Need school supplies? We compared prices, and this Bellingham store is the most affordable

With summer quickly ending and the start of the school year just days away, you may still need to get school supplies.

To help you save the most money during this expensive time, The Bellingham Herald has compared school supply prices at five local stores: Walmart, Target, OfficeMax, Walgreens and Fred Meyer in search of the most thrifty retailer.

We compared the prices of 10 basic school supplies:

▪ 24 count #2 pencils

▪ 2 count pink erasers

▪ 4 count thick tip highlighters

▪ 24 count colored pencils

▪ 24 count crayons

▪ 100, 3”x5” index cards

▪ A 2” durable binder

▪ 1 spiral-bound notebook, wide or college-ruled, 70 sheets

▪ 100-150 sheets of loose-leaf paper, wide or college-ruled

▪ A 17” laptop backpack

After adding the prices of the 10 school supplies at each store, we found that Walmart had the cheapest total, followed closely by Walgreens.

Walmart’s total for the 10 items cost $34.84, compared with Walgreens at $36.47. In third place was Target with a total of $39.92, followed by Fred Meyer at $40.09, and OfficeMax with the highest total at $42.58.

Many stores also had school supplies on sale for a limited time or had coupons available.

The first day of school for students in Bellingham Public Schools is Thursday, Aug. 31.