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Back to School Tips - Part 1: Supplies and
Clothes
Backpacks, new clothes, and school supplies - true signs of
Back to School Time! I love it LOL! Along with the supplies comes
the challenges of getting excited kids off to bed on time and then
dragging them out of bed again in the morning, making lunches,
finding socks that match, dashing out the door, homework, after
school activities....the list goes on.
So, how does a parent manage all this? We asked our members for
suggestions. Check it out. Amongst all these ideas, you will find
tips that will work in your home. Remember, you have to adapt the
routines to fit your family! This list is several pages long (so
use your timer and don't worry, I won't declutter the Back To
School information until September).
Thank-you to everyone who shared their ideas and routines with
us! I enjoyed going through them and picked up some new ideas for
my kids! - FlyCrew
Saving Dollars on the School Supplies and
Clothes
"Everytime you buy something new, take
the bag or bags they came in and pack up a similar item to give
away." - FlyLady
- Here is my tip for saving TONS of time and money when
it comes to back-to-school shopping: Every year when the
back-to-school sale ads start arriving in the mail, I sit down
with my 3 DD's and we start with paper and pens, at their
dressers. We go through each and every piece of clothing,
listing what they have that is in good condition and can be used
as school clothes, boogy-ing the rest to charity or the garbage
can. We then go through the boxes of clothes we keep in the
basement, ones that are "in-between" girls right now, that
haven't been fitting anyone. We try on and add those things that
fit and are in good shape for school clothes onto our lists. Now
each child has a list that tells what they have. Do they need
underwear? Look at the list. Who has 8 pairs of jeans but no
nice shirts? Who has 5 pairs of shoes and no socks? The list of
"haves" tells us what the "don't haves" are, so makig a shopping
list is a piece of cake. Then we shop, sticking to the list of
needs, instead of buying what is cute and coming home and seeing
that we still forgot the socks and underwear. If the budget
allows, I allow each child to choose one outfit that is not on
the "need" list, to wear for the first day of school or
whatever. It takes a day or two to get ready to head out
shopping, but the dresser drawers get a good "going-through"
which they need twice a year anyway. This is a good project for
after you are done with major de-cluttering, and you certainly
wouldn't want to abandon your routines to get this done. If
necessary, set your timer and do 15 minutes at once, then quit.
Or try an hour, do what you can, then come back again tomorrow.
We save TONS of money on school clothes this way. Because we
know what we have and what we need, impulse shopping is kept to
a minimum. Happy back-to-schooling, all! Flybaby in
Utah
- Our Elementary & Middle schools in Southern
Maryland put out their school supply list with the child's last
report card. A different one for each grade. This helps alot.
Every mid-July around here, the school supplies are out and in
full stock and on sale. Also, the area stores such as Wal-Mart
get copies of these supply lists and they post them at the store
in the school supply aisle in a laminate as well as provide
copies at the front of the store. Which is great for those of us
SHE's who lose the list. Maybe other SHE's could get this type
of thing going in their area.
You wrote . . . "My local
store has school supplies out! Oh no! How do I keep from buying
every new gel pen color out there?"
I try to keep a
pricebook on school supply sale/rollback prices. Elmer's glue
$.25/Papermate pens $.44-$.50 pack of 10, Pocket Folders
w/fasterners $.10, Box of Crayons $.50, etc. I try to stock up
now for the whole school year and with the money I save buying
now, I can send extras in for the teacher, who also seems to be
spending out of her pocket by the time Spring comes around and
parent's forget to ask their kids, "are you running out of
anything, what do you need?"
With my pricebook and
knowing that pens are $.05 each, it's hard for me to buy my
older kids gel pens at more than a $1.00 a piece for everyday
use and plus- they lose them so fast! LOL! They have a generous
allowance. I buy the basics, if they want the latest and the
greatest, they can buy it! Also, in middle school around here,
basically, they are only "supposed" to be using blue or black
ink and occassionally red for editing. So gel pens are extras
that I'll buy a few for around the house. After their gone, the
kids have to buy more if they want them.
