Avoid These 2 Stores Or You’ll Pay Double for School Supplies

The fresh, crisp scent of new notebooks is in the air with back-to-school season, and everybody is planning where to shop for the best deals.

A new study shows that some classic fall favorites for student shopping are actually nearly double the price of competitors, so be sure to plan this year's academic shopping carefully to avoid needlessly paying more.

Shopping for new and returning students can put unexpected stress on a financial budget, as the prices only go up year after year. However, if you plan carefully, you won't have to open a new 0% APR credit card to foot the bill. See which stores to avoid if you need to stretch your BTS budget.

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Michaels

Cost: $185.28

The study compared 10 of the most popular retailers and found that Michaels is the most expensive place to buy back-to-school supplies for kids.

The study compiled the 20 most common BTS items and then compared totals from each of the major stores. The data ranks Michaels as the worst place to save money when shopping for students on a budget — with totals nearly triple what they would cost at Walmart.

What items have the highest price tag? Binders cost a whopping $39.95, followed by looseleaf paper at $33.95. Both of those items can be found at Walmart for $5 or less.

Walgreens

Cost: $134.61

Walgreens may be a convenient pharmacy, but shopping for back-to-school is priced second highest — coming in only behind Michaels. The most expensive item from the list is the binders, which cost $30. Scientific calculators are the next highest, coming in at $14.99. For a price nearly as high as the famous arts and crafts store, it may be worth the few extra dollars to have a wider variety of fun colors and patterns that can be found at Michaels.

Where to shop instead

Walmart topped the charts with the lowest prices on back-to-school shopping, costing only $67.37 to purchase all the supplies on the list. The two highest-priced items were backpacks and notebooks, which cost $8.99 and $7.96, respectively.

Love them or hate them, Walmart is offering the lowest pricing for one-stop shopping on all your BTS requirements.

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Bottom line

If you're looking to save as much money as possible on student supplies for the upcoming school year, then you'll want to cross Michaels and Walgreens off your list of stores. Surprisingly, Michaels would rank last when many shoppers love them for arts and crafts supplies, but the deals don't seem to extend into the back-to-school realm — at least not in comparison to the other 10 stores commonly used for BTS options.

Walmart is the one-stop shop for the lowest back-to-school pricing, so if savings are your number one priority, be sure to see other tips and tricks for stretching your Walmart budget .

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