School supplies are outrageous!!

I got lucky this year. My mother-in-law has bought most of their supplies. Our school even goes so far as to specify a brand. It says Crayola Crayons and such. That's unbelieveable. For the last couple of years we even have to buy the teacher's dry erase markers. I don't mind the kleenex since it's for the whole class, but shouldn't the school supply a few things too? My worst gripe is how they share supplies in the younger grades. When my oldest was in first I bought her the more expensive folders with pictures on them. The teacher took all the supplies, marked out the names and just handed them out. She was so upset and I was told that they pool the supplies.

I know, my daughter spent the other day going to walgreens buying mechanical pencils for school, there was some sale where when they was finished at the register the pack of 4 was a nickle, you was allowed 3 packs, so she took both her daughters and me,plus her, tht made 4 of us and 12 packs. I ask her why the mechanical pencils and she said they have to have them to write they was not allowed to use a regular #2 pencil, now wait a minute it all writes don't they what is the differnece if you write it with a mechanical or a regular pencil, about 3 bucks a pack as I see it. My grand daughter that is in high school needs some calculator that cost over $200. We was told that we might get 50 bucks off at a certain store if we hurry, hurry who the he*ll has $200. for one calculator. And what will the poor kids do when it comes to this kind of stuff. you can't buy binders and folders when they are on sale, because each teacher has it's own color scheme, wow as if it would matter what color the binder is that holds the report. School is a commerical thing now a days, anyone having more than one or 2 kids in school can really be in trouble with the cost. What happen to just being happy you have the kid in class and it wants to learn, once when my child was in school, she was straight A student and was failed because the report she turned in was not in a purple binder, couldn't buy a purple one any where in town, believe me, when I say me and the school went around and around. It seems like they want to fail the kids anymore, I am so glad that my kids are grown and now they are getting a hint of what I went through when they was in school.

I homeschool so everything with my kids falls on my shoulders. So far I have spend right at $500 for books and by time I'm done with supplies for this year I will have spent another $200 - $300. I'm so glad I don't have to get uniforms!!!

yeap... getting school supplies needs quite a load of money... this year i have four kidz in school... next year, the baby of the house will be starting 'pre-school/kindergarden'... so.. i'll all five in school... we are just lucky that the government was kind enough to give 'free text books' to all schoolchildren starting this year... so.. that really took quite a big load off our budget... still the other expenses... we try not to buy a school bag every year... but.. most bags dont last more than a year.. exercise books/activity books - we still need to buy these ourselves so... buying for four/five kidz.... i am just lucky that my employer still gives annual bonuses to the employees... this bonus money normally comes in november.. so.. we normally keep it to spend on the school expenses in january...

School has gotten expensive! And, when you have elementary age children, having to buy everybody's supplies is wrong! I still think all kids should supply only their own things. If one child doesn't have them, then let the school supply that child. When my children went to school, that is how it was. My daughter's first two children went to a Christian school their first 3 and 4 years and they bought only what they needed personally. But when they started into public school, they started having to buy supplies for the room. She has 2 other children and they've had to do the same. She now has 2 going to college in the fall (the son has already completed one year), one in the 9th and one in the 7th, so they buy only what they need personally. And, that doesn't come cheap. This Mom helps her daughter, who has been a single Mom for almost 9 years, buy some of the supplies at the beginning of the year. I also have always bought them some clothes to start school in and shoes. But this year, the younger boys are buying their own shoes from money they made working for Papa. I took the youngest, who has been here the last few weeks, shopping last week and got some of the best buys on shirts and shorts that we have ever gotten! I probably spent about $150+ on 10 shirts, 17 pair of socks, and 5 pair of shorts and school supplies. I got nice shirts, some at $4.48 on sale! We were shocked! $35 shorts for $12. You have to know I look for bargains! But we just happened up on these back-to-school sales and went wild!

This is a problem that I am hearing more and more from concerned parents that only want the best for their kids, but sometimes don't know where they'll find the money to get their kids what they need. My suggestion is to always compare prices online before you buy. That way, you'll be sure that you're getting the best deals on what you're shopping for. Price comparison shopping is a great way to find out which stores are selling items for the best prices. As well, there's still plenty of time before school starts to do your shopping online if you can't find what you're looking for in your local stores. In fact, you may even find better prices online (even when paying for shipping) than you will at your local stores due to the lower overhead costs that online stores benefit from. You can even check out my comparison shopping website at: http://www.where2lookonline.com to do a little comparison shopping. There's no pressure to buy because I don't actually sell anything! I simply provide a free service for online shoppers to compare prices from over 15,000 trusted online stores before they buy. Check it out and make sure you get the best prices on your kids school supplies as well as everything else you shop for!

