We save even more because I stock up on supplies when they are on clearance. Who can resist spending $1 on crayons when they are .5 a box?? Or .10 per pack of pencils and pens?? We buy ahead for the next year. Then the $$ that we save can be used for the "fun" stuff like play-doh,paints,puzzles,and games.
I HATE clutter. Its my project for the year 2010 to get rid of as much as %60 of my possessions because a lot of it is paper junk and books that I'm "Gonna" use at some unspecified point in the future! The Rest are excess clothes! My students have a good deal of school related stuff (read: junk) that has been stockpiled for them since up to 3 years ago! The only thing I've bought so far was TRL (an Ebook!) and Hooked On Phonics, off of Ebay, because I was appalled at the newer version and my aunt wont share hers without making me feel like a burden for using whats just been sitting in her storage for ages anyway! We've just been using some of the numerous MathWork books that were stockpiled for them a long time ago anyway. I probably would've looked harder for free stuff if I could do it again. I hate wasting money and building clutter and at this point, I didn't HAVE to spend money, but I really wanted something systematic and high quality, so I went with TRL. I'm going to use Progressive Phonics and Starfall for a while this fall. We have paper, paint, folders, etc up the wazoo! I'm not sure I want anything else until I can get the current mess under stricter control. 6yo has a curriculum coming in the fall so I'm just going to be supplementing with Book a Day and Time Math Drills.
Our stores were putting out school supplies by mid-june so I would just grab a few boxes of crayons or whatever as I passed by them. I LOVE new crayons LOL. Other than that my kids didnt really "need" anything so I just grabbed a few fun things just because I am nice like that
My kids get a MUCH healthier "school-day" lunch at home! AND, I can teach them Life Skills at the same time by allowing them to help make it.
You know, I felt the same way until recently...I found out a friend had to pay over $400 PER CHILD to register them for school here in our county! (for books, etc) WHAT?!
My 11-yr-old discovered my mechanical pencils, too, and LOVES to "borrow" them...May have to invest in some for him this year.
I know what ya mean, I just got rid of a BUNCH of books that I thought we would use at a later time. Actually, the back of my yukon is full of books. I posted some on curriculumshare,but the majority of them will be donated to our local battered woman's shelter thrift store. Two WHOLE bookshelf full of them. They've been sitting on the shelves untouched for about 3 years now. So I decided that I could get them from the library when we were ready to use them. As far as the school supplies go, I don't buy more than can fit in my show off type boxes. I have two of them. We take everything out of their packaging (except crayons of course) and rubber band pencils,pens,and stuff like that together. Glue sticks are in a ziploc bag inside the boxes. And the boxes are labled with what is in them. They are kept on my small bookshelf with all the teachers manuals. I'm working on getting my clutter under controll as well. All our craft supplies are inside the bottom of a china cabinet. I can't find anything without pullling it ALL out. So,when i go to dollar tree the next time (closest is 1 hr away) i'm going to pick up some plastic boxes with lids and label them like i did the school supply boxes. Hopefully, that will help keep that under tabs. Other areas of my home will be organized similarly. But that will have to be a whole other post.
I bought some small, clear plastic drawers to put supplies in, and keep them on my shelf. This is easier for me than the containers, as I don't have to move three to get to the one on the bottom, I just slide the drawer out. And, I label them ~ paper, sticky stuff (glue, glue sticks, tape, velcro, etc.), pens & pencils (erasers go in there, too), etc. HTH. This has helped my clutter quite a bit.
Hahaha, I'm so glad to know I'm not the only one who loves a new box of crayons! LOL I just finished my school supply shopping for the year, too. It cost me a grand total of $35, and that included $20 for a new whiteboard.
As much as I'm a "new school supplies" (in general) nut, my dh is a Crayola crayons nut! Any time of year we happen to be in that aisle at WalMart, he'll stop and smell the crayons!!! He says it reminds him of when he was 6 and life was so uncomplicated.... Other brands of crayons won't do it - they don't smell like Crayola! (Actually, I feel the same thing, just not so strongly as he does.) And we BOTH (at more than a half-century old) still like to color - anytime I give the kids something to color, he wants one too!!!
I can't stay away from school/office supplies. I like pens exspecially blue and red, green, purple, anything but black. I like them better than Crayolas, but love to color!
I get a whole lot of the stuff when they are cheap like the notebooks and things for 15 cent then I don't buy them for a year or two...
I did that, too, two years ago and then switched to SOS the next year so I have tons of notebook paper and spirals left. I almost don't want to do SOS so that we can use them up. :lol:
I'm the stockpile queen. LOL. I stockpile anything that I know we will use if it's cheap enough. Especially school supplies.
I haven't bought any looseleaf paper this year at all. I still have packs left from "stocking up" over the last few years, AND I tear out left over perforated pages from spirals at the end of the year, so we have large 3-ring binders full of "looseleaf" that we're going to have to use up first before it just disintegrates from age!!! LOL! I was taught from young to Use it up, Wear it out, Make it do, or Do without!
