school supplies for the frugal at heart

via for the love of 4 blog


on my family bog i spoke about school shopping. i am one of those moms who does not like leaving things to last min. so the day the supplies were put out i went shopping making sure i had all i needed to choose from. i had a plan of making sure i had enough supplies for my oldest {6} for first grade and enough for a supply at home. i wanted to make sure i as well had the few things i need for homeschool for two other of my children {5 & 2}that would be homeschooled this school year. having my list from last year, the school list for this year and the recommended list from the school, i was ready to go. i had a budget of $50 and truly wanted to come under it.


here are a list of the supplies that i have gotten:
one folder, 3 packs of paper, 2 comp books,2 pencil boxes, 12 folders, 12 glue stick packs(2 each pack), 8 Elmer glue, 1 pencil sharpener, 3 washable markers, 4 color pencils, 10 boxes of crayons, 1 thin marker, 3 scissors, 1 pack 50 erasers, 2 calculators, 2 packs of 10 pencils, big box of craft foam fun, foam organizer, pack foam boards and foam markers. there are a few things i could not get in the photo and those are 2 back packs, 1 lunch box, hair band storage and school work storage.


total amount spent for this shopping trip was around $45. this was accomplished with coupons, price matching and bogo. i stuck to my list and planed out what i knew i would need and didnt buy anything else. there were things that i had to skip name brand because of the price. there were somethings due to how i shopped that made the name brands a better price.

when you go school shopping here is what you need to do to keep it frugal and within your budget.

- make a budget for each child you will be shopping for
- make a list of supplies need for each grade and how many of each
- go now, dont wait till the week before school things wont go on sale any more then what they are now
- stick to you list and try to go with out your children. they will always want the cool looking things instead of   the price efficient items
- make sure you  have all the coupons and price matching ready to go when checking out.
- make sure you have enough for the whole school year. half way through will be way more expensive.

happy shopping and i hope you have found some helpful tips here.