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Once the Christmas holidays are over and everyone is getting back into the swing of things at work, the next item on the to-do list is buying back to school supplies for the kids.
As any parent know, getting your children set up for a new year at school can be an expensive and challenging job to complete. Depending on the age of your children, you could have a shopping list that includes safety scissors and pencils, or a list that includes a new laptop and digital accessories.
Fortunately, Choice recently completed their Back To School Challenge, which compared the pries of traditional school supplies at Australia’s biggest retailers, such as Kmart, Big W and Officeworks.
CHOICE conducted the comparison by putting together a list of 17 items Australians typically need when their kids are heading back to school, including pencils, pens, scissors, and water bottles. We then compared prices for these items across Officeworks, Kmart and Big W on the same day.
“Back to school supplies can quickly add up,” says CHOICE’s Managing Editor, Marg Rafferty. “Uniforms, shoes, backpacks, lunchboxes, and stationery amount to quite a lot of money, especially if you have more than one child at school. It’s important to shop around so that you can get the best deal possible.”
“We’ve already done some of the work for you with our price comparison, and we’ve found that Officeworks is the cheapest place to shop for school supplies. Now parents can have a better understanding of what they should expect to pay.”
Officeworks proved to be the cheapest place to buy back to school supplies, Costing just $26.87 for the 17 items. Big W cost $29.69 for the same items, followed by Kmart at $30 for the same items.
Full list of items included in shopping basket:
5-pack HB pencils
12-pack coloured pencils
Pencil sharpener with receptacle to hold shavings
10-pack ballpoint pens
10 pack colouring pens
Pencil case – the kind where you cut out letters to slip into the slots
4-pack highlighter pens
Eraser
Glue stick
64-page exercise book
Roll of adhesive book covering (2m)
A4 spiral-bound notebook (120 pages)
2-ring binder (25mm)
Water bottle (stainless steel)
Scissors
Ruler
Correction tape
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