School & Office Supplies

Fans of the TLC show Extreme Couponing?  LOZO has the best service to help you save like an Extreme Couponer without all the hassle! 

How does it work?  It's simple (&...

Fans of the TLC show Extreme Couponing?  LOZO has the best service to help you save like an Extreme Couponer without all the hassle! 

How does it work?  It's simple (& free!) with our two most popular features:

• Enter your shopping list on LOZO's homepage and we'll find and email you grocery coupons that match your shopping list.  It doesn't get any easier than that!
• For immediate savings, visit LOZO's Grocery Coupons Bundler where we've compiled hundreds of free, printable grocery coupons all in one place. You can easily sort the coupons by your favorite brands and categories so you can always find exactly what you want.

We're on a mission to turn Extreme Couponing into Easy Couponing! It's just that simple.


SEE LOZO'S FOUNDER ON EXTREME COUPONING SEASON 3!
Jeff Kaplan, LOZO's founder, and his family will be featured in this season of Extreme Couponing. 
Be sure to tune in on June 4th at 10pm EST to see Jeff and his family in action.

Shoppers who have The LOZO know to always try to use coupons whenever they make a purchase. Some stores are quite stingy with the coupons they offer, so you're happy to get your hands on any of them....

Shoppers who have The LOZO know to always try to use coupons whenever they make a purchase. Some stores are quite stingy with the coupons they offer, so you're happy to get your hands on any of them. But some stores are known for frequently issuing coupons with various discounts and minimum spend thresholds, so you might have several available at your fingertips. So the question then becomes, "how do you maximize your coupons to save as much as possible?" LOZO has the answer!

Most stores have a policy that you can only use one coupon per transaction, so to get the best discount you'll have to split up your purchases. If a store is not busy they are usually happy to ring up the transactions separately at the register, one after another. In other cases you might need to take separate trips or go back in line. Once you figure out what the extra savings will be worth, you can decide whether to go through any extra hassle.

The first thing you need to do is assess the value of each coupon to figure out which is worth the most. That's easy to do when you are comparing coupons like $5 off $25 vs. $10 off $25, but harder when the coupons are in different "flavors".

LOZO recommends first adjusting everything to the equivalent "percentage discount" so you can compare apples to apples.

Then you start by trying to use up the best coupon first. There are a couple of cases when this approach might not be the best strategy for you, so we recommend double-checking before you checkout!

Click on this tip to read more details and see some real examples in action.

Not all letters can be mailed for the regular 46 cent first class rate, however using two 46 cent stamps without knowing the actual rate is just wasting money. Use the USPS tool to easily calculate...

Not all letters can be mailed for the regular 46 cent first class rate, however using two 46 cent stamps without knowing the actual rate is just wasting money. Use the USPS tool to easily calculate actual postage rates. For example, a regular two-ounce letter costs 66 cents. Using "two stamps" means you are paying 92 cents. That's spending 39% too much! Pick up some different value stamps next time you are at the post office (they carry lots of different ones). For a 66 cent letter, put on a 46 cent (or forever stamp) and a 20 cent stamp, or another combination that adds up to the same 66 cents. Generally speaking, you can mail 4-5 pages of regular paper, plus an envelope, for the regular first class ("one stamp") rate. Heavier paper, rigid or oversized envelopes will cost more. You can get about 10 pages of standard page weight, plus an envelope, for the two ounce rate. Every post office has a scale you can use. Next time you are there, try the different combinations of papers and envelopes that you typically use, so you can learn what weighs what.

Store or generic brands will work just as well as name brands most of the time, and often for considerable savings. Your clients won’t know that you’re using the 88-cent sticky notes instead of...

Store or generic brands will work just as well as name brands most of the time, and often for considerable savings. Your clients won’t know that you’re using the 88-cent sticky notes instead of the $1.10 ones.

The average family will spend $96 on school supplies in 2010 according to the National Retail Federation. Saving 25% by going generic means $24 savings in your pocket each year! For businesses the savings can be even more significant.

For basic internal uses around the office, there's no reason not to go with cheaper options when available. For example, the Office Impressions brand by Costco offers great quality at a substantial discount. The major office supply chains - Staples, Office Depot, OfficeMax - all offer their own private brands that cover a wide of products.

Do a "taste test" if you are not sure whether the quality will stand up to your most professional needs. Try a sample of each of the products and compare. It's a small investment for a potential big savings.

Generally speaking products like paper, fasteners, folders, and envelopes seem to offer similar performance from private brands as the big name brands do (at least for standard uses). Writing instruments may give inferior quality though - especially pens - so it might be worth the extra costs here to buy a known brand. 

