Cheap School Supplies for (State) Tax-Free Shopping Today

by Becky on August 3, 2013

I’ve been posting on the DenhamDeals Facebook about each week’s school supplies “loss leaders” (super discounted prices to get you into a store, in the hopes that you’ll buy other things that aren’t at or below cost).

We have a Louisiana state sales tax-free shopping day today that waives the STATE portion (4%) of the total sales tax on most individual purchases of under $2,500 for personal use.  So if you plan to shop today to pick up your child’s school supplies during the tax holiday for 4% savings, here’s a summary of my Facebook posts on where to find cheap school supplies:

Rite Aid
Sales ad here

You’ll need their Wellness+ rewards card for these. Avoid buying items not on this list because you’re going to pay too much! Here’s what to look for this week:

  • $.39 each or 3 for $.99, buy 3 or more and you’ll get $.99 in +Up Rewards, basically making three FREE:  Wooden ruler, 15 cap erasers, 24-ct Playskool crayons, Playskool glue, 1 subj Mead notebook, Westcort school scissors, poly or paper pocket folder, sliding pencil case, pencil sharpener, 10-pk sheet protectors, index cards
  • 50% off reg. price of lunchboxes/totes
  • 50% off reg. price of Mead Five-Star stationery (includes notebooks and what we used to call Trapper Keepers — do they still make those?!)
  • BOGO assorted backpacks (doubtful these are major brands but they may work for younger kids)
  • Mead marble composition books 3/$1.98 and you’ll get $1 in +Up Rewards

I’d suggest skipping everything in that Great Savings! area of the sales ad. We’ve seen, or will see, those items for cheaper elsewhere.

Office Depot
Sales ad here
Printable coupons here

Low price school supplies this week at Office Depot, and no card is required:

  • $.25 marble composition books – OD brand, limit 3
  • $.25 6″ protractors – OD brand – reg. $2.79! – limit 3
  • $.25 acrylic rulers (remember, Walgreens has wooden ones for $.19)
  • $.50 poly 2-pocket folders with or without brads – reg. $2.19 – limit 10
  • $.50 kids’ scissors with blunt or pointed tip (about the same as at Walgreens but no card required)
  • $.50 Sharpie single markers, assorted colors (CVS has 8-cts of assorted Sharpies for $3.99 plus $3 in Extracare Bucks if you spend $10 or more on them, so if you just need a couple of Sharpies, go with this deal instead)
  • Buy 2 Get 1 Free on all Wilson Jones heavy-duty 3-ring binders (may or may not be a good deal, may want to check Walmart first)
  • 25% off select backpacks (ditto, but if you’re brand-loyal, they do carry Jansport)

Office Depot is making a big deal about having One Direction exclusive products. If you have a tween girl like me who’s gaga over the band, you need to know that you can get 1D products in other places, so don’t be misled by the wording. For example, Walgreens has cardboard style pocket folders with 1D on them for $1.29.

Walgreens
Sales ad here

You’ll need to have their rewards card for these deals, and grab a sales ad to pull out the coupons required for most of these deals (or print from the sales ad linked above).

  • $.10 Wexford 2-pocket folders (cardboard-style)
  • $.19 wooden rulers and mini highlighters
  • $.49 Wexford 2-pocket poly folders (doesn’t say if they have brads)
  • $.49 Wexford one subj notebooks (70 pgs)
  • $.49 Wexford scissors (blunt tip or pointed)
  • $.49 two-packs of Elmer Glue Sticks or regular 4oz glue
  • $.49 Papermate 6-pk highlighters
  • $.69 Penway brand 12-pk colored pencils
  • $.99 Nice brand storage (20-ct) or sandwich bags (50-ct)

They have some other school supplies on sale that I think we’ll see cheaper, like the BOGO deal on Crayola products (probably way too expensive at regular price here).

CVS
Sales ad here

You will need their ExtraCare card to take advantage of these deals — pick one up for free in-store if you don’t have one already.  Here are their best deals of the week:

  • $3.99 for 8-ct Sharpies (fine point, misc colors) and spend $10 on Sanford products (including Sharpies), get $3 in Extrabucks
  • All Caliber brand office/back to school supplies are buy one get one 50% off (remember, that’s the same as 25% off each)
  • $3 for Five-Star brand one subj notebooks and buy 4 or more and you’ll get $3 in EB.
  • If you’re devoted to buying school uniforms at Old Navy or Gap, see Page 6 of the ad:  spend $100 on gift cards to ON, Gap, or Banana Republic, and you’ll get $15 in EB! Limit one per member.

 

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