We were very lucky to have a secondhand school uniform shop nearby. The clothes had to be in good condition but the original quality was very good so most of the time the children simply grew out of them in a term. Shoes were the biggest expense - they had to be new and proper, leather, black shoes. I feel sorry for those schools without uniform. It has become such a rat race to be in the latest designer fashion and any child not wearing the right label is automatically made to feel an outcast.

I hear you about school prices, we are spending over 1500 dollars this year and that does not pay for the sports that both girls are in and band that one is in so yes now adays it is outrageous to get kids ready for school. Calculators use to be taken away if we used them but now they are thinking of also making high schoolers to provide a laptop and hopefully this is not going to fly cause we will have to think of homeschooling., which would be cheaper and sometimes proves more educational to the kids.

Hi honeydew, Wow! That is really big! ANyway, lucky really you are for having only 1 student...I have no kids but When I was working I used to volunteer for school supplies for my 2 cousins and it gives all the headache to looks for sales..LOL! I do know if I can still do it this time being married and if ever I will find a job, maybe a little assistance but not to handle those things!LOL!

I don't know where you bought your school supplies,but that sounds like a lot of money for them. I just bought paper for 5 cents a peice for wirebound notebooks at Wal-Mart and I found erasers and glue for 19 cents each so I stocked up on them. I homeschool the kids and so I am not buying hardly anything this year.I think that I have a Civics program that I need to buy for my daughter and that is $65 and what I spent on supplies was minimal so I would say that I have all of it for less than $100. I bought a lot last year and so I am more than prepared for this year.

My son's school supplies cost me less than $20. He does not need a new backpack because he got a nice one towards the end of the school year. He will need some new clothes, but that won't cost that much either. He has gotten some new clothes over the summer, so for shirts he is set. He just needs a few new pairs of jeans. He also does not need any new shoes. His Sketchers are practically brand new. So, I am looking at maybe $100 total.

Hi Honeydew! Don't feel too bad, I've got to get a laptop for my son this year since he is enrolled in a "gifted" program. I didn't get his school pictures last year since the cheapest package was 75.00 and I told him to wait until graduation and I would pay for that one. The sad thing is that will all the taxes we pay, the poor teachers still have to ask parents for donations (reams of paper, books, etc.,) as they don't have adequate supplies for all students. Last year, it was December before he even got a math book since the school didn't have them yet. My daughter's social studies teachers had a meeting with the parents at her house and wants to take the kids next summer to Washington D.C. for a 4 day tour, to the tune of $1800.00 which we can start making monthly payments on. It looks like it going to be an expensive school year for everyone.

Well luckily only 3 of mine are in school, and their supplies are still rather cheap. The oldest gets more expensive stuff of course, as he's in middle school, but the other two are only entering first grade. I really don't spend a whole lot. I go to Walmart and buy the cheap supplies that I'll have to replace in a few months. I buy the necessities and underwear and shoes and such there also, but buy the majority of the clothes 2nd hand. I also never bother with school pictures, instead I bring them to Walmart Photo center and get a family portrait, or one of all the kids. The only time I'll splurge on pics is for their activities such as my daughter's ballet or their soccer.

Wow those prices are really high. I remember whenever before the school year starts, I would go and browse through my old notebooks. I would remove carefully the spring that binds them and I would start collecting all those blank pages. Then I would bind them again using the same string or sometimes sew them with yarn for a more unique touch. Recycling your old school supplies could actually help lessen the expenses so that you could have more to save.

I rarely buy the kids new clothes at the beginning of the school year-they are still wearing shorts for the first few weeks. I do buy new sneakers. As far school supplies Staples runs some pretty good deals. I also bought my kids a LL Bean back-pack that they use for school and it will last for years. All those cheap $20 backbacks that last for a few months.

well my trick is, i dont buy everything new for my kids (11 & 15) every fall. they reuse binders from the year previous, some of their pens and pencils and certainly there pencil cases (i did buy them each a new one but i got it at claire's 10 items for $10 - so they only cost me 1 dollar each. each late summer, we have a fashion show to see what still fits the girls (we used to, they are older now) and then go from there. we provide plain binders, both of our daughters want different ones, so they buy them themselves (they both have jobs). i dont do what my mom did with me and buy everything new in the fall, just whats needed.

I remember when I was going to school my dad gave me 100 dollers to buy evreything. I can't beleive that school supplies coast so much today. It seems like evreybody goes to the doller storers but you can't get evreything there. At least wallmaer and target have sales sometimes.