When Shopping Siren was a wee lass, she once proudly bought a bagful of school supplies with her own money. It cost $20, her life savings at the time, but she got a blue three-ring binder with a tiger on the cover, a packet of silver pencils topped with black erasers, a plastic pencil case that closed with a satisfying snick and assorted other geegaws that were invaluable for an up-and-coming fifth-grader.

Today those supplies would probably cost a grand total of $1.77.

Back-to-school sales have gotten that crazy.

It’s a full month before Maine kids return to the classroom, but stores are already advertising gargantuan sales to draw in shoppers. If you have a bit of spare change between the couch cushions, you can supply your kids — and, heck, the neighbor’s kids — with the basics.

Don’t have schoolchildren? Paper, pens and glue are useful even to those of us long past turning in book reports. (Um. Though I may technically still owe one or two. They’re coming, Mrs. Beal!)

Here are my picks for this week’s best deals. Everything’s less than a dollar. Much is way less. And no minimum purchase or rebate to trip you up.

Note: Some stores limit the number of items you can buy at once. No one wants to run out of pencil cases that close with a satisfying snick.

* Elmer’s glue sticks, two-pack, Kmart, 50 cents. 

Disappearing purple, so little Jenny can see exactly where she’s placed the glue and whether she’s globbed on enough to secure the macaroni to her construction paper. Washable, which is good because what kid wouldn’t want to see how the carpet/dog/baby looks with purple streaks?

* Fiskars 12-inch wooden ruler, Walmart, 25 cents

So old school it’s cool.

* Glory watercolors with brush, Walmart, 50 cents

Sixteen colors, which is nine more than the standard rainbow. That’s completely worth 50 cents.

* Three-ring binder, Walmart, 92 cents

In addition to those three glorious rings, each binder has two interior pockets and comes in your choice of colors. Cheap enough to buy one for every school subject. Or every tax year, should you, grownup, be so organized. 

* One-subject college-ruled spiral notebooks, Walmart, 17 cents

Made in the USA from paper harvested in an environmentally sustainable manner. For 17 cents. Why are you still sitting there? Go get ’em! (No, wait, come back! Finish reading, then class dismissed.)

* College-ruled filler paper, 150 sheets, OfficeMax, 60 cents

Marked as clearance, though I’m not sure why. It’s not like the paper is about to expire. But, hey, when something’s marked half off, I don’t ask questions.

* Zippered plastic pencil pouch, OfficeMax, 50 cents

Can be secured vertically or horizontally through the rings of a three-ring binder. It makes no satisfying noise when it closes, but it does come in tons of colors and it has a cool zipper. The 10-year-old me would have deemed it acceptable to carry her pencils.

* Sharpie highlighters, five pack, Staples, 50 cents

For serious studying. Or less-serious coloring of sneakers.

* Stickies, 125 pack, Staples, 25 cents

Little sticky strips in various colors for flagging pages and noting chapters in books. So your kids have no excuse for failing their quantum mechanics class. No excuse at all.   

Best find: Crayons, 24-pack, Walmart, Crayola for 50 cents or Cra-Z-Art for 25 cents

Buy a couple of packs for school, a couple to tuck into Christmas stockings and a few to gift wrap with coloring books last minute when Junior gets invited to birthday parties and forgets to tell you about it. For $3 you’ll have enough to last for the next 12 months. The Year of the Crayon! That sounds festive.

Think twice: Staedtler battery-operated eraser, Staples, $1

Compared to, say, a new car, this clearance item isn’t at all expensive. Compared to all the other back-to-school deals around, however, it might as well be a Maserati. And as school supplies go, it’s about as useful. Erasing isn’t so hard that one requires the assistance of batteries.

Unless, of course, you’re erasing from your school supply list all the things you just bought.

Shopping Siren’s true identity is protected by a pair of stylish, sweater-wearing Doberman pinschers (who do not want purple streaks in their fur) and the Customer Service counter at the Sun Journal. You can reach her at shoppingsiren@sunjournal.com.