It's that time of year again - the time when parents across the country give a sigh of relief and school age children give a groan while parents and children alike scramble to prepare for another school year. Here are some tips to help you get organized and get ready for "back to school."

1. Score your school supplies early

Sure, it's tempting to wait until the last minute to collect school supplies, but within a couple of weeks of the resumption of school, the school supply aisle in most stores looks like a cyclone tore through it. Prices may be low, but so is the stock level, and good luck finding those odd or unusual items on the must-have list. The couple of bucks you'd save on waiting for school supplies to go on sale will quickly be eaten up in the extra gas you'll use driving from store to store to find what you need. Be smart...shop early and get your supply lists finished.

If you're preparing for college, don't rely on limited communication from the university -- if you can, speak to returning students, or look for advice online. If your student plans to live on-campus, be sure to visit the dorms during visitation to see what kinds of supplies are needed, and what will fit into the average dorm room. You'll be glad you did!

2. Let someone else do the shopping.

You can save time and effort by using a service like Edukit. These kinds of services connect with your school, gathering up school supply lists for each grade level and assembling a fixed-price kit that includes everything your child needs. When you order early enough, the school supply service can even deliver your child's kit to his or her classroom on the first day of school. How's that for convenient? Think it's expensive or riddled with unnecessary markups? Do some quick online research and you might be surprised by what you find (especially when you consider the hassles you'll save when you don't have to travel from store to store). School supply services typically include everything except a backpack, but these can be ordered online from other sites like Personalization Mall.

If you don't have a school supply service that participates with your child's school, why not start a little co-op? A few parents can get together and divvy up supply-purchasing responsibilities, so that each person only has to travel to one store to buy supplies for everyone.