If you – like many of us – have not completed your back to school shopping just yet, rest easy.
Yes, really. While many parents are triumphantly posting their Facebook brags about having everything done August 1st, there’s no reason to freak out if you haven’t even looked for the school supply list yet. It’s true! You’re in a good position, parents, because it just so happens that the stores are prepared and waiting for you!
I love doing my back to school shopping at Staples because I know that everything I need is in store, in bins and stategically displayed to help me through my list, and the staff are all trained in – well – everything to do with office and school supplies! I know that when I walk into a Staples store for back to school they are ready for me, and when I have a question, the staff member is trained to answer because that’s what they know.
I headed out yesterday, yes, just 1 week before the start of school, to get my shopping done and I did just fine. No freak outs, no worry.
I went alone – no kids – so that I could focus and get everything completed without arguing on duotang cover colors. Still, it’s important to allow the kids some say on the biggies. I took a few pics of backpacks and sent them to my son’s iPod and got his pick right away (the green one was sent further up on the screenshot). I feel so efficient, and slightly less guilty about allowing him to use iMessage as of his 10th birthday…
Then, I got to work on the rest of my shopping. A note: print the supply list if you can (most school websites will have it available online to print). I didn’t do that, assuming they would have them in store like in the smaller city I lived in previous, and was surprised they didn’t. So, I used the list off my phone which wasn’t as efficient as I’d have liked!
Here’s some goodies that I found:
I also found – and had to tweet out – this “mom of the year” USB Flash Drive I found!
I was thrilled to get all my back to school supply shopping done for my two oldest kids for less than $100/each (noting that the older your child gets, the more expensive items start to appear on the list like USB drives, headphones and more…) If you are fortunate to have the ability to shop for school supplies without too much worry, please consider donating at the checkout to programs like this one below. For $5 at the checkout, I purchased this back to school kit for a child in need through the Boys & Girls Clubs of Canada!
If you’ve completed your back to school shopping, congrats to you (put your feet up and relax…for thirty seconds until the next task at hand!) If you have not, don’t stress – Staples is waiting for you and it will all be over soon, I promise.
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