It’s that time again! As we start heading to August, the large box stores have started stocking their shelves with extraordinarily cheap school supplies. How does this affect your light packing, you ask?

Among the piles and stacks of notepads and pencils, you will find some amazing bargains. I was in WalMart over the weekend, and they had a really cute cotton pencil case for $2.50. It was the perfect size for a small cosmetic case, so I picked one up right away. Yes, they are rather cheaply made. But normally it might be something they charge $10 for. And because it’s cheaply made, it means the fabric was pretty thin, making the case very light. When it was empty, it would fold completely flat.

Other great deals? If you travel with kids, now is the time to stock up with fun activity books to pack for a trip. You can also find a ton of markers, crayons, colored pencils. Have you been thinking about drawing some sketches during your trip? Buy some cheap art supplies without making a dent in your wallet.

My only warning: Go early. Like this week. Once it starts getting really close to school, those shelves and bins turn into huge jumbled heaps and you will be wasting your time trying to find things that haven’t been opened or broken.