As an educator in New Jersey I have two secrets to tell you parents:

1. We do not expect you to have all the supplies on the supply list on the first day, or even the first week, of school.

2. Now that some schools are giving out supply lists early and posting them online in June, it is very possible that a teacher will change the supply list the first week of school to accommodate needs, new technology and changes in curriculum.

Here are the best tips I've come up with for saving money on school supplies in New Jersey:

• Survey what you already have before you shop. You may have supplies from last year that were unused and you just forgot about them.
• Dollar stores are your friend. I was able to find great deals at the local Dollar Tree and Dollar General near me.
• Check out the flyers from Office Max, Walmart and Staples. Office Max is offering $5 off a $25 purchase in store and online by either downloading the coupon from their site or using 5OFF25 at checkout online. Walmart has 97 cent bins right by the checkout with great deals. I was able to find many items we needed in these bins,
• Don't shop online for school supplies. School supplies are one of the few item categories that are not cheaper online.
• Shop with some friends and buy in bulk. If you can round up a few friends that have the same teacher, you can buy items in bulk such as index cards, folders, and pencils to save money.
• Wait until the end of September when stores are cleaning out school supplies for Halloween! I can tell you that as a teacher, there is no way the students will need every item on the list in the first few weeks of September, Ask the teacher what is most important and needed and let him or her know that you will being picking the rest up shortly.
• If you're just trying to figure out how to drum up some more cash towards school supplies, here's a random thought: have you checked in with your local consignment shop? Maybe you're like me and have forgotten about items that you've dropped off; I stopped in and found out I had over $70 waiting for me! I used this money toward back to school supplies and scored some great deals on some fall footwear that had just come in.

So how do you plan on saving on back to school supplies this Fall?

photo credit: ladybugbkt via photo pin cc