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In this video I show you my back to school supplies haul for 2013-14 from three different stores! I went shopping at Dollar Tree, Walmart, and Target to try and find the best school supplies for under $20 or at least see what I could find for less than $20 at each store.

This video is part 1, part 2 (Shopping at Walmart) will be posted tomorrow (Friday 8/9) and part 3 (Shopping at Target) will be posted on Saturday 8/10!

At the end of the video series, I will donate/giveaway all of the supplies to one person. I will post a link on Saturday on how to enter 🙂

Update: Part 2 and 3 of the video series have been posted!

Video Details

Hi everyone, it’s Alejandra. And I’m so excited to be doing this video. I just got back from doing a back to school supply haul at Dollar Tree, Wal-Mart, and Target. So my goal was to go to all three stores and try and find the best school supplies for under $20. So I went to all three stores and I just spent like two hours at each store trying to rummage through all the bins and find the best stuff.

School Supply Shopping Haul: Dollar Tree

So in this video, I’m going to show you the best things that I found for under 20 bucks at Dollar Tree. And then tomorrow, I’m going to show you the same thing except I’m going to show you all things I bought from Wal-Mart for 20 bucks. And then the very next day, I’m going to show you the same thing I bought at – not the same thing but the best school supplies I bought at Target for less than 20 bucks.

So it’s going to be a 3-part back to school supply haul video series here on YouTube. And then at the very end of the three days, I am going to donate all the school supplies I found to somebody who is going back to school that needs the supplies. So yeah, that’s how this video series is going to work. So let me show you exactly what I found at Dollar Tree.

OK. So the first item I found at Dollar Tree were these wall decal flower stickers. And I thought they were so fun just like the color is fun, the pattern is fun, they’re removable, and I just thought they’d be perfect for a locker door or on top of your binder or notebook or something. So you get some on the front and you get some on the back also. So I thought that was a great price for a dollar.

So everything I’m going to show you has a little price tag that I created myself. I wanted to do it because – I mean in this haul, everything is a dollar so everything is going to say a dollar but in tomorrow’s haul and the next day of the haul, not everything is a dollar so it will be – like it will make more sense why I did that tomorrow and the next day. But anyways, this was a dollar and I thought that was a great price.

Paper & Binder Supplies

Dollar Tree School Supply Haul

Dollar Tree School Supply Haul

The second thing I found was lined paper. Now, I learned that the Dollar Store is not the best place or not the cheapest place to get paper, which I’ll show you in tomorrow’s haul where I found it cheaper. But Dollar Store does have 150 sheets for a dollar.

So the next thing I found was this clear binder pouch from the Dollar Store. Now, it’s kind of similar to the gusseted binder pocket that I’ve shown in my warranties and manual binder except it has a zipper on the edge, not a Velcro snap. So it’s a little bit different but they had a good selection there and they had them in different colors and it’s a little bit gusseted so you could kind of see here. So you could fit like a stack of papers or you could put your composition notebook or flat school supplies like stickers or I don’t know, anything flat. But anyways, I found it in clear and then I also found it in pink. They had red, they had green, they had blue, they had purple, lots of different colors.

Next I found these fun folders. They come two to a pack. Dollar Tree had so many just like cool patterns that are nice and colorful so this is a checker colored one then the second one that comes in this pack is like a green blue chevron pattern. So these were so fun like two for a dollar is a great price.

Picking a School Notebook

So next thing I found was this 1 Subject aqua colored notebook. So they had a few other colors. I forget what colors they had but this was the prettiest one. Now, I loved this notebook. I’m really picky when it comes to notebooks. I like when the paper is perforated on the edge and this is, I don’t know if you can see that but it has perforation here and the lines are nice and dark.

So this is going to sound really weird but I love notebooks with dark lines because when you write on it, I feel like it looks neater and more organized. And so, these lines are nice and dark. And a lot of notebooks don’t have dark lines so it’s actually kind of hard to find. So Dollar Tree had nice dark lines.

The next thing I found was fun chevron composition notebook like how fun is this pattern and these colors? Like if this was my Math composition notebook, I feel like I would be more excited to go to Math class just to use my fun notebook. So this was a dollar and it has nice dark lines.

So the next thing I found were these fun neon colored index cards for a dollar. I thought this was such a great find. I love using colorful index cards because I feel like for studying, if I color-code my index cards, I have an easier time memorizing information because I’ll remember – I’ll associate what I’m supposed to say with what color index card it’s on. It sounds kind of weird but it’s so helpful for me. So when I saw this I was like, “Oh, that is a great find.”

Highlighters, Pens & Supplies

Dollar Tree School Supply Haul

Dollar Tree School Supply Haul

So the next thing I found was this mini purple stapler that comes with 500 staples. I feel like it’s always great to have a mini stapler like in your pencil case or in your backpack or your locker in case teachers don’t staple papers.