Just be sure to look closely at any big sales. A name brand offered at a 50% discount is usually a better deal than any generic. Likewise the store brands often go on sale as well, sometimes with all-encompassing discounts like "buy 1 get 1 50% off" which are great times to stock up on items that aren't generally available on sale.

Click the banner below (hold down control when you click, and/or turn off pop-up blockers). and then scroll down to click "get coupons" for your rebate form.  This is great to combine with...

Click the banner below (hold down control when you click, and/or turn off pop-up blockers). and then scroll down to click "get coupons" for your rebate form.  This is great to combine with back to school offers.

Another week, another trip to Staples to save money on back to school supplies! This week, we’ll show you how we got over $50 worth of stuff for about $3!

SUMMARY
The Store:...

Another week, another trip to Staples to save money on back to school supplies! This week, we’ll show you how we got over $50 worth of stuff for about $3!

SUMMARY

• The Store: Staples
• What We Got: $50+ worth of school supplies
• What We Spent: about $3

HOW WE SAVED

Identify what you need: As we mention in our recent article, Back to School: 12 Easy Ways to Save Money This School Year, we recommend creating a list of all the supplies you need. With that list in hand, you’ll be ready to prowl for the best deals!

Check the weekly circular: Look at the Staples weekly circular in your paper or online to find the latest deals. See which deals match up with an item on your list and then…

Shop! Based on this weeks circular and the items on our list, here are the back to school items we found that were on sale, available for a rebate or were otherwise a good deal:

• 2 packs paper clips = $0.02 (sale price)
• 10 pocket folders = $0.10 (sale price)
• 2 packs chalk = $0.50 (sale price)
• 6 packs pocket tissues = $0.06 (sale price)
• 2 reams of paper = $13.98 ($2.00 after rebate)
• 3 packs of crayons = $1.50 ($0.50 after newspaper coupon)
• 1 pack Avery inkjet labels = $4.99 (FREE after rebate)
• 2 packs Photo Supreme paper = $29.98 ($2.00 after rebate)

Cost before coupons & rebates: $51.13 + tax (and, if you were paying full retail prices, this would be even higher at $63.50 + tax!)

Add coupons: The coupon in the local circular was $5 off a $50 purchase (and you’ll notice we bought just enough to eek by that threshold… yes, we’re sneaky like that and we recommend you do the same to maximize your savings!). We also had a newspaper coupon on the crayons which knocked off another $1.00. Updated cost: $45.13, before tax.

Use your rewards card: Normally, we'd use our Staples Back to School Savings Pass to save a bit more.  However, this week we've skipped it to be fair to our readers who don't have one.  If you shop at Staples a lot, we'd recommend picking one up.  It'll cost you $10, but you'll save 15% on most Back to School items.  In this case, on this particular shopping trip, it would have saved us a couple more bucks, but the savings without it are still really great.

Cost after coupons & rewards: $45.13 + tax ($48.29 in my home state of NJ)

Submit rebates: Get a whopping $44.95 back in rebates!

Total cost: $3.34!

That's right, we got $50 worth of great back to school stuff for just about 3 bucks. Not too shabby, eh?

So, that’s how we saved money at Staples this week and we hope it’ll help you save money too!

Finally, we’d love to hear from you too. Tell us how your back to school shopping is going. Leave us a comment here, on Facebook,

It seems like summer has only just begun and, yet—believe it or not—it’s time to start planning so you can get the best savings on all your back-to-school supplies.

Since it is summer,...

It seems like summer has only just begun and, yet—believe it or not—it’s time to start planning so you can get the best savings on all your back-to-school supplies.

Since it is summer, though, we’ve tried to make this as easy as possible for you by compiling all of the best back-to-school tips right here, in one place. So, grab yourself a nice cold glass of lemonade (or iced tea or beer or whatever floats your boat) and get comfortable… we’re about to make your back-to-school planning as easy as it gets.

Oh and a quick note: this article focuses on getting the younger ones ready for school. If you’re looking for money-saving tips for the college-bound kids in your life, check out our education section.

