Buying school supplies from the dollar store is much cheaper than buying them anywhere else. Here's proof:

Dollar General is featuring Bic Briteliners in a package of five and Elmer's disappearing purple glue sticks in four-packs for $2 each package.

Six Papermate highlighters cost $3.76 and UHU glue sticks are $2.17 for .74 ounces. and $1.97 for a .88 ounce Elmer Glue Stick at Wal-mart.

Dollar General also has eight-packs of Bic Cristal pens, 8-packs of Bic Grip pens and a package of five Bic mechanical pencils for only $1.50 per pack.

You can also get 24 wooden pencils at the same price point. Wal-mart is selling 24-packs of wooden pencils for $2.56 or $1.06 more than D.G. Wal-mart is selling packs of ten Bic Cristal pens and eight packs of Bic Grip pens for $1.56 each.

Stock up on 125 sheets of binder paper, Sharpie markers, an assortment of notebooks, kid scissors and pocket calculators for only $1 each at D.G. Pay $2.88 for kid-safe scissors and $4.66 for a twin pack of Sharpie markers at Wal-mart.

If you've got kids moving to an apartment this fall, you may appreciate Dollar Tree's Web-only deal this week, a 24-piece set of Royal Norfolk stoneware for only $24. The set contains eight each of 10-inch dinner plates, 5 1/2-inch bowls and mugs in Robin's Egg blue. It's microwave and dishwasher safe.

True, one fledgling isn't going to need all of that dinnerware, but maybe you could split the cost with two or three other parents whose kids are heading out on their own and divide the set accordingly.

For high school kids, Dollar Tree has an assortment of magnetic storage units for lockers at a buck apiece. It also stocks a variety of calculators for every age group; everything from desk-top models to 10-digit scientific calculators and each one is only $1. Calculators at other department stores start at $7.97 and go up to $24.49 for a Scientific calculator.

Dollarama has snagged an assortment of Buffalo brand products for back to school, including snazzy insulated zippered lunch bags, three-subject wire-bound notebooks and 12-piece geometry sets in plastic or metal cases for only $2 each.

As always, Dollarama carries a wide assortment of school notebooks, pens, 100 sheets of binder paper, glue sticks, and much more, most of it only a buck. Double-zippered pencil cases are $1.25 at Dollarama and $2.96 at Wal-mart.

The math sets I saw at Wal-mart were 11-piece and eight-piece sets that cost $7.59 and $8.87 respectively. A five subject, 400-sheet spiral bound notebook cost $9.97 and it was heavy. Who wants to lug that from class to class along with all the other necessary paraphernalia? It makes more sense to me to buy two three-subject notebooks and it would cost almost $6 cheaper, too.

An 80-page Hilroy notebook cost $1.48, compared to a buck at almost any dollar store, including Dollarama and the one-subject notebooks there contain 140 pages or 50 more sheets of paper. I also saw a battery-operated scientific calculator at Dollarama for $2. It features 240 functions and a two-line display.

If you've got kids going back to school this fall, it really pays to check out your local dollar stores first.

Marlene Alexander is a freelance writer and dollar store diva. She writes tips and ideas for home decor using only items from the dollar store.