College Corner - Stockpile now for the fall semester

Since my oldest son is a college sophomore I thought I would start blogging about college issues ie scholarships, financial aid, advice, ways we found to save money. This is the first article in a series.

With the Fourth of July just around the corner I thought I would pass on one of the money saving tips I used last year and intend on using this year too. Certain items such as potato chips, soft drinks, condiments and paper goods are usually on sale at really good prices for the Fourth of July. Last year I bought several cubes of Pepsi (my son's soft drink of choice), potato chips, plastic cutlery, cups, napkins, paper towels mustard and ketchup etc and stockpiled them. Now I do not believe in huge stockpiles that take over the basement but you can use your best estimate as to how much your college student will use the first semester of these items. Make sure to check expiration dates on potato chips and soft drinks as they do have a short shelf life. And of course your college student won't be able to lug the whole stockpile with him when school starts, you will have to store some at home. Johnny rolled his eyes when I bought all these items last Fourth of July but he found it very convenient not to have to get in his car and drive 20 miles to the closes Wal Mart for his snacks or pay a really high price at the local convenience store.

You can stock up year round on other non perishable items for your college student like laundry detergent and cleaning supplies. And of course early to late September is a great time to get school supplies like pencils, notebooks, pens etc really cheap because they are left over from the back to school sales and marked way down.