Every August I used to come home with two bags of stationery, a highlighter set in six colours, and a sense of having been extremely organised.

By October, three highlighters were lost, one had leaked into a pencil case, and the folder system I had planned was a pile of loose paper in the bottom of a bag.

So this list is only the things that actually got used all year. Number four is the one that saved me the most money, and it is the opposite of what every haul video suggests.

Where to start before you spend anything

Empty last year’s bag and pencil case onto the table first. Genuinely, all of it. Most people discover half a haul’s worth of perfectly good stuff, and about four pens that still work sitting in a drawer.

Then buy for the gaps rather than the aesthetic. A matching set of everything in one colour looks lovely for about a fortnight and then falls apart at different rates anyway. Working from an actual list of what is missing usually cuts the shop in half, which is money and plastic saved.

1. One good backpack with a padded back

The single item worth spending real money on. Look for a padded back panel, wide adjustable straps, and a separate laptop compartment. A cheap flat backed bag with thin straps digs in when it is loaded with textbooks, and shoulder pain in November is not worth the twenty pounds saved in August.

2. A refillable water bottle that does not leak

Test the lid over a sink before it goes in a bag with books. Screw top lids beat flip tops for actual leak resistance, and a wide mouth is much easier to clean properly. Stainless steel costs more upfront and lasts several years rather than one.

3. Lined A4 refill pad, not a stack of notebooks

Notebooks are lovely and they get abandoned halfway through. A refill pad with a ring binder means you file by subject as you go, and you only carry the pages you need that day. Much lighter, much cheaper per page, and nothing gets wasted.

4. Buy fewer pens, better ones

Here is the money saver. Skip the forty pack of gel pens, which will mostly dry out or vanish. Buy four or five good ones you actually like writing with, plus a couple of spares. You will use those every day for months, and the multipacks are almost always false economy.

5. Highlighters in two colours, not six

Two is enough for any sensible system. More than that and nobody remembers what each colour means by week three, including the person who invented the system. Get one yellow and one other shade you like, and buy a chisel tip rather than a bullet tip.

6. Sturdy pencil case with a flat base

Round pencil cases roll off desks and swallow small items. A flat based case sits still, opens wide, and lets you see everything. Look for a zip that runs three quarters of the way round rather than a short opening you have to dig through.

7. A dedicated homework diary or planner

Even if the school provides one, having a personal week to view planner helps enormously. Write assignments down the day they are set, not the night before they are due. This sounds obvious and it is the thing that separates a calm term from a chaotic one.

8. Proper scientific calculator if the subject needs it

Check the model your school specifies rather than guessing, because exam boards restrict which ones are allowed. Buy it early in August too, since the approved models sell out locally in the first week of September every single year without fail.

9. Label everything, even the boring stuff

Name labels or a permanent marker on every single item. Water bottles, calculators, PE kit, the lot. Lost property boxes in most schools are full of perfectly good unnamed items nobody claims because nobody can prove it is theirs.

10. Spare PE socks and a second pair of shorts

Keep a spare set in the bag permanently. Forgotten kit is the most common cause of a bad school morning and a spare pair of socks costs almost nothing. This is dull advice and it will save at least three arguments a term.

11. Comfortable shoes, broken in before term starts

Whatever the uniform rules allow, wear them around the house for a week beforehand. New school shoes plus a full day of walking equals blisters by Wednesday. Buy them with a thumb’s width of growing room, not more, since oversized shoes cause their own problems.

12. A small first week kit in the bag

Plasters, a spare pen, a hair tie, and a bit of change. Small things that solve small emergencies without needing to ask anyone. It fits in a side pocket and it makes the first week feel considerably less stressful, which is what most of this is really about.

How to shop it without overspending

Split the list into now and later. Bags, shoes, calculators and PE kit need buying before term. Stationery beyond the basics can wait until you know what each subject actually requires, because teachers hand out specific requirements in the first fortnight and half of what you buy in August will not match them.

Then look at timing. Supermarket uniform and stationery ranges are cheapest in mid July and picked over by late August, while the stationery in high street shops often drops in price in the second week of September once the rush passes. If you can split the shop across those two windows you save a fair bit. One more thing I noticed after a few years: buying the same brand of pen every year means the ink and feel stay consistent, which sounds trivial and genuinely makes writing for a full lesson more comfortable.

Frequently asked questions

When is the best time to do a back to school shop? Mid July for uniform and shoes while stock is full, then early September for subject specific stationery once teachers have given their requirements. Late August is the most expensive and the most picked over.

How much should a back to school haul cost? It varies hugely, but auditing last year’s supplies first typically halves the list. Spending more on a good backpack and shoes while buying fewer, better pens usually works out cheaper across the whole year.

What is not worth buying for school? Large gel pen multipacks, six colour highlighter sets and multiple decorative notebooks. All three look appealing in a haul and almost never get fully used before the end of the year.

What should I look for in a school backpack? A padded back panel, wide adjustable straps and a separate laptop compartment. Straps and back padding matter far more than storage capacity once the bag is loaded with textbooks.

Do I need to buy a specific calculator? Check with the school, since exam boards approve only certain models. Buy it in early August, as the approved models reliably sell out in local shops during the first week of term.

Final thoughts

The most useful back to school shop I ever did was the year I bought about half as much as usual and spent the difference on a decent bag. Everything lasted longer and nothing came home in June still in its packaging.

If you are heading out this week, empty last year’s bag onto the table first and write your list from what is actually missing. It takes fifteen minutes and it will probably cut your spend more than any voucher code.