The next thing I found was an 8-pack of blue ball point pens. These were the nicest pens that I saw. I have not tried them out yet. I don’t want to open them because I’m planning to donate the supplies but yeah, these were the nicest ones I saw.

And then the next thing, it’s another pack of pens. It’s made by Pentel so they’re going to be like named brand. Pentel makes good pencils and pens and stuff. But I thought these were pencils when I picked them up and then when I got home I realized they were pens.

The next thing I found was a 4-pack of highlighters. Now, I’m not really picky with my highlighters. I feel like if you don’t get like the named brand highlighters, it’s not really a big deal. I feel like a highlighter is a highlighter so I feel like this was a good deal. Four for a dollar and you get a yellow, an orange, a pink, and a purple. I personally like the yellow highlighter the best because I feel like these colors are so dark. But I don’t know, it depends what it looks like when it’s opened.

So the next thing I found was a black marker. I feel like everybody needs at least one good black marker. And Dollar Tree sells the Sharpie kind which is the best kind in my opinion.

The next thing I found was this notepad of really pretty color paper and I feel like this is different from like the neon colored note cards because I feel like this is more for studying and this is more for like writing notes to your friends or I don’t know, just like jotting things down, maybe you keep this in the small compartment in your backpack for note-taking. I don’t really know what I would use this for. But I feel like this was a really good deal. You get so many different fun colors. You get 100 sheets and it was a dollar.

OK. So the next thing I found was this mesh silver magnetic locker organizer. So all you do is you stick this on your locker door. It’s magnetic on the back and you put pens, pencils, markers, and things.

All right. So the next thing I found was a 4-pack of 1 ½” x 2” sticky notes. So you get 400 sheets total for a dollar and you get fun colors. OK.

Dollar Tree had a lot of pencil cases. I tried a lot of them like I tried the zippers, I tried the boxes, and the only one I really liked was this one. It has a good zipper like it actually has a really nice zipper. It’s a fun color. The only problem is on the other side is a pattern. It’s a Disney pattern so if you’re not a Disney fan then you’re probably might not go for this. But I feel like you could just easily cover this with stickers, wall decals, duct tape, washer tape or something or pinning it. I don’t know. Somehow get creative and cover this if you’re not a Disney person. Like I feel like I would not use this if I was in high school.

But like I said, if you get creative, you can figure out a way to cover it. But I just feel like it has a really nice zipper and I feel like it’s a good size. You could put all your pens, pencils in here, eraser, and a few other things could fit in here. I actually liked it so much that I actually got two of them and I figured well, we can just get creative and cover the other side.

So this one is Superman. So again, if you’re not a Superman person, just cover it. Oh sorry, it’s not even a Superman. It’s Spiderman. All right, I haven’t seen either movie so yeah, it’s a Spiderman. But anyways, it has a good zipper and I feel like maybe if you put your pens and pencils in here, you could put your colored pencils and your markers in here and kind of spread them out. So again, you have to get creative on the cover if you don’t like Spiderman or if you don’t like Disney.

OK. So the last thing I found was this locker mirror. It has a magnet on the back so you just stick it on the door for only a quarter. So every once in a while, I will go to Dollar Tree and like random things are sometimes always a quarter. I don’t know why. But it doesn’t happen very often but it happened with this locker mirror. Yeah, it was only a quarter. It has fun pattern, the mirror right here, and it’s magnetic on the back. So I feel like that was a total steal because locker mirrors are sometimes expensive.

Dollar Tree School Supply Haul

Dollar Tree School Supply Haul

So the total cost of everything you see here was $18.30 from Dollar Tree. That is unreal for all of these things. I feel like I went there and I picked all the best things I could find. I spent literally two hours in the store just rummaging through the bins and I feel like I just got really great things.

The only two things that I did not get that I would need if I was going back to school was a binder and dividers because I feel like I did not like the selection they had. So I probably have to go to a different store to get those two things. But I got everything else that I would need.

So tomorrow, I’m going to be posting part 2 of this back to school supply haul and I’m going to show you the best things I got at Wal-Mart for less than 20 bucks. And then the next day, I’m going to be posting part 3 of this back to school supply haul and show you the best things I got at Target for less than 20 bucks.

So it just goes to show, you do not have to spend a lot of money to get good back to school supplies or fun back to school supplies. If you just shop around, you can find really awesome things. So if you want to see part 2 and part 3, you can come back tomorrow when I’m posting them on my YouTube channel.

All right. I hope this video was helpful. And I’ll see you guys soon. Bye!

About Alejandra

About Alejandra

Since 2008, organizing expert & certified life coach, Alejandra Costello has taught thousands of students in 132 countries how to get organized through her video-based training programs. Her YouTube videos have been viewed 100+ million times. Named 1 of the 5 most organized people in America by HGTV and “The Decluttering Queen” by Good Morning America, Alejandra’s expertise has been featured in The New York Times, Oprah.com, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, Good Housekeeping, Family Circle, Woman’s Day, Parents Magazine, and CBS. 

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