School Supplies (day care, play, medicine, university)
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I keep thinking that things will be so much better when I'm through paying $200/month for preschool. Maybe not.
I remember thiniing that too...that and diapers....I have no idea where "all that money" went....It seems they outgrow one cost and grow into another. Once they are out of preschool then is school and school supplies, maybe afterschool care, or sports or Brownies, or music....some years or activities may cost a little less or a little more but I've figured out we're not really going to ever be "ahead" until they are out of college!
Clearly that depends on where you live. Like I said earlier, I started kindergarten in 1980, and we had to bring many of our own supplies, including a smock. I remember my mom giving me one of her old button-down shirts. Also, I attended school in southern Virginia. I don't know if this was a county requirement or state, but we actually had to rent our textbooks each year. I don't think it was ever more than $15 or so, and if you needed assistance, you could fill out forms for that. I attended college in North Carolina and was really surprised to hear that my friends who grew up in N.C. got their books for free.
Yep, I was in Virginia Beach and we had to bring in many supplies too, as well as renting the textbooks. I started kindergarten in 1974. Today, we're in Wisconsin and here's the list for my first grader:
1 box of 24 crayons
1 box of colored pencils
20 #2 pencils- sharpened
1 pair of Fiskar scissors- round tip
4 large Elmers glue sticks
1 plastic pencil box
1 large box of Kleenex
1 large box of crackers
4 Expo dry erase markers
1 White board eraser
2 take-home folders
1 folder for music class
1 pair of gym shoes
4 binders (2 inch)
1 binder (1 inch)
1 container of wet wipes
1 box of gallon sized Ziplock bags
1 box of sandwich bags
I'll probably spend oh, 125 on all of this? Just to have 75% of it be thrown into a supply closet. It's a wonderful school though, so I guess I can justify sending all of it in.
And here's the list for my 7th grader:
Colored pencils
Glue stick
Graphing calculator (in subsitution for the $14 scientific calculator- she's taking a 9th grade math class)
Compass
Pencils
Black pens
Pencil case
Loose leaf paper
Ruler
Protractor
Markers
3 inch binder
6 spiral notebooks
6 folders (color coordinating with notebooks)
2 highlighters
One large eraser
3 binders (one inch)
2 boxes of facial tissues
and there is also more supplies that are needed depending on the electives they took.
I don't really have a problem buying my 7th grader all the supplies because they are hers. They put all of their colored pencils, markers, pencils, pens, etc. in a pencil case and don't have to share. And we can also reuse much of what we send from year to year, such as binders, rulers, etc. I spent about 200 this year- only because that darn calculator jacked the price way up.
I remember thiniing that too...that and diapers....I have no idea where "all that money" went....It seems they outgrow one cost and grow into another. Once they are out of preschool then is school and school supplies, maybe afterschool care, or sports or Brownies, or music....some years or activities may cost a little less or a little more but I've figured out we're not really going to ever be "ahead" until they are out of college!
weddings
grandchildren
housewarming gifts, every year, when they move from apt to apt or into new homes
Yes - sorry if I wasn't clear. This is high school obviously. There were just a few comments earlier on about how at least in high school the overall supplies you have to buy are minimal - except for that calculator.
For the Honors and AP classes, it is a necessity - but definitely not needed in elementary .
I went to private K-12, so all supplies plus all sports where paid for out of pocket. And I did not grow up in an affluent home.
Just that I did grow up with the constant reminder that education is not free & glad I did.
But I did skate through a stats class by using online calculators. Was definitely not as easy as having the calculator, though.
Interesting note on water bottles, they collect a lot of germs. Re-usable bottles should be washed every day.
When one of my sons went to preschool they asked for a water bottle but never sent it home with him. I finally had to start asking for it because they were just refilling it over and over (even the kids with the disposable bottles were getting theirs refilled) from the drinking water tap. Ewwwwwwww.
The item that the school loses every year is the headphones. Fortunately, we usually have them on hand from a Jet Blue flight.
Headphones? For what?
And yeah ... Target, Staples, etc., always have sales for the basics from $.01 - $1, so even if you have to buy a couple dozen gluesticks - which I find frequently in packages of 4-10 - it isn't exactly a back breaker for a lot of people. I always go to those places and spend about $10 and fill up four or five shopping bags of stuff to donate. And not just all the same thing of the cheapest item. I think about what a kid would need - 10 folders, 6 notebooks, a few boxes of pencils, colored pencils, highlighters, pens, etc.
I think school clothes are much more of a ripoff. Clothes for kids tend to be so low-quality that almost everything is overpriced anyway. Book bags too. The expensive ones last forever (like LL Bean), yeah, but who has $90 for something that won't be 'cool' in a year or two anyway ... but then the $25 ones bust after a month.
And yeah ... Target, Staples, etc., always have sales for the basics from $.01 - $1, so even if you have to buy a couple dozen gluesticks - which I find frequently in packages of 4-10 - it isn't exactly a back breaker for a lot of people. I always go to those places and spend about $10 and fill up four or five shopping bags of stuff to donate. And not just all the same thing of the cheapest item. I think about what a kid would need - 10 folders, 6 notebooks, a few boxes of pencils, colored pencils, highlighters, pens, etc.
I think school clothes are much more of a ripoff. Clothes for kids tend to be so low-quality that almost everything is overpriced anyway. Book bags too. The expensive ones last forever (like LL Bean), yeah, but who has $90 for something that won't be 'cool' in a year or two anyway ... but then the $25 ones bust after a month.
Computer class. If the sound were on all those computers it would be quite a racket. Actually for our computer center the headphones are there, they just ask us to send in alcohol wipes for disinfecting.
And yeah ... Target, Staples, etc., always have sales for the basics from $.01 - $1, so even if you have to buy a couple dozen gluesticks - which I find frequently in packages of 4-10 - it isn't exactly a back breaker for a lot of people. I always go to those places and spend about $10 and fill up four or five shopping bags of stuff to donate. And not just all the same thing of the cheapest item. I think about what a kid would need - 10 folders, 6 notebooks, a few boxes of pencils, colored pencils, highlighters, pens, etc.
I think school clothes are much more of a ripoff. Clothes for kids tend to be so low-quality that almost everything is overpriced anyway. Book bags too. The expensive ones last forever (like LL Bean), yeah, but who has $90 for something that won't be 'cool' in a year or two anyway ... but then the $25 ones bust after a month.
Yes, the headphones are for computer class. LL Bean and Lands End backpacks actually are pretty reasonably priced. We get them for about 30 bucks, and they're guaranteed forever.
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