I’ll admit it: by the second half of summer I start to dread the arrival of the Parent Handbook. My daughter’s school sends one out every year, and it includes a long list of necessary school supplies. How many pencils does one child need?

Unfortunately, there is no getting out of it; we’ll have to buckle down and go shopping for everything under the sun from paper cups to pens to notebooks. Preferably without my daughter along, or it will turn into a torturous, never-ending argument about why we can’t buy the (fill in the blank) with pink glitter. Everything is more expensive when it has pink glitter.

There are some shortcuts:

• Buy on sale for next year. This, of course, means before I can go to the store, I have to rummage through my cabinets and find out what it is I bought last year. If you’re more organized than I am, and can actually remember where you put stuff, this could seriously cut down on your annual shopping trip.
• Buying extra once things go on sale may sound counter productive, since you’re spending more money now, so think long-term. Especially if you’re expecting a growth spurt later this year, now is the time to keep a very close eye on apparel sales at places like Target, K-Mart, and Wal-mart.
• Don’t forget the Dollar store. They often have a small back-to-school section, and some things can be scrapped off the list for very little money.
• Does your school offer a supply closet with donations for parents? Many schools already have a designated space where people can leave backpacks and school supplies for other parents to use. If your child’s school doesn’t offer this, maybe now is the time to bring this up. It’s an initiative that has helped many parents across the nation out.
• Save that list for next year, and keep it handy. Target, for instance, will sometimes out of the blue have a pile of notebooks priced at 90% off in the middle of January. Maybe they suddenly discovered it in the storage room, who knows; but if you see it, and you know you’ll need it in six months, buy it now.
• Connect with other parents who have children slightly bigger or slightly smaller than yours. Especially with the fast rate at which some kids grow, it is useful to trade clothes and shoes, if they have a lot of wear left in them.
• Think outside the lunchbox. This year, I bought my daughter a large make-up bag that was on sale for $2. It wasn’t meant to be a lunch box, but everything fits- and she hates those icepacks anyway.

If anybody has additional tips, I would love to hear them. Especially if you know how to get all your stuff in one trip. because no matter how carefully I plan, about halfway through the store I get so fed up, I always end up running home before I'm done. 

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