The family-owned Atlanta-based wholesale t-shirt company, The Adair Group has a very comprehensive post with cost-cutting back-to-school savings advice that those very large families, like the Duggars, with over 8 children use. They were so kind to let me syndicate a snippet of their post where they talk about school supply shopping. In light of the recent gun battle at a Michigan Walmart recently, it may behoove you to check out these awesome tips:

Today, even public schools require you to purchase many items that in the past were provided.

Pens and pencils, rulers, calculators, and textbooks—children need all sorts of supplies before heading back to school. Organizing this can be a fun task for some families, and a way to start preparing and anticipating that first day back at school.

Renee from the Little Earthling Blog, another mega family favorite resource, suggests the following tips and tricks that she uses when dealing with her family of 14.

• Make a list of what each child needs and stick to it. That way you will not forget any essentials, and your children are unable to sneak extras into the cart.

• Shop at home first. Go through your children’s rooms, through the office and through every other space where there might be pens or pads of paper. Everything you find is one less thing to buy.
• Try dollar stores for the small items like pens and pencils. These stores can be a cheap and easy way to get most of the basics your children will need.
• Take notice of back-to-school sales and shop at a variety of different stores, making sure to buy everything you need at the cheapest price you can manage.
• Buy more specific items first, for example, a model of calculator or a new backpack. Generic supplies typically drop in price late in the season, so plan to buy paper, pencils, etc. then.
• A tip that might not be possible is to leave the children at home. The last thing you need is for your children to follow you around and try to influence your choices.

Some more tips mega families use that might help you cost cut at this time of the year are:

• Use a price comparison app such as Dealnews. Many retailers will honor competitors’ coupons too.
• Buy enough school supplies for the year when they go on sale in the late summer. If you find you have too many, they will always last for another year, or you can share them with friends who are in the same situation as you.

• Buy in bulk from wholesale stores and split the cost with friends, and skip the office supply stores.
• Shop online for used textbooks. In some cases, it may be less costly to rent textbooks instead of buying them. Consider electronic copies, as these are often cheaper.
• You can also rent calculators. Some schools have rental programs, but if yours doesn’t, try graphtor.com, which rents various models of Texas Instruments calculators for a low monthly fee.
• Buy refurbished electronics especially for younger children who are prone to dropping them.
• Some stores provide discounts on electronics for college and high school students. Check out the Apple Education Pricing page or Best Buy’s College Student Deals.
• If you are looking for activities to entertain the children this summer, have them make their own school supplies. Get directions on craftchi.com on how to create a pencil case out of a mailing tube.

Get a ton of back to school tips from The Adair Group HERE!