Saving on school supplies

[marla]

I'm looking for good ideas on saving money on school supplies. What steps do you take to reduce the cost of school supplies and which trick do you think saves you the most money in this area?

[neatdesign]

If you live in Virginia, next weekend you can buy school supplies tax-free. They're calling it "Virginia's Sales Tax Holiday" -- you can read about it here:

http://www.tax.virginia.gov/site.cfm?alias=STHoliday

~ Jenney

[crosses]

My best advice is to take an inventory and reuse all the supplies that you have that are still good. So many people automatically purchase new supplies when there is still good life in the supplies they have. I never went overboard with this, but you'd probably be surprised with all the stuff you do have tucked away and items from years past that still work fine.

[Lori63]

Originally Posted by neatdesign

If you live in Virginia, next weekend you can buy school supplies tax-free. They're calling it "Virginia's Sales Tax Holiday" -- you can read about it here:

http://www.tax.virginia.gov/site.cfm?alias=STHoliday

~ Jenney

I'll be shopping then!! Other states do this also-not sure when their days are.

[getforfree]

I am not currently in school, but I do use pen and paper at home for work purposes, so I asked my supervisor if I can have some pens, and he gave me some, so I am set with that for a year or so.

But it's a good idea like crosses metioned here, to check if the supplies that you have already still good to use, so you would need to buy less.

[dshep]

I buy in bulk, once a year, normally at Sams Club. I normally buy pens, pencils, notebooks and paper that way. Of course I cant do that with all the notebooks since some teachers require different sizes ( I cant figure out what difference it makes..I swear they do it just to aggrevate the parents) I send some of the supplies off to college with my son, give some to my daughter (high school) and then keep the rest for when they run out of pens (or more likely lose them..lol) paper ect. Last year, a friend of my daughters was with us when we went school shopping, and so I split the stash three ways, she bought some of the supplies from us, saved her some money and saved us money. If your kids are younger, and need crayons ect, I know this time of year, I tend to see crayola coupons here and there. Right now most of the school supplies are on sale at Rite Aid so I will pick up a few things there, that we dont need in bulk.

[PrincessPerky]

don't go...

oh wait ok you want to go? then look in your closet.. you prolly don't need much of anything..and look at things froma 'I can do it' attitude instead of 'it says markers, I gotta have crayola markers'..you might be able to use colored pencils, or your neioghbors markers, or mine, you can have mine! I hate markers!

go ask your mom (yeah grandma whatever) if she has a pencil or pen, there you are now set for a looooong time

While I am a crayon snob (gotta be crayola) I do not have a need for brand new box..my kids are stillg oing thryu the box I had when I was a teacher...they are going to wear down the points and peel the papers anyway.

[rob62521]

I'm a teacher and my suggestion is you contact your child's teacher or children's teachers directly and ask what they specifically need. Our district puts out a list for the whole student body and some things I never used. I concur with the others, look at what you already have and go from there.

Staples and other office supply stores should be having sales on paper, pencils and stuff. Look at their websites and see if they have their sale dates and go from there.

[markio26]

lexie's school put out a list of supplies, and they only cost $15..... she has stockpiled way over this amount of course and a new cheap bookbag.....

[tgavin71]

In Australia our school year goes from the beginning of February to Mid December. Wth 3 lots of two week holidays in between. My children get most of their school supplies for Christmas. My MIL buys them every year and my only request is that they be faber-castell. Cheap brands are a waste of money. Both of my kids get a list sent home in the first week of school with what they need. If we don't already have it then I will go and buy it for them then.