Photo by 3lilmonsters411
I'm bad at the back to school thing. My first-grader starts in a little over a week, and he still doesn't have new shoes, a lunch bag, or a haircut. There's a library book sitting on our bookshelf that he (we) neglected to turn in LAST year.
And I've yet to go out and purchase back to school supplies.
I know most of you probably did this ages ago, or were smart enough to buy the pre-packaged deal from the PTA. But I don't even have the list. I think they sent it home months ago, but I lost it. Maybe I could tell my son's teacher that the dog ate it.
Many schools are already in full swing, but for me and the other proscrastinators who still haven't picked up those glue sticks, pens and pocket folders, cleanaturalady shared some Money and Time Saving BTS Supply Tips. Read her full Journal, but here are some teasers:
Go through that big bag of stuff that your child(ren) brought home at the end of school last year and see what can be reused. Does it really matter if there are 55 instead of 70 pages in that spiral notebook? I don't think anyone will notice.
Don't go all over town trying to find the exact brand/size/colorof everything on the school's supply list. The PTA picks the brands that they want for the supplies and contracts with the school supply vendor based on those choices. It probably doesn't matter if your child has Crayola crayons or Prang crayons, they both make pretty colors when applied to paper.
Go shopping alone. Do it in the dead of night if you have to but under no circumstances take your child(ren) with you to buy supplies. It is a recipe for disaster.
Do you buy your own school supplies or do you order the package from the PTA? Is there a big difference in price?
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Comments 13
Never heard of a prepackaged deal from the PTA. Perhaps our PTA should look into that idea.
Watch for the sales, there are always many. If the backpacks are still in good shape, go ahead and use them again. You can find lunch bags for $4.00 at Wal-Mart. You can also find loose leaf paper, if needed for .50 cents a pack. Good Luck!
Our school system REQUIRES us to purchase our supplies form them and if we want to buy additional we may do so. It is $20 for the year.
Back to school sales are also a very good time to buy your own personal or small business office supplies. You don't see the prices that cheap any other time of year!!
Thank you for linking my journal. I know it can be intimidating for moms to try to figure out exactly what they need while staying within a budget. Happy shopping everyone. Thanks again Cafe Cynthia.
That Cleanaturalady is always full of wonderful stuff. Lurves her writing, I do!
tmax43,
That kind of stinks, but on the other hand $20 is a very good price for a school supply pack. Our least expensive pack this year was around $45. I was the PTA President last year and worked closely with the vendor to make the packs as affordable as possible while still staying within the lists that the administration gave us. We really don't make any money on the sales. It is more of a service that the PTA provides our families. We are also able to give away a few packs to needy families.
Those are great ideas! I learned this year (I can't believe I actually had to do it to learn it) to TAKE THE LIST WITH YOU when shopping. I thought I could get away with buying "just the basics" without the list and then getting it later and finishing up. Nope, only 2 things I bought were on the list. I ended up returning a bag full of stuff and doing it all over again *sigh*.
Thank goodness the girl at Walmart was nice enough to help me. I bought the last 2 pink erasers that were tucked in behind the glue sticks ;-)
Thanks for the tips!
Dangit. I wish I'd read this BEFORE I went shopping. My husband didn't believe me that it didn't HAVE to be ELMER'S glue, etc.