Ok, have you got your beverage of choice? Are you comfortable? Good. Here we go:

1. Separate the “Must Haves” from the “Nice to Haves”: First things first, make a list of what your kids actually need. Now, the emphasis here is on need. If their sneakers are in tatters, sneaks go on the list as a “must have”. If they’re just a bit worn, list them as “nice to have”. If you’ve got the budget to get new ones, great. If not, you’ll know that these can wait until next year (or even later this year) if you need to. The same goes for school supplies too. Hopefully, your children’s teachers will give you a list of supplies that are necessary. Even better if they identify the items that are needed versus those that are optional. If a teacher hasn’t done this, don’t be shy about asking.
2. Create a budget: Ok, I know I’ve probably lost some of you on this one. You’re probably saying, “Wait a minute? Didn’t this guy just tell me I should relax?! How am I supposed to relax when he’s talking about budgets?!” Take a deep breath. Take a sip of that lemonade. And now, let’s ease into this. Creating a budget doesn’t need to be painful. Honest. Give yourself some leeway and keep it simple. Step 1: quickly rattle through your list and jot down what you think each item will cost. Don’t worry if you’re right or wrong—all we need right now is a ballpark, so take your best guess, jot it down and keep moving. Step 2: Add up all the items on your list and see how the cost compares to what you can actually afford to spend. Step 3: Re-visit that list and see where you can scale back (for example, maybe you can find those boy’s sneakers for $19 instead of $25). Ok. At this point, some of you are probably within your budget. If so, congrats! If not… don’t worry about it for now! Put the list aside and keep reading. The rest of these tips will help you get those costs down to something more manageable.
3. Take advantage of amazing back-to-school doorbuster-quality deals (without getting suckered into the not-so-amazing deals): Most of the big brand stores—whether it’s for clothing or for office and school supplies—will run weekly deals leading up to the start of school. Here’s their trick: they advertise a HUGE deal each week, such as 1 cent pencils and 10 cent notebooks. These deals are so good, the store actually takes a loss on the sale. Why on earth do they do this? Because they plan to entice you in with the HUGE deal and then get you to spend the rest of your budget on the not-so-huge deals. Don’t fall into that trap! Instead, scan all the weekly listings and hit the stores that have the best prices on the items you need. You can stock up on most items for next-to-nothing. We don't recommend incurring extra expenses for gas or wasting a lot of time, but if it's convenient, hit these stores every week and stock up on all of the inexpensive items and pretty soon you'll have covered just about everything on your list without spending much at all.  If you see other good deals along with the huge deals, go&

From Buxr.com on 05/19/13 Retail Coupon Code: 90173 Valid in store only. Valid 5/19/13–5/25/13 in Staples® U.S. stores only. Discount applies to chairs priced $149 or more. Limit 1 per customer....

From Buxr.com on 05/19/13

Retail Coupon Code: 90173 Valid in store only. Valid 5/19/13–5/25/13 in Staples® U.S. stores only. Discount applies to chairs priced $149 or more. Limit 1 per customer. While supplies last. Each item purchased can only be discounted by one coupon, applied by cashier in the order received and prior to tax. Coupon not valid if purchased or sold and must be surrendered. No cash/credit back. Not valid on prior purchases or purchases made with Staples® Procurement or Convenience Cards.

From Buxr.com on 05/19/13 Retail Coupon Code: 90173 Valid in store only. Valid 5/19/13–5/25/13 in Staples® U.S. stores only. Discount applies to chairs priced $149 or more. Limit 1 per customer....

From Buxr.com on 05/19/13

Retail Coupon Code: 90173 Valid in store only. Valid 5/19/13–5/25/13 in Staples® U.S. stores only. Discount applies to chairs priced $149 or more. Limit 1 per customer. While supplies last. Each item purchased can only be discounted by one coupon, applied by cashier in the order received and prior to tax. Coupon not valid if purchased or sold and must be surrendered. No cash/credit back. Not valid on prior purchases or purchases made with Staples® Procurement or Convenience Cards.

From Buxr.com on 05/18/13 OfficeMax Crawley High Back Executive Chair features gas lift, tilt lock and tilt tension. Black PU and PVC Height adjustment Tilt tension with lock Material: Faux...

From Buxr.com on 05/18/13

OfficeMax Crawley High Back Executive Chair features gas lift, tilt lock and tilt tension.

Black PU and PVC
Height adjustment
Tilt tension with lock
Material: Faux Leather
Seat Dimensions: 20-7/8"W x 21-1/4"D x 4-3/8"H
Overall dimensions: 26-1/8"Wx29-7/8"Dx43-3/4~47-1/2"H

From Buxr.com on 05/18/13 OfficeMax Crawley High Back Executive Chair features gas lift, tilt lock and tilt tension. Black PU and PVC Height adjustment Tilt tension with lock Material: Faux...

From Buxr.com on 05/18/13

OfficeMax Crawley High Back Executive Chair features gas lift, tilt lock and tilt tension.

Black PU and PVC
Height adjustment
Tilt tension with lock
Material: Faux Leather
Seat Dimensions: 20-7/8"W x 21-1/4"D x 4-3/8"H
Overall dimensions: 26-1/8"Wx29-7/8"Dx43-3/4~47-1/2"H