- I have 3 boys in two different schools this year and
list upon list of school supplies that need to be purchased. My
system works for me, but then again I am a list-a-holic. I
make a single list of what needs to be purchased for school for
the year, adding quantities of things such as crayons,
colored pencils, etc. Meaning if I need 3, 24 packs of classic
colored crayons, I pick up 3. Now, before I go shopping for the
necessary items for their classroom experience, I check all the
supplies that I have. When decluttering my desk last week, I
found 3 packages of 24 pencils. (one thing I won't have to
purchase as I have them already) I set up their backpacks and
add their individual items to their backpacks when I get home,
using the lists sent to me by the schools. Their backpacks are
then placed AWAY, (in the closet) so that they don't get into
their items. (3 boys aged 8, 6, 3 tend to want to get into their
new items).
After their school supplies are purchased, I
do go through their summer supplies and cull out that which was
held onto from last school year. I end up tossing many of last
years felt pens (dried over the summer from not being capped
after use).
The last thing I do for the two older
children is create a list of what they need to have on a daily
basis, (such as paper, pencils, crayons, pens, paint, brushes),
and create a need list that they can check off as they need
them. When they run out of pencils, they check it off the list
and I add it to my shopping list through out the year. That way
they always have what they need at school. My oldest has caught
onto the ideal that when he starts to sharpen his last pencil,
he needs to ask for more. The middle one is learning.
- Our school sends home a supply list for the next year
on the last day of school. Since I have 7 kids in school, I can
usually bet that I will have one by the time its time to start
shopping for school supplies.
I make my own list of
supplies from that list... (so that I only have to look at one
list instead of 7, since they send the list broken down by grade
level.... ie... my list says 7 boxes of crayons... instead of
looking at 7 lists to see if I need crayons..). I print it off,
and carry it with me in my purse. At first I only purchase what
I NEED when I see it on sale! one week before school starts we
check over the list and go out to buy whatever is left on the
list to buy.
I also make sure I keept the list that the
school sent home on hand through the school year, so that I can
refresh supplies as needed. Learning to Fly one day at a time in
IN
- I don't know if this will help anyone, but I've
been going through my two school-age children's rooms to find
"hidden" school supplies and consolidated them all. Then I
went through their list of needed supplies, marked off what we
had on hand, separated them and stored all that where the 20
month can't reach. Our next action was to check out all the
Sunday flyers for the best bargains and we went out and bought
only what we needed (plus extra poster board for those last
minute projects). I have also been going through all of their
clothes, 15 minutes at a time, to see what we need (and not just
want). We are slowly moving bedtimes off of "summer vacation
time" and back to school time. We are working on our morning and
evening routines so that they will be second nature by the start
of school. And of course, no tv in the morning when school
starts!
- Back to school time is a very big deal in my family.
Not only do I have a large family (3 sons and a daughter still
at home, 2 sons and a daughter already out of the nest) to get
ready for the first day of school, but I am also a teacher, so I
have to get myself ready as well! In the past I often found
myself taking my kids shopping for clothes, only to discover
later that we bought some "really cool" pants for the boy who
already had enough pants and who really needed shirts, or other
similar problems. Over the years I have come up with a
pre-shopping routine that helps me buy the kids what they really
need, not just what catches their eye.
I start with
my oldest son. We bring out ALL his clothes to sort through
together. First we weed out anything that is in poor condition
(stained, torn up, whatever). These are not mendable items,
these are worn out and go into the trash. Next we pull out
anything that doesn't fit. These are set aside for the next
oldest son to go through. (Anything he hates and won't wear go
to Goodwill, unless it fits my youngest son and he wants it. I
don't hold clothes over for them to grow into anymore. I always
forget they are stashed away in boxes until they don't fit
anyone anyway! LOL) Next I ask if there is anything left that he
doesn't like or never wears. There almost always is something.
