LUBBOCK, Texas — As inflation holds its grip, the search for budget-friendly school supplies becomes an essential quest.

We took a deeper look at the school supply list for fourth graders at Slaton ISD’s Cathlene Thomas Elementary and shopped online at the four top stores for school supplies – H-E-B, Office Depot, Target and Walmart.

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A 24-pack of Ticonderoga (a brand that touts itself as being the world’s best pencil) unsharpened No. 2 pencils at Office Depot sat at $4.99, while the same pack was $3.99 at Target and $3.97 at Walmart. A 12-pack of the same pencils was $3.06 at H-E-B, so to equal 24 pencils, the total cost would be $6.12.

For wired headphones or earbuds, a necessity on most school supply lists nowadays, we went with the Sony ZX Series Wired On Ear Headphones – (MDR-ZX110). At Office Depot, the headphones cost $14.99, at Target they were on sale for $9.99 and at Walmart $16.74. H-E-B did not offer this brand of headphones, so we went with the cheapest option which sat at $6.21.

A pair of Fiskars 5″ Blunt Tip Scissors at Office Depot was $1.99, the same pair was $1.59 at Target and $1.58 at Walmart. The H-E-B brand blunt tip stainless steel scissors were $1.54 each.

These were just a few of the items where we compared the prices of specific brands.

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The final list was comprised of, in most cases, the cheapest possible price per item at each store, including price when purchased online for some items. The price to purchase the full supply list at Office Depot was $100.16, at Walmart was $92.29, at Target was $79.33, and at H-E-B was $76.80.

The most budget-friendly store for this supply list was H-E-B.

Cathlene Thomas Elementary 4th Grade school supply list with costs per 1 pack or item:

• Wired headphones or earbuds – (H-E-B – $6.21, Office Depot – $14.99, Target – $9.99, Walmart – $16.74)
• 24 #2 pencils – (H-E-B – $6.12, Office Depot – $4.99, Walmart – $3.97, Target – $3.99)
• 2 packs of skinny black dry erase markers (H-E-B – $2.06, Office Depot – $4.99, Walmart – $8.75, Target – $4.89)
• 1 pack of colored pencils (H-E-B – $1.01, Office Depot – $1.79, Walmart – $0.97, Target – $0.99)
• 1 pack of markers (H-E-B – $4.13, Office Depot – $1.50 , Walmart – $8.51, Target – $0.99)
• 1 pack of highlighters-boys (H-E-B – $1.79, Office Depot – $1.99 , Walmart – $1.72 , Target – $1.79)
• 1 pack of red pens-girls (H-E-B – [10 pack] $1.01, Office Depot – $13.79 , Walmart – $11.11 , Target – $12.32)
• 1 pair of scissors – (H-E-B – $1.54, Office Depot – $1.99, Walmart – $1.58, Target – $1.59)
• 5 glue sticks (H-E-B – [4 pack] $1.54, Office Depot – $5.99 , Walmart – $4.47 , Target – $2.99)
• 1 3-subject spiral notebook (H-E-B – $2.37, Office Depot – $6.21 , Walmart – $8.00 , Target – $4.79)
• 2 composition notebooks (H-E-B – $0.52, Office Depot – $0.50 , Walmart – $0.50 , Target – $1.29)
• 1 2” Binder (H-E-B – $6.01, Office Depot – $6.99 , Walmart – $3.28, Target – $4.99)
• 1 folder with pockets (H-E-B – $0.44, Office Depot – $0.50 , Walmart – $0.15 , Target – $0.50)
• 1 pack of dividers (H-E-B – $1.53, Office Depot – $5.99, Walmart – $0.67 , Target – $0.89)
• 1 pack of index cards with one hole punch (H-E-B – $1.39, Office Depot – $0.99 , Walmart – $0.72, Target – $1.49)
• 1 supply pouch (H-E-B – $2.05, Office Depot -$2.31 , Walmart – $1.97 , Target – $2.99)
• 1 backpack (H-E-B – $15.58, Office Depot – $10.08 , Walmart – $8.97 , Target – $11.99)
• 2 boxes of Kleenex (H-E-B – $2.48, Office Depot – $6.39 , Walmart – $1.68 , Target – $2.39)
• 1 container of disinfectant wipes (H-E-B – $3.62, Office Depot – $4.09 , Walmart – $2.24 , Target – $3.49)
• 1 box of Ziploc gallon size bags-girls (H-E-B – $3.31, Office Depot – $8.79, Walmart – $4.78, Target – $5.99)
• 1 box of Ziploc Quart size bags-boys (H-E-B – $7.03, Office Depot – $8.89 , Walmart – $12.87 , Target – $5.99)

The prices listed above were obtained on August 8.