Back to school shopping can be stressful. The crowds, the cost, and the out of stock items can make shopping for school supplies worse than Black Friday. Luckily, technology can make this whole endeavor a little easier. You need to pre-plan a little bit, but it will make your school year easier.

First things first, you need to have your school's supply list. Some schools and teachers offer the lists online, others you can find in store. Staples, in theory, offers a search feature on their website so you can find your exact list. However, it appears to be down. Target also offers this feature. Walmart too has a search feature. Now that you're prepared with your school list, let's move on to phase 2.

Online shopping is the key. These online school lists from the above retailers allow you to shop online right from the list. You can then have the items shipped to your house or pick them up in store. Now you are not fighting the crowds or wasting time looking for out of stock items.

Stock up on the usual essentials. You know every year pencils, pens, notebooks, folders, and if your kids are older binders will be on the list. Keep a stock of them at home. You can get folders at Target for .15 cents, buying extra each year will help in the upcoming years.

You can also use your Amazon Prime membership to use. Free two day and extremely cheap one day shipping may come in handy if stores are out of stock on certain items.

Quick tip for college kids, DO NOT BUY YOUR TEXTBOOKS IN ADVANCE. Most, if not all, professors know you won't have your text book on the first day. Sometimes the required textbooks aren't actually required. Also, never buy them from the college. They are overpriced and you will be waiting on line for hours.

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