Thanks to Kate at Songs Kate Sang for this guest post on how she saves on school supplies – and for the great pictures!
Before you rush out to buy school supplies for this next year, be sure and go through your stashes of supplies to see what you already have. You never know how many items you will be able to check off your list before you even head out the door.
Here is the secret to my school supply stash:
Each year on the last day of school, I have the kids empty their backpack into a plastic storage container. I put the storage container in the garage. At this point, I don’t worry about organizing it. Fast forward a few months…I print off the kids’ school supplies list from the school website. I pull the plastic bin out of the garage.
I organized the bin into three piles:
1. Trash (anything broken, folders that were too destroyed to donate, etc.)
2. Donate
3. Use
1. I threw the trash away (I immediately felt better having one of my piles gone ~ I like immediate satisfaction, it makes me happy)
2. I put the donate items in another pile. Places I donate include: the local school district and Project Sometimes.
3. I took each list, one at a time, and started checking off what I had.
I started labeling each thing I was checking off. Why? Because I have mommy vision and I knew the kids would walk in and say something cute, distract me and mix up the piles. It’s true. It happens. I don’t mind, but I head off the frustration by labeling first.
This left me with only nine items to buy!
Katie is a mom to two and a wife to her college sweetheart (who calls her Kate). She is a Texas girl that relocated to Arizona – June of 2008. According to Katie, “It’s a little warm here, but it’s pretty! I love words, I love my family, I love to make people smile! I love to write to people the old fashoined way and make their trip to the mailbox something more than just bills.”
And don’t forget to check the Back to School Deals page for the latest deals at your favorite stores!
Don’t forget to Download the Saving Cents with Sense Toolbar. Have a smart phone – Get the iPhone App or Android App to keep all the deals at your fingertips!
