Staples used to have a very funny commercial for back-to-school sales that featured some very miserable-looking kids along with a very cheerful parent who was singing "It's The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year". For the bargain shopping that I like to do, back-to-school season really is wonderful, because it's when I get great deals on things that I really need, for my home office/publishing business, my hobbies, and for my classroom.

So for the next few weeks, my Sunday routine will involve getting the paper, and heading out to Staples, CVS, and KMart (and possibly some other stores; those have been the best for me so far).

Here's the details of this week's expedition.

First of all, Staples. Staples has a HUGE deal going on all week: Free backpacks. When you buy ANY backpack in the store, you get a rebate for the full cost in the form of a Staples giftcard. It's good through Saturday (7/31/10), and is also good online or by phone. There's a limit of one rebate per household.

Two more giveaways at Staples: Staples Multipurpose paper is $.01 per ream after rebate with a limit of two, and 8-packs of Bic Round Stic ballpoint pens are $.01 with a $5 minimum purchase, and a limit of two. Both of these penny deals are only good through this Wednesday, 7/28/10.

There's more: A 5-pack of Zebra gel pens for $.25 after rebate (limit 1), 6-packs of Staples highlighters for $.25 (limit 2), index card for @.25 per pack (limit 2), and small plastic storage boxes for $.25 (limit 2). Finally, this week's circular included a clip/save coupon for a 3-pack of Scotch tape for $1 (there was some confusion over the coupon; it says "limit 2" but also something like "one coupon per purchase" and the store was interpreting that to mean the price was only good one one; really bad wording on the fine print there).

There were quite a few other sale items that I did not purchase this week, so Staples is definitely worth checking out. Bottom line: I spent $73.27, but I'm getting 70.73 of that back in rebates. I end up with a backpack (giving it to a friend whose kids can use it), a couple of reams of paper, a bunch of pens and some assorted supplies for the equivalent of $2.54.

Next it was on to KMart. KMart is simpler. You don't need to jump through the rebate hoops. They just had a bunch of stuff on sale really cheap. Most of the best deals were limited to four of each item. KMart also seems to sell out of these deals really fast. I was there on Sunday afternoon (the day the sales started), and I was picking through the last of some of the better deals. At least at my location, you can pretty much forget getting these bargains later in the week. I got reams of filler paper, pencil boxes, packs of colored pencils, and 8-packs of ballpoint pens for $.50 each, and packages of 24 crayons for $.25 each. There was also white glue for $.25 each. After picking up a couple of other dollar items, I ended up getting $25.08 worth of merchandise for $11.44.

Then on to CVS. I had about $3 in ExtraBucks available to spend. The best deal this time out at CVS was Pampers diapers with a $10 back in ExtraBucks offer, and Kotex tampons which were free after Extrabucks (these get donated to a local domestic violence shelter). There wasn't much in the back-to-school deals this time out, but I did pick up three notebooks at 3/$1.00.

Beakdown:

3 Notebooks @3/$1.00 (reg. $2.79 each)
2 Coca Cola 12-packs @$2.98 (reg. $5.69. plus deposit)
2 20-oz. Diet Coke @$1.79 (with $1 coupon)
2 2-liter GE Cola @$.77 (reg. $1.00)
1 Pampers 82-Count diapers @$21.99 (reg. $23.99, $10 Extrabucks)
1 Kotex tampons @$4.99 (free-after-ExtraBucks)

Total before sale prices, coupons, and $3 in ExtraBucks: $56.10
Amount Actually Paid: $36.54
ExtraBucks Received: $14.99

I'm looking forward to more back-to-school fun next week!