Two goals for back-to-school shopping:
1. Saving money.
2. Bein’ all green ‘n’ stuff.
Sometimes these two goals are in conflict, as when the Super-Speshull Recycled Lunch System of Environmental Awesomeness is $kerjillion and the plain no-environmental-awesomeness one is $5. But other times these two goals work together like pencils and paper.
Tip the first: Reuse instead of purchase. If school shopping is fun for you like it’s fun for me, or if you have kids who want the fun of something new, this will be a challenge. But the best way to be all kissy-kissy to the environment is to use things until they are USED UP, and this saves money too. Sometimes stuff is so beat up by the end of a school year it has to be replaced, but sometimes it can go another year, or two, or three, which brings me to tip the second.
Tip the second: Buy stuff that will last. The first couple of school years, I bought $6 backpacks at Walmart, and they ripped halfway through the school year—when of course there were no more $6-back-to-school-special backpacks. Not only does this cost money when things need to be replaced more often, it means the things that wear out have to be thrown away. After that, I bought backpacks from Lands’ End or L.L. Bean, and those suckers just do not wear out. Those can be a lot more expensive, however, which brings me to tip the third.
Tip the third: Buy at the right time. In some cases, this will be in mid-to-late summer, when all the stores are making school supplies their loss leaders. Markers in August are a dollar; markers in January are three dollars. But in other cases, this will be right after school starts, when the stores are clearing out all the school supplies and fall clothing to make room for the Halloween stuff and winter clothing. And in other cases, it’ll be a few months after that. I buy the expensive Lands’ End and L.L. Bean backpacks when they’re marked way down, and I buy the kids’ clothes a year ahead when each season goes on clearance. Not only does this save money, it keeps the stores from throwing stuff away when it doesn’t sell. This sometimes means there aren’t as many choices as there would have been at full-price, which brings me to tip the fourth.
Tip the fourth: Don’t be so picky. “Not being picky” is why clearance shopping is so successful for me: I don’t mind choosing from what’s left. Sometimes I get what would have been my first choice anyway; other times I get something in another color/pattern and it’s totally fine. This saves me enough money that when I or the children DO have a strong preference I feel like I can go ahead and buy it before it’s on clearance: the Hello Kitty lunchbox, the Shaun White t-shirt. (Then I kick myself later when I see the same thing on clearance.)
Please add tip the fifth, tip the sixth, etc., if you have them.
I would love to do #3 & #4 however -
3) we don’t get our school lists until the last week of summer. I tried to buy ahead based on prior estimates last year; I had to buy 3/4 all new and ended up with a bunch of unusable stuff.
4) teachers demand certain colors, certain pattern/no patter requirements. Buy the wrong thing and you get hounded until the right one appears.
This is where there is a disconnect between school administration & parent needs…sigh.
Mich | August 4th, 2010 at 7:35 pm
I think you pretty much covered up the basics…
the other place where I tend to surprisngly find really intresting stuff is walgreens/ CVS> RIght after the season ends.. the stuff is cheap.. i baught 10 sets of 10 pencils for 1$.. beat that~
Does not hurt to drive to a couple to find better deals… especially since they run out fast.
Garima | August 5th, 2010 at 2:53 pm
Mich- TOTALLY AGREE. Our school system does something I think is even MORE annoying, which is that the office sends out a list of what the kids will need—and apparently they didn’t ask the teachers, because then on the first day of school the teachers send home their own lists, which are COMPLETELY DIFFERENT.
Swistle | August 5th, 2010 at 11:53 pm
I buy school supplies all year long when I find them for cheap (Target clearance usually helps me out majorly, as well as Walgreens deals). We usually have exactly what is needed by the time the school list finally makes it way home. Anything leftover is either saved for the next year, or my daughter and her friends use it all up doing crafts (I swear, they just need to move into a craft store).
The thing about my daughters school that really pisses me off, she’s had two teachers who on the first day of school (because all supplies need to be there that day) are combined by the like (all folders, all pencils, etc.) and then the items get passed out randomly to each kid. Which means that some kid may end up with the nice, sturdy, plastic folders I bought and my daughter ends up with the 5 cent ones that rip apart in a week. WTH is THAT about? So, now, everything is labeled before she steps food into school (which I’ve gotten flack about).
js | August 6th, 2010 at 11:11 am
I bought my daughter’s lunch box from http://www.doybags.com, and it is very sturdy. It has already lasted a full school year, and will definitely last for another one at least. Also, it’s made from recycled juice containers, from a women’s cooperative in the Philippines, so the money I’ve spent has gone to a really good cause.
I’m actually kind of sad that my son’s spider-man lunch box is still in good enough condition to use for the next school year, because I want to buy him one, too!
Raisin'Cookies | August 8th, 2010 at 8:37 pm
Word of advice from a teacher: when glue, pencils, paper, etc. is cheap, stock up for the year. Kids at some point during the school year, will run out of pencils or paper. My mom did this, and in January, April, etc., and we were out of something, she went to her box of school supplies in the basement and pulled them out. This saved her money and her late night runs to the store because I know we didn’t tell her early. Plus, we always then had paper, crayons, etc. to color with and my mom had a notebook to make out her grocery lists, shopping lists, etc.
Also? We’ve been told by our admininstration, that no, we cannot request 5 boxes of pencils (or what we really need) because parents complain that it’s too much then. Well, when the kids lose them or use them or break them, they’re left with nothing to use. Always buy at least one more than the list says when things are cheap.
Also, since your kids are getting older, if you find poster board on sale, buy it in bulk. Middle school teachers LOVE projects with poster board for presentations.
hobbychanger | August 9th, 2010 at 12:29 pm