what did you spend on school supplies? - Page 2

[MCatLvrMom2A&X]

Between the 2 kids I spent approx. $30. each so I answered $60-75 Public school dd is in 4th and ds is in 1st.

Pencils
Paper
Folders
Binders
Scissors
2 back packs
Glue

The kids get free back packs and a few items through Mission Of Hope but they prefer to get a back pack of their choice so I buy them one each.
Edited by MCatLvrMom2A&X - 9/10/11 at 9:07pm

[ollyoxenfree]

Came back to revise my answer a little. DD realized she needed a couple of extra notebooks and her binders were pretty beaten up, so last night we picked up a few. Along with a fresh pack of crayons, just because....

Total back-to-school supplies are still less than $100 combined for both kids, and then the $150 school activity fee. I won't even touch on DS's costs for university (he's been haunting the used book store and looking on-line too).

[FarmerBeth]

I am now starting to be really sure that lists for our kids are different.  Keep in mind that when the school bought supplies in the early grades (no backpacks or lunch bags, included), we still paid 60$ for bulk buying by the teacher.  My youngest child alone needed 8(!) packages of crayons, two pairs scissors, 12 scribblers, 2 binders, loose leaf, four packs of ten pencils, markers, colored pencils, paint brushes, ruler, 3 erasers, white glue, 2 boxes Kleenex, it goes on and on!  My older kids don't need the repeat crayons, but then we had to get into calculators, math sets, more binders, duotangs and paper. Then there is an additional 10$ supply fee (agenda,extra duotangs) This is a public school, and actually it ran cheaper than their old city school before we moved (there, we were also looking at flash drives).  This year we had an additional fee for bussing. extracurriculars, etc, and it's mandatory.  I am generally very happy about where I live and not particularly jealous, but wow!  Many of you seem to have both lower prices and shorter lists.  No amount of sale shopping or careful saving of previous year's supplies could get me down to some of these figures!  I would love to hear from other Canadians on this!  Is it just my province (I've worked a lot with parents and schools so I can tell I'm right about this province, at least.

[annethcz]

$30 shared supplies fee/child at our charter elementary school. 

I only needed to buy one backpack this year, but I'll need to replace lunchboxes for all 4 of my kids soon.  I also needed to buy each child a folder and make sure they had gym shoes.  I'm not sure I consider any of those things exclusively "school" supplies since all of my kids had backpacks, lunchboxes and sneakers when we were homeschooling....

[claras_mom]

So far, the PTA in our very small school pays for school supplies. I don't count backpacks, btw--we use them anyway. That said, it's more of a convenience, as they do ask for a (voluntary) contribution for each child which goes not only toward supplies, but also field trips, science camp, specialists, etc. I guess the main thing is that I don't have to shop myself, and the upfront contribution cuts down on fundraising activities.

[muldey]

I'm not sure what I spent,maybe $40 for both kids.That's with lots of extras,I did the sales,my dad and I were laughing because we went into Office Max and each spent 3 cents,and came out with 3 packs of filler paper each.I bought a lot of other things for 5,10 and 25 cents each.At the beginning of the summer we went to Spencer's at the mall,and they had boxes of backpacks for $5 each.They were regular $60!Dd got a Linkin Park one,and ds a Transformers.They each also received 3(!) backpacks for free,one from a free yard sale at a local church,that one was filled with supplies,one from the Back to School Celebration(we live in a city with a very high low income population,and this event has the parents go through lots of tables which have info about resources available in the city before the kids get their backpacks) which had a few notebooks and pens and pencils(also recieved a free cell phone with 90 minutes a month for me,since we receive assistance,which I gave to ds as my mom pays for dd and my cells),and another one from another celebration at the park up the street,these were VERY nice and had some supplies,a book,and a very nice lunch bag.2 were surprises,we didn't expect the yard sale one or the one at the park.The yard sale one and the back to school ones will wear out very quickly,last year ds went through 4 similar ones.But it's awesome that they give them out!The lunch bags we'll most likely donate,as both kids get free lunch.Ds is bussed for free as it's in his IEP,and my mom brings dd to school and her best friend's mom brings her home,and will not accept gas money.I bought some tissues for both schools,and will buy some supplies off ds's teacher's wish list when I have the money.Neither school has a specified list of needed supplies per child,so I just bought what I thought they would go through.

The uniforms are a whole other matter!!I don't like them at all.Usually I buy their clothes at Salvation Army or yard sales for under $2 each,but they didn't have any uniform styles and colors in their sizes.So even though I went as cheap as possible(dd ended up with $12 boys pants from Target,as I couldn't find any girls or juniors for under $20!),I still spent way more than I usually would have.I don't understand how they passed this rule,the parents were not asked,neither were the students.In a city with such a high low income population,it wouldn't have passed had we had our say.Maroon,black or grey tees or polos,black or khaki pants,no hooded sweatshirts,no cargo pants,plain black,white,or brown shoes,no designs or characters allowed.I also had to travel quite a bit to find these items,as everything local was sold out.Thankfully I have my parents,as we don't have a car.Some I even had to have my dad order online!Usually I only buy new undies,socks,and shoes,and always as cheap as possible.Shoes were $70 for the 2 kids,and that was at Payless's buy one get one half off!There were many cheaper styles my dc liked better,but they weren't uniform style.Ugg.The uniforms ended up costing me over $200,which does include the shoes,but that is still way too much for me.At least they mostly share shirts,and I was able to find some boys grey tees for about $3 each on clearance at a Target that is fairly far away.I bought all 4 they had.

[limabean]

My DS's supplies came to $28. I'm only counting the stuff from the school supply list -- I'm not including stuff like backpack, lunchbox, water bottle, etc., all of which we reused from last year.