School Supplies on the Cheap
Summer is in full swing, so you know what that means…yup, it’s time to stock up on school supplies.
I don’t have anything against those big-box office supply stores, except that they can be pretty expensive. If I’m going to spend a lot of money there, it should be for something I can’t get anywhere else. But for a lot of the mundane, everyday items that students need, there are some great bargains to be had. The problem is that there are lots of school supplies available, but the great deals on them vary from week to week, so you need to check in every week to see what the current hot buys are. Here are some of the great buys I’ve found:
Brand new disappearing purple glue sticks.
Glue Sticks: In elementary and middle school, kids go through glue sticks fast — almost as if they’re eating them. (And if you detect the voice of experience here, you would not be amiss.) I like these disappearing purple ones, which go on purple, so you can see where you have (or haven’t) placed glue, but dry clear. Normally, these are $1.49 for a package of two, which is pretty expensive for something with a life span which can be measured in nanoseconds. But this past week, these have been on sale for 25¢ a package. That’s one-sixth the normal price. I scooped up as many as I could afford.
Of course, a problem with glue sticks is that if you do manage to stash some away for a rainy day, they tend to dry out. But there’s a way around that, too. Just pull out the vacuum sealer that you use to store food in the freezer and seal away:
Glue sticks guaranteed to last 12 months or more.
As I figure it, the above package contains $9.00 worth of glue sticks (at regular price). The cost of the glue sticks on sale is $1.50, plus about 45¢ for the sealer bag. So the total savings here is about $7.00, and you won’t have to throw out any glue sticks because they’ve dried out. (If you don’t need all of them at once, open the bag from the side, remove however many you need, and reseal that side. This makes the most of your sealer bags.)
Erasers!
Erasers: I don’t know why, but erasers are always in big demand around here. Not because we’re all writing novels in pencil, but for art projects. (Plus, they just seem to disappear, like socks in the dryer. If modern physics has an explanation for this, I’m all ears.)
These erasers were available in a package of 3 for 99¢, but for the past week, these packages were 5/$1.00. Cheap, cheap, cheap! I grabbed a bunch.
One thing to be aware of is that these pink erasers are made of latex rubber. Latex is very susceptible to ozone in the atmosphere, which is created whenever electricity arcs through the air — if you have fond memories of electric model trains and that particular smell, you know what I am talking about. Ever notice how rubber bands lose their elasticity, and become stiff and brittle after a while? That’s ozone at work. You can vacuum-seal these, as well, but I find it more practical to store them in a jar with a tight-sealing lid. A canning jar works well.
My best find: multi-colored pens!
I couldn’t believe it when I found these sets of pens on sale.
Pens in four colors! So essential for peer-editing in the writing workshop.
I love these PaperMate pens, because I’m weird about pens. I love a really good pen, which is comfortable to hold and writes really smoothly. I have a few really nice pens, but I don’t like to take them with me, because they’re costly, and if I lose them, that’s a big financial loss. But these pens write wonderfully, and are comfortable to hold.
In the past, I’ve found 10-packs of these available in blue, black, or red for 50¢ for a pack of ten. (They normally cost more than a dollar.) But I was delighted to to find these packs of purple, orange, green, and red pens on sale at three packs for a buck! That’s less than 3½¢ a pen! And the colors! Including blue and black, this is a total of six colors. If you maintain a writers’ workshop in your classroom (à la Nancie Atwell), each peer-editor can use a different color for their remarks, and each writer can easily keep track of who’s saying what. I don’t even have a secure teaching position for this coming school year, but I grabbed lots of these. Am I worried about them drying out? Of course, not. These got vacuum sealed just like the glue sticks.
Conclusions
Despite what pundits and politicians of every stripe are telling us about how the economy is improving, for many of us that simply isn’t true. Certainly, things are getting better for some of us. But many people are still struggling just to keep their heads half-way above water, to say nothing of getting ahead.
As they say, a recession is when your neighbor is unemployed, but a depression is when you are unemployed. There are still a lot people experiencing their own personal economic depressions. My hope in presenting this information is to encourage and help others to make the most of their school supply dollar. If you’re finding some great local deals, please comment and tell everyone about it.
And if you are one of the lucky ones who are doing okay in this economy, please remember that there are a lot of people who aren’t. Many stores and local organizations do “book bag drives” during the summer to provide school supplies for kids whose parents are struggling. Be sure to donate. No matter your feelings or political viewpoints about unemployed or underemployed people, there is no reason that their children’s education should suffer as a result. Please do what you can.
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Remember, if you are a teacher purchasing supplies for classroom use, you can deduct up to $250 off next year’s tax return (either on line 23 of Form 1040 or on line 16 of Form 1040A). I’m not a tax advisor, so you’ll want to check with an appropriate tax advisor. Start by seeing what the IRS says about this.
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