I love saving money. I get a real thrill knowing that I saved money by Not Spending Money. And for those absolute supply needs its great saving 70%, 80%, and 90% off retail prices. Saving money is an irony for me, because ideally we Do Not want to spend any money. Don't crack open the wallet if you don't have to.
The Back to School shopping frenzy sometimes makes us parents feel like we are doing something for our kids, helping their back to school success, and making them happy with new "things." But really do those freshly opened packages of pencils, crayons and markers make them any smarter? On top of the shopping frenzy, there's a small emotional learning for my kids too: you don't have to "shop" for "new things" to be successful in school! Don't get me wrong - sometimes we do need new tools for our job: pencils, or a pencil case, but these items don't improve your reading skills! Or make our kids happier on that first day of school. What's the message when that new pencil breaks? Or their new clothes gets a rip? Is that item, that's now ruined, making them sad? I should hope not.
But when it comes to a new school year, there's always a list of supplies that are needed (notice I didn't say need to be purchased).
Here's a few ways we save on School Supplies:
Recycle Last Years Supplies
At the end of the school year my son brings home his pile of papers, projects, half filled notebooks, folders, and used pencils. From 2nd to 3rd grade transition we reused several pencils, folders, notebooks and our book bag. Hos notebooks had maybe 15 pages filled. We ripped those out for reuse. Pencils were resharpened if they were more then half their original size. Otherwise they stay home in our homework basket for at home work.
Repurpose Packaging
There is the unspoken pressure, as kids get older, to bring in "new supplies" to school. We get around this in 2 ways.
1 - Keep a Like New Box.Iin my storage area, I keep a few boxes for crayon, colored pencils and markers on hand. So when I'm thrifting, or consolidating a few crayons from a larger box (say 60 crayons), I can put them in a smaller crayon box (24 count). My sons taking a "new" box of crayons to school and moms saving money.
2 - Put it in the Pencil Pouch. We opened our thrifted colored pencils, barely used, and put them in the pencil pouch and tossed the tattered box with another kids name on them.
Store School Supplies in One Place
You don't need to hord supplies, because excess is wasteful too. But do keep every thing in one place so what you have is easy to find and replenish.
For us the toy room is an ideal place to securely fasten shelves for kids stuff that isn't often used, but easily accessible. We have our box of large items like notebooks, boxed items like crayons and color pencils, glue sticks and folders.
Then our pens pencils (see the link to alternative bags) and used crayons go into the supply box, or our kitchen craft shelf for project time.
When craft supplies run low I can easily access our supply boxes. Our "recycle & repurpose" supplies are here to. So creativity is sparked within eyesight of what we may need.
I also keep our incomplete craft sets, unused items, excess usable crayons & markers from previous years here too. Great for future school supply lists and our crafting supplies.
Thrifting and Discount Stores
All discounts are not equal!!! We do thrift, with a tighter belt then in previous years. It's easy to fall into excess, even when your saving money. When school supplies DO go on sale (July / August) Target and Walmart sell crayons for $0.25 a box. So when I'm thrifting, crayons need to beat that price. It pays to be familiar with reduced retail prices so you can know when the thrift stores truly have a deal.
Our rules for thrift stores always apply. 1. It has to work/it is not broken. Even opened packaging is acceptable. Especially with school supplies. Just be logical an think thru if you can:
1. Find the purchase elsewhere for a better price?
2. Unique items always come home!
3. Do you REALLY need it?
Big Box and Discount Stores
The same thrifting theory applies to Big Box & Discount stores. Big Lots recently had heavy stock folders, 15 in a pack for $1.50. That's $0.10 per folder - great deal. But during back to school sales Staples has $0.01 penny folders. That's a Better Deal! I personally won't drive out of my way to another store for a few cents savings, because I'll spend what I would save on folders to drive there in gasoline! If it is not "on the way" I'm not going. So take into consideration the convenience of savings.
As an aside, read the fine print if you do go in for $0.01 folders or something similar, there's a $5 minimum purchase requirement. So you have to spend to save. Back to Schools a great time because you can stock up on other sale items. But be careful of the impulse buy. You might spend everything you've saved for an item you wouldn't otherwise buy.
My favorite false frugal save is dollar stores. Don't buy crayons for $1 when target sells them for $0.25. And sometimes there brand of markers doesn't last as long as crayons does. So it's not worth buying generic if your running out and buying replacements - due to failure!!
Buy TWO
As the school year passes, by Winter Break its time to restock up on use supplies. New pencils, erasers, maybe a few notebooks and glue stocks need to be replaced. And yes, teachers will ask for Kleenex boxes am paper towels again. So when we make our back to school purchases we usually Buy Two of what we don't have in our supply box at home.
Make mistakes, breath, reflect and Laugh.Out.Loud
The days are long but the years are short, very short. As was our summer!!
