valuable time.

Back-to-School Supplies
Many office supply companies sell supplies in bulk at discounted prices to schools, colleges and universities. And most offer the same sorts of discounts to individual shoppers. Not only that, but in many cases, you'll get free shipping if your order is above a certain amount.
For example, with a purchase of $45 or more, Quill (www.quill.com) offers free next-day shipping.

The company also has a program called Future Delivery Service that allows you to select items now but delay both shipping and billing for up to four months. This helps you lock in a current sale price for a later purchase. Quill.com updates its specials and sale items monthly, so it's worthwhile to check back throughout the fall.

Uniforms
An easy place to find school uniforms that make the grade is Target (www.target.com). You’ll find an extensive array of styles, colors and sizes on the Web site. Target.com also offers free shipping for uniform and shoe orders over $50.

General Supplies for High School Students
While many elementary schools offer specific school supply shopping lists, high schools typically leave it to their students to choose the right supplies.
Still, there are some basics that everyone needs. Here's a list of suggested supplies to have on hand at the beginning of the school year. (After school starts, your high school student may need additional supplies that are class-specific. Check with the teachers for details.)
Backpack
Colored pencils
Calculator
Colored pens
Glue stick
Graph paper
Highlighters
Markers
Organizer/planner
Pens/pencils
Pencil sharpener
Pocket dictionary
Pocket folders
Poster paper
Ream of computer paper
Scissors
Spiral-bound notebooks
Stapler
Thesaurus
Three-ring binder
College Supplies

"Shopping online for school supplies will save you time and money."

If your child is heading off to college, he or she will need school supplies and a few things to make the living a bit easier in the dorm.

When it comes to basic school supplies, the list for high school students is a good start. Many college students use a laptop to take notes in class, so consider buying a laptop with a wireless connection. And don’t be surprised if a BlackBerry or another PDA, a cell phone, a digital camera and an iPod are also on your college student’s list of necessities.

What do college kids need for their rooms? A set of plastic plates, cups and silverware will give your child the option of not always eating out of the take-out container. The hot plate you might have brought with you to college a generation ago has been replaced by mini-microwaves and mini-refrigerators.

But for the communal bathroom, a shower caddy continues to be a college staple. Check out Target and The Container Store (www.containerstore.com) for a variety of options, including colorful buckets.

Containerstore.com also offers a printable checklist of items every college-bound student should consider, including microwave-safe food containers, stacking drawers and an over-the-door towel rack.

Textbooks
Textbooks can eat up a back-to-school budget pretty quickly. But there are a variety of Web sites to help your student buy the required texts at the biggest discount possible.
Amazon.com (www.Amazon.com/textbooks) offers over 25,000 textbooks online—and it will buy back your books at the end of the semester.
http://www.ecampus®.com/ allows you to search by school and specific class. This is especially helpful for middle schools, high schools and colleges (although the list of schools is in no way comprehensive). While doing your book shopping, you may also want to check out the discounts Ecampus.com offers on art and office supplies.
http://www.textbookx.com/ allows you to shop through specific college bookstores, as does eFollett®.com (www.efollett.com), which runs bookstores at major universities.
Other Web sites to try include Bookbyte.com (www.bookbyte.com), TextbookHound.com (www.textbookhound.com), TextbookLand.com (www.textbookland.com), http://www.campusbooks4less.com/ and http://www.collegebookservice.com/

In order to use these sites effectively, you’ll need the exact name of the textbook, the author’s name and the edition being used in the class. You can also get the book’s ISBN and search through various Web sites (or simply type the ISBN into Google and click from there).

Discover EDGE contributor Sara Fiedelholtz is happy to be finished with her back-to-shopping days.
 posted by Jane