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Sunday, August 3, 2008

School Supply Hell

Today I embarked upon possibly the most dreaded activity for all mothers:





School Supply Shopping.





Dovi goes to one school, the triplets to another.



Some schools offer a fundraiser through the PTA-pay us $50 (or whatever amount they charge) and your child will be presented with a box of the EXACT school supplies that they need, neatly lableled with their name, on the first day of school.




However, the parent body at BOTH schools is too darn cheap for that. But that also means that, due to my slight case of OCD, I (a) get heart palpitations trying to get the 100% correct items (I'm currently guilt ridden-I bought the kids each 6 regular glue sticks and not 3 jumbo ones. And WHAT are PLASTIC folders? Are they those heavy duty trapper keeper folders, or are they the thin plastic/poly ones? My sil and I had a lovely debate in the aisles of Target over that one, as my adorable neice ate a bottle of nail polish) , and (b) I feel the need to buy packages of labels, print out sheets with the kds' names, and then feel compelled to stick a label on EVERY MARKER. I shall do that tomorrow night. Don't try to stop me. I can't help myself.




We would rather run from store to store (as i do) to get every item at THE CHEAPEST price possible.



Therefore I went to:

Staples (folders, pencils, and purell for $.01 each. Yes, my bill was $.43)

Walgreens (posterboard and erasers for $.09 each, pencil boxes, mechanical pencils, and plastic folders for $.49 each)

WalMart (crayons, $.17 each)

Target (Glue, $.22 each. And everything else NOT on sale)




The everything ELSE entailed:

15 boxes of tissues
3 containers HandiWipes
6 containers Clorox Wipes
3 containers Kandoo Wipes
3 containers Baby Wipes
1 package underwear
2 toothbrushes
1 toothpaste
2 packages ziploc bags
4 containers hand sanitizer
3 containers liquid hand soap


There is SO much more that I've surely forgotten now. Which brings me to my extreme rant of the day:

WHY oh WHY does Keshet, who my school district pays over $20,000 (maybe closer to $30,000?) a year for Dovi's education-thank you very much CPS-give us these INSANE supply lists? I would much, much, MUCH rather pay a $30 supply fee to cover all those classroom supplies that I am obviously supplying-Dovi does not need 20 folders. He does not learn any academic subjects. One folder, ok. But 20???? That is more than E, S, and J together!


It's my pleasure to help Dovi's school. Really. They do an amazing job. Dovi is happy at school and loved. But honestly, I get so ticked off every year when I slog through Target filling my cart with the classroom supplies. 3 packages of Kandoo wipes? Dovi doesn't use them at home, so why does he need them at school? Baby wipes? He is day trained. Why does he need 3 packages at school?

Just charge me a supply fee and let's get on with it.


But also please vote:



What is a plastic folder?

(a)






or



(b)




OK it's really hard to see what's what. But just try!

6 comments:

Unknown said...

Sara, first I have to say I have become addicted to your blog. You are so funny in your rants, and I look forward to whatever is new and frustrating in your life that I can relate to. Even if we were not an FD family (Eli is now 7), I would still love your blog.

One of the two schools my kids go to does use that supplies-in-a-box service, but I didn't have my act together last Spring and missed the deadline on the order form. So I really appreciate knowing where to get the cheapest erasers!

I was thinking that maybe you could persuade them to do the box thingie by pointing out how much gasoline is being burned by all these families driving all around for supplies, pollution produced, huge carbon footprint, whatever the buzzword is in your community for wastefulness and harm to our planet. At my daughter's school, the PTA handles this, so maybe there's a rabid environmentalist on your PTA that would take this up as a cause?

I don't know what the answer is on the plastic folders, but I'd say ANY plastic folder should qualify if that's all they say, and just buy the cheapest. They probably use them when they're working with something wet -- who knows?

Love ya,
Michelle B.

Shosh said...

Haha this is great. I just spent an hour looking through the Sunday ads, trying to figure out where to go to get stuff for the cheapest. I should have just asked you instead. Thanks for the full report. BTW...label each marker? Should I really do that??? Like, these markers will actually belong to Kivi, they will not be shared, and if he loses his red marker, that's it? Wow. I am also OCD when it comes to these things. Please advise!

Shosh said...

I forgot to vote. I vote for A. B looks more like a binder. But what do I know?

DESJ and Company said...

Shosh-
In Kindergarten, they do pool everything-I neatly labeled everything last year and it was a waste of time.
But this year...the kids want to do it this afternoon!
YeeHa!

Dawn said...

I can't tell which is which in the picture, but I would think the thin plastic folders that look like the thin paper ones, but more durable... I'm even more thankful right now that our school let us pay them to get our supplies this year...

Stephanie said...

Would this be a bad time to mention that our KG supply list contains: 1 container of Lysol wipes, 1 container of wet wipes, and one package of Ziploc bags?
And that's it?

But I really did laugh at the nail polish. Hope the child is okay. :)