Comparing Prices on School Supplies
August 19, 2008 by Karen Weideman
Filed under money saving idea, shopping
I may be alone here, but I am not one of those moms that let’s their kids pick out their own lunchbox. The lunchbox that I buy needs to suit our needs. It needs to hold the items that we use most in the right way. It’s almost like finding the perfect purse.
Yesterday I went to Target and after looking at about 40 or so lunchboxes I finally decided on the Artic Zone lunchbox. It has a bottom chamber with container, which is perfect for keeping sandwiches safe. The top part is tall enough that it will hold a sports bottle upright so that it won’t leak.
Finding the right lunchbox is important to me because I don’t want to waste my money on something that doesn’t work for us. Still, paying $8.99 for a lunchbox made me cringe and complain. After all, I am a clearance shopper.
I bought the lunchbox at Target and then headed Wal-Mart. Imagine my surprise when I found the same lunchbox for $6.34. That’s a savings of $2.65 each!!!! You can see the pictures here. Compare the two Artic Zone lunchboxes and you’ll see there is very little difference between the two. The one on the left is from Wal-Mart and the one on the right is from Target.
I purchased the lunchboxes at Wal-Mart and then returned the other one to Target. I can handle a savings of 30%!
Have you found a big difference in the prices of things between Target and Wal-Mart?
image by Karen
Target is almost always more expensive. That being said, I think that the quality of most of their merchandise is a tad better though.
They are higher on some things, but I try to stick to clearance shopping and special buys at Target. 30% more for the same lunchbox is just crazy!
I’ve actually found the best prices for school supplies this year at the office stores. (Depot, Max, and Staples). With all of the sales that they have been running, I’ve probably spent less than $30 for all of the consumable items and I have plenty of spares for when the first set runs out.
I just have a hard time finding anything at Wal-Mart, ours is so disorganized, and just not that crisp, clean look that Target has. Sometimes it’s worth a bit more money for me just for the ease of the shopping.
Target is moving toward eliminating most products containing PVC. They also carry a good deal of organic food and even organic dish towels, etc.
I have no idea about Wal-Mart. It’s always too crowded and loud for me.
Cute boxes!
Peggy: Both of the lunch boxes are by Artic Zone and both are PVC free. The one from Target does have a larger PVC free tag though. I guess it’s b/c they’re known for trying to eliminate those types of products.
thanks. I’m going to link to you tomorrow in a post at Tree Hugging Family. : )
I was also going to mention that the Target lunch bags were PVC free, since I proudly purchased my daughter’s new lunch accessory there. I honestly did not know that Wal Mart also offered similar PVC free items! I like Target’s offerings much better than Wal Mart, but this gives The Wal a few points!
If I were purchasing lunch boxes, I don’t have time to run back and forth between stores, comparing prices and exchanging…especially with gas prices the way they are. As a result, I do just about all my shopping online. Mindy mentioned school supplies at Office Depot. My granddaughter, a high school senior, went online and ordered all the supplies for her and her brother (except for an assignment book because she had to see it first to see if if would work for her). She’s learned to shop online for sales and stayed within budget. Also, she found, with a specific amount of purchase, shipping was free. It’s so nice she can do all of this.
If I am not buying anything on clearance, Wal-Mart will be my first stop. In general, their price is lower than Target. But I love shopping Target clearance stuff.