Again, Goodwill or a younger brother. Finally we try on whatever
is left to be sure that they still fit. EVERYTHING! I write down
the sizes of the best fitting items and the number of each basic
item (shirts, pants, etc.) he has for school. Then I go on to
the next brother and repeat the process. (My little girl has no
one to get clothes from, but the process is basically the same
for her. A friend of hers from her old daycare gets her
hand-me-downs.) By the time we get done, everyone has only
decent clothes that they like and that fit, and I have a list of
exactly what they have and their correct sizes. Then we shop to
fill in the gaps. They also always get a couple complete new
outfits to wear the first day of school. - Recent FlyBaby in
Florida
- Dear FlyCrew: As a third grade teacher, I recommend no
gel pens - please. Elementary children should not be using pens
and the gel pens are too hard on these old eyes. Very difficult
to read anything written in pink and yellow especially.
Please send in adequate supplies and label with your child's
name. I so often have kids show up with one 70 page notebook
and one pencil for the year, so if your budget allows, anything
extra is so appreciated. I spend at least $50.00 a year on basic
supplies. Also, for any holiday giving, please consider sending
in pencils or paper rather then any gifts for the teacher. There
are so many needy children out there. - in Louisiana
- As a mother of 5, here are my two best "back to
school" tips:
DO NOT buy any clothes for school until
after school actually starts!! Wait one week, or even two, and
see what the kids are really wearing this year. Too many times,
the outfit that was "perfect" the week before school started is
"perfectly hateful" two weeks later. Now, I won't even consider
spending one thin dime before school has been in session a good
long time. (This goes for backpacks as well).
This
year for carpool, drive a limousine. That's what I do, they call
me the Limo Mom. Used limos are cheap -- I bought mine for
$3,000 -- and it's not near as hard to drive as you would
imagine. There are no "secondary markets" for limos, once they
are a bit worn out, they're a real bargain. Mine only had 60,000
miles. Try your local Auto Trader magazine and see what I mean.
With 5 kids, I need lots of seatbelts and I tell you what, I'll
never drive without a roll-up partition window again!
- My 12 year-old loves to shop. He's got great ($$$)
taste as long as I am buying. So last year I gave him an
amount that he could spend, this was for school supplies,
clothes, shoes, everything. He was allowed to buy whatever
notebook, backpack, shoes... he wanted, but had to realize that
when the money was gone, he was done. This actually worked
wonderfully. He price shopped, and gave up some things he wanted
so that he would have enough for his over-priced shoes. This
eliminated arguing because he was responsible for what he
bought. We will be doing this again this year. - in Kansas
- I have been a flybaby for two weeks now. I am in awe
at what I have accomplished with baby steps! As I
decluttered, I found 80% of new or nearly new school supplies
for my two elementary shcool children. WOW! I also found a
super store sack with items I meant to take back months ago.
With the items I returned, I was able to purchase the rest of
the school supplies with money left over! This year I won't be
rushing through the last minute madness and dropping a hundred
dollar bill to buy their supplies. Thank You! {{{hugs}}} Flybaby
in Oklahoma
- I have three boys and we utilize the "hand-me-down"
system in our house. Each July, just before the Back to School
ads come out, I bring down boxes and boxes of clothes from the
attic, empty all of the boys dresser drawers onto the living
room floor, as well as the entire contents of their closet. As
if starting from scratch, I go through each and every item of
clothing and re-stock their closets and drawers. I pack up
clothes that no one will fit into, bag up clothes for resale
shops, throw away ratty clothes, get rid of things that have
gone out of style, etc... I go through the attic clothes and
pull out the things that a child has finally grown into.
Afterwards, I have boxes to take back to the attic. One with
clothes for Boy#2 to grow into (Boy #1 grew out of), and one for
Boy#3 to grow into (Boy #1 and Boy#2 grew out of).
After
all of this is done, I am able to make a list of what each boy
still needs for the new school year. I have just looked at
*everything* they have, so I know exactly what they need and
what they have too much of already.
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