Shopping Wise for School Supplies

Can we talk about school supplies for a second?

Oye.  Until I became a mom, I had no idea how expensive it was to get a kid ready for school.  And at this moment, I only have one of three kids in school.  Forget saving for college, I’m going to need to establish a fund for school supplies, clothes and fees just to get all three of them through elementary school.

M buying supplies for preschool two years ago.

Since beginning our clean-green-living, I’ve learned that it can be pretty darn expensive to live that way.  But I believe in it so much that I’m willing to find ways to save here and there so that we can afford this lifestyle.  Seriously, you should see my spreadsheet.  I might be a little obsessed.  But no worries, I have a good therapist.

This past weekend I downloaded M’s list of supplies for 1^st grade.  Wowzers, as a third grade teacher, it blows my mind that first graders need 5 boxes of 24-count crayons for a 9-month period of time.  But that means a lot of artwork, and M will love that!!

I diligently began price comparing, looking at Wal-Mart, Staples, CVS Pharmacy, Dollar Tree, and Walgreens.  No Target, Office Depot or Office Max within a short driving distance of where I live.  Boo.

At this point in time, I estimate it’s going to cost at least $20 for all of M’s supplies.  And some of her supplies I’m reusing from Kindergarten, like her scissors, 3-ring zippered pouch and headphones.  I’m also lucky because her MaMa bought her a new book bag before we went on vacation, and I talked her into using that for school.  It has characters on it from the Disney Channel Descendants movie.  I'm secretly a little jealous, that movie is one of my guilty pleasures.

But I still need to get a new lunch bag (her old one is in sad shape), a food thermos and drink thermos, and gym shoes.  Then there’s the school fees that will roll around at the beginning of the year.  Plus, because M is the oldest, she will need fall clothing.

The lunch bag, food thermos and drink thermos need to be durable and reliable because of the new way I will be packing her lunches, per our real food eating.  Still working on the gym shoes, I need to do my homework on that.  I will take any and all suggestions on where to find cheap shoes.

As for fall clothing, I’m scouring our basement for baby toys, baby gear, baby clothing, basically anything I can get my hands on that I can sell at Once Upon A Child.  I’m going to use the money I earn to pay for her fall clothing (at OUAC), and I took advantage of their clearance sales on summer clothing to buy ahead for next spring and summer.  So hopefully, clothing will pay for itself.

So what’s my point in all this rambling?

Back to school season can be a real drain on the wallet.  And if it seems expensive to me, what must the parents in my classroom think?  Especially the ones who can't really afford it?

I'm concerned for the families of my students who can barely make ends meet, who are lucky enough just to put food on the table each day.  The low or no-income families.

I know that parents who need assistance often have school fees waived, and not everyone has to get a new-to-them wardrobe because many have hand-me-downs from cousins.  But $20 (or more) of school supplies is still probably a strain financially, and if there is more than one child in school, it depletes funds even more.

I’ve spent the last few days mulling over the best way to help these families. 

One thing that helped me when generating my own school supply price list for M was a Back to School Cheat Sheet I found over at Passionate Penny Pincher (great blog!).  But it took a considerable amount of research on store websites, blogs, going through store ads, etc.  Right now I am blessed to have both the time and the resources to do my shopping homework.

So I created a list for parents of the cheapest places to find each item on my classroom supply list to post it on my class Facebook page and mail with the welcome letters I will send in August.  I'm hoping this will save some families time and hassle, so that they don't break the bank sending their kids back to school.

Click here to download the list for free, and edit to meet your needs!

So what do you think?  Am I worried over nothing?  Are there strategies used in your school or district to help families deal with the expense of back to school?  Please share below!

See ya real soon!

Allison

***UPDATE - It was brought to my attention that Staples will price match.  Click here to read a blog post about their 110% back to school price match guarantee.  That's right.  110%!!  Bam!

It was also suggested to me by a highly respected Kindergarten teacher that paying an extra $0.25 more to get the Crayola crayons at Walmart instead of the Cra-Z-Art was a better choice, because she feels they are better quality.  As a third grade teacher I don't really notice crayon quality, so I will defer to teachers of younger grade levels on this one.  I did notice that M's school supply list specifically said Crayola crayons, so that opinion must be shared by other primary teachers.