Estimated Reading Time: 5 Minutes

I want to talk about these cool tricks I have learned over the years that has saved me hundreds of dollars in school supplies. School supply lists seem to get longer and longer every year. Whether you have one child or more, saving money (and time) on shopping for everything on the school supplies list is the ultimate goal! Let’s face it, if you are like me, you are a busy mom that doesn’t have time to:

• search every back to school sales ads for any store within 15 miles of your house
• scour the web for hours looking for cheap school supplies online
• driving around to 20 stores to get 30 supplies for an ENTIRE DAY

I just became exhausted writing that list…

What if I told you that finding cheap school supplies doesn’t have to be complicated? What if I knew of some FREE tools for you to use that finds the best deals for you…and could even deliver the school supplies to your doorstep?

These price comparison tools are FREE and easy to use from your computer. No need to even leave the house! By the way, I have no affiliate connections with any of the companies I mention in the post.

No time to read right now? Pin it for later!

School Supplies at Amazon

We have a subscription to Amazon Prime so I “thought” that would save me so much money on school supplies. Guess what, I was wrong!

I was shopping on Amazon all wrong! I recently discovered CamelCamelCamel. If you have never heard of it, let me tell you about it. If you HAVE heard of it…WHY DIDN’T YOU TELL ME?!?!?

Camelcamelcamel is an awesome Amazon price tracker that shows the current price and history pricing of many products. Not only can you see what the price is now, but you can see what it was in the past which can save you SO MUCH money if you have a little time before you need to make the purchase.

The best thing about CamelCamelCamel…you can add price drop alerts! This must be my favorite feature about this app. Once you sign up for the price drop alert, you will get an email when the price drops along with the option to buy it right then and there!

The price drop alert saves me so much time, so I don’t have to keep checking Amazon to see if the price is lower and I know how low a price can go just by looking at the history provided.

I want to show you how I use CamelCamelCamel on Amazon while looking for Crayola Crayons.

As you can see, 2 pack of crayons is at an outrageous price! I would never pay this much for crayons unless they were going extinct and my kids ABSOLUTELY needed these crayons to save the world. Exaggerated, but seriously, $6.15 for 2 packs of crayons?!?! I don’t think so.

What can CamelCamelCamel tell me about the pricing history of crayons?

CamelCamelCamel shows the price varying but, to me, this is still high. This tells me that I might need to find the crayons elsewhere…

School Supplies at Walmart

Now it is no secret that when it comes to pricing Amazon and Walmart are big competitors. Walmart has their own Chrome Extension called Walmart Savings Spotter.

Walmart Savings Spotter can be used while visiting any competitor’s website. Wanna know if Walmart has cheaper Crayons? Check out the Walmart Savings Spotter Chrome Extension without even leaving your current website! Talk about a time-saver!

The best thing about Walmart Savings Spotter…you can set up price drop alerts that come straight to your email, just like CamelCamelCamel but without the history option (if there is a history option, I haven’t seen it).

Now, $0.50 for 1 pack of crayons ($1 for 2 packs) that is an 84% savings compared to Amazon! Also, at the time of writing this, Walmart has free shipping on orders over $35. Imagine, school supply shopping in your pajamas, in peace (assuming kids are in bed sleeping) and having them delivered to your doorstep.

• No leaving the house
• No dealing with impatient kiddos
• And you still save money

…sounds like a win-win-win situation to me!

Back to School Sales

If you are looking for even more deals to compare, don’t forget about school supply store ads for:

• Office Depot/Office Max
• Staples
• Target
• Walgreens or CVS
• Dollar Store, Dollar General, and Family Dollar

My School Supplies Shopping Confession

I don’t spend too much time looking at store ads. Just a quick glance at big-ticket items just because I don’t feel like driving around too many stores. If I see at least 3 to 5 school supplies that are cheaper than other places, then I will make the drive. I would never make the drive just for 1 item (especially not for just $0.50 crayons), not worth the gas money.

So, when school supplies shopping is beginning to consume your days, remember there are easy ways to find the deals with little effort. Finding the best price within minutes is the ultimate goal, but saving time is icing on the cake!

I am done with school supply shopping for this year and I have estimated a savings of 42% just by using the tips I have talked about here.

Are you an expert school supplies shopper? Can you find the best deals? Please share your tips and tricks in the comments below!

I would love to hear them!

Did you get some great information from this post? Feel free to share it with others!

For more money saving tips and ideas, sign up for the newsletter and get FREE budget printables!