Two summers ago I took all three kids to the big store on a Saturday in mid-August with three supply lists and no plan. Forty minutes in, Rosie was lying face-down in the aisle next to the glue sticks, Owen had put a $14 light-up backpack in the cart twice, and Ella was quietly furious that the only composition notebooks left had cartoon puppies on them. I spent $310 and came home with a headache and the wrong size folders.
This year we spent $162 on supplies, shoes, and a few clothes for all three, and the shopping part took two short trips. School starts next week here, so this is fresh.
Step one happens at the kitchen table, not the store
The single biggest savings didn't come from a sale. It came from dumping out the supply bin.
In June, when school lets out, I have the kids empty their backpacks onto the kitchen table. Anything reusable goes into a plastic tote in the hall closet: scissors, rulers, pencil boxes, half-used notebooks, calculators, the good erasers. By August that tote has usually been forgotten by everyone but me.
This year, before I bought a thing, I sat down with the three lists and the tote. Here's what we already had:
- Two pairs of kid scissors and a pair of pointed ones for Ella
- A calculator Ella needs again for sixth grade
- Three pencil boxes (one cracked, which Owen claimed as "vintage")
- Around 30 pencils, a stack of unused glue sticks, and plenty of crayons
- Four notebooks with fewer than ten pages used, which I tore out and handed back as new
Crossing those off shrank our list by about a third before I left the house.
How the actual shopping went
I go alone, with the list sorted by price
The kids don't come for supplies anymore. I know that sounds a little joyless, but no child has ever needed to be present for the purchase of loose-leaf paper. Instead, each kid gets to pick one thing: Ella chose her binder, Owen chose his folders, and Rosie picked a lunch box for pre-K. That choice happens with me holding a price limit in my head, not their hands.
I split our list into two columns: things that are cheap everywhere (crayons, glue, pencils, paper) and things that aren't (binders, headphones, backpacks). The cheap stuff I bought during the late-July loss-leader sales, where the store practically gives away a few items to get you in the door. I bought only those items and walked out. That trip cost $23.
The pricier things wait for the late-August sales
Pennsylvania doesn't do a sales tax holiday, but it doesn't need one for this: most clothing and shoes aren't taxed here at all, any time of year. So instead of planning around a tax weekend, we planned our one bigger trip around the late-August sales, when stores start marking things down ahead of Labor Day. Shoes were the main thing: Owen went up a full size, and Rosie's sneakers had a hole in the toe she'd been hiding from me. I also bought Ella a pair of jeans and two tops, since she's reached the age where hand-me-downs from her cousin don't cut it every time. Anything that could wait, like a second pair of jeans for her, waits for the Labor Day clearance racks.
Backpacks: we reuse them unless they're broken
Ella and Owen both used last year's backpacks. I ran them through the washing machine on cold in a pillowcase, air-dried them on the porch, and they look fine. Rosie got Owen's old one from preschool, and she was thrilled because it "used to be Owen's," which to a four-year-old is better than new.
Where the $162 went
| Category | Spent |
|---|---|
| Supplies (both trips, three kids) | $48 |
| Shoes (Owen and Rosie) | $58 |
| Clothes (mostly Ella, plus socks for everyone) | $44 |
| Rosie's lunch box and a water bottle | $12 |
| Total | $162 |
Mike's reaction was, "That's it?" which I'm choosing to take as a compliment.
What didn't work
I tried to skip buying Owen a new lunch box and had him use a paper bag. It lasted two days before he got a leaky yogurt in it and it fell apart on the bus. I found a sturdy one at the thrift store for $2 the following weekend, so it worked out, but I should have just checked there first.
I also overbought on the "teacher wish list" items last year out of guilt and ended up with a year's supply of tissues in my linen closet. This year I sent in what was on the required list and one box of tissues per kid. The teachers were gracious, and my closet has room again.
Next June, the backpack dump happens again, and this time I'm labeling the supply tote so it doesn't end up under the Christmas decorations.
