Money Listens

When I was I kid I loved going shopping for school supplies.  Holding the list, checking off the items– it was one of the few times I got to make choices of my own. Did I want a blue pencil box this year?  The highlight was the lunch box.  Snoopy and Woodstock were fun, but would I be cooler with Charlie’s Angels?  I felt sorry for some of my friends.  Their moms would confiscate the supplies until the first day of school.  I was allowed to unpack them in my room.  I would cut the scissors out of the plastic, write my name on all the notebooks, and organize everything in one shoebox.  It was amazing that I had my own Elmer’s glue, my own Scotch tape, and one dozen brand new Ticonderoga pencils.

I have no idea how much my mom spent on school supplies.  We really didn’t buy much.  But I remember what I spent for my 3 kids two years ago– $108.00.  I remember because it was a big shock.  And it wasn’t everything they “needed,” some items we couldn’t find at that store.  Since then I’ve looked for ways to save on school supplies.

You’re not going to believe this, but the “back to school” ads hit in Sunday’s newspaper.  It’s barely the middle of summer, but all the gardening supplies have been cleared out, and the shelves are stocked with paper, notebooks, and highlighters in a hundred different colors.

Here are some tips for keeping costs down.

1.  Look around the house.  Did you save the scissors or rulers from last year?  Do an inventory of any supplies that can be used again this year.  Check those off the list.  You did download the list from your school’s website, didn’t you?

2.  Don’t let the kids go shopping with you.  If you do, they’ll talk you into the $2.00 neon plastic ruler instead of the $.49 one.  If you’re like me and have fond memories that you want your kids to enjoy also, buy most of the stuff yourself and let them choose a lunchbox or pencil case.  Remember that our kids go shopping much more and buying school supplies isn’t as big a deal as it once was.

3.  Pick up items every week that are on special at the grocery store.  Most stores have crayons one week and glue the next.  And buy extra if you know that your kids always need more after Christmas.  If you do a lot of art projects, get as many bottles of glue as you can.  They won’t be this cheap again until next year.

4.  Find a store that has spiral notebooks for $.10 and buy 2 or 3 dozen.  Your kids will complain because everyone else has Batman or Narnia on their spirals.  But they can decorate the front covers with markers and stickers.  And you’ll have enough to last the entire year.  If you like using them for journals and to-do lists, buy a few more for yourself.

5.  Buy at least 6 poster boards per child.  You know how your kid tells you at dinner that he’s got a poster project on recycling due the next day?  He wants you to drive him to Walgreens to get a poster board.   You suggest that since it’s about recycling he should tape some brown paper bags together and use that for a “poster.”  Now you don’t have to have that conversation, you’ll have plenty of poster boards stashed in the back of your closet.  If you really go through them, Sam’s Club online has a package of 25 for $8.88, including shipping.

6.   Stock up on what your kids use the most.  If you have elementary age kids, they will devour markers and crayons.  High school kids need vast quantities of index cards and mechanical pencils.  Everyone seems to need folders.  They are so inexpensive at this time, buy 2 or 3 dozen.  Make sure they have prongs.  You might want the plastic ones if you kids are hard on paper folders.  If you have the storage space, stock up when you find a good price; you can use the items for more than one year.

7.  Don’t buy inferior quality items.  Some of the dollar stores have pens that barely write and pencils with erasers that don’t erase.  Stick with name brand items unless you’ve used a brand before and are satisfied with the quality.  I’m partial to the Dixon Ticonderoga pencils, they are a pleasure to use and really help young kids with writing.

8.  If you need office supplies for yourself, buy those at this time of year.  Most stores have “dorm room” collections with great prices on desk lamps and organizers.  But don’t buy them unless you need them and were planning to buy them.  Some of these items can make great birthday or Christmas presents.

9.  If you start shopping now, you will be able to buy school supplies at your normal shopping trips.  Just pick up whatever items are on sale that week.  It isn’t worth going all over town to several stores, but over the course of the next few weeks most of the items you need will be on sale at places you regularly shop.  You can plan a trip to a store like Office Max for the other items on your list when they have a good sale.

10.  If you kids must have a particular binder or item that is more than you want to pay, tell them you will give them the cost of the plain item and they can add their own money to make up the difference.

Buy some extra supplies and drop them off at your child’s school.  There are always kids that don’t have school supplies.  Isn’t that one of the reasons we want to save money, so we can afford to share with others?

This entry (Permalink) was posted on Monday, July 14th, 2008 at 5:00 am and is filed under Saving More and More. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response , or trackback from your own site.