There’s a small thrill in buying a pack of crayons for 50 cents. There is joy in filling your cart with brightly colored sticky notes and index cards and three-prong folders. And best of all, there is the open-ended question of how you will fill a brand new composition book.
It’s back-to-school time in South Texas, and by the time you’re reading this my kids will already be on their second day of school. It’s a bittersweet time of year. My kids are looking forward to having new teachers and classmates but also feeling sad to say goodbye to their lazy summer schedule. I feel the same.
The Discard: The Pinterest version of Back-to-School
Adorable first-day-of-school pics never seem to come together for me. I always wanted to be the mom with the perfectly coordinated first-day-of-school pic for the scrapbook. But last year I was so frazzled that morning, I completely forgot to take any photos at all and wound up with an end-of-the-first-day-of-school pic that featured sweaty, grumpy kids and stained t-shirts. And I decided that’s ok. In fact, maybe I’ll make that our new tradition!
Inside The Basket
1) School Supplies — For Me
I simply could not resist buying myself some school supplies of my own this year. A brand new pack of Sharpie S-Gel pens (pink ones!) and a new notebook made their way into my cart and I can’t wait to start filling this new notebook up with journal entries!
2) Reusing What I Already Spent Money On
Reusing any school supplies you can is the number one way to reduce your back-to-school shopping bill. When my boys were starting kindergarten, I bought them each a high quality, solid-colored backpack with the plan to reuse it for as long as possible. We are now starting year three with the same backpacks and they don’t look completely perfect, but they still look relatively new.
I bought my daughter’s backpack in a pattern which hides scuff marks better than the solid-colored packs. This year will be its second year in use and as you can see, it’s still in great shape. I also reuse lunchboxes, supply boxes, scissors, and headphones. Sometimes the teachers will send home extra supplies at the end of the school year and I save those in a safe spot for the next year.
3) School Supplies for Three Kids for Less Than $130
Combined with reusing old supplies, ordering our school supplies via a grocery app is how I bought my three kids’ school supplies for less than $130. I function better as an analog girl, so I printed the kids’ supply lists. I started with one and wrote down the category, such as “red folder.” Then I cross-checked that item on all three lists. Everyone needed one, so I wrote “3” down next to the item.
Once I finished totaling all the supplies, I opened up the Walmart Plus app and started typing each supply in. This was MUCH faster and much easier than going to the store to make my purchases. It also completely eliminated the risk of my kids seeing fancy supplies and begging for them.
Now, we’ll have a little more money to spend on teacher gifts or the school fundraiser.
4) The Lazy Genius Podcast
Kendra Adachi aka The Lazy Genius is one of my favorite podcasters. I listen to her podcast frequently because she teaches me how to make my life run more smoothly. I downloaded an older version of her Back to School Checklist episode to listen to on our trip to Louisiana, but I just saw she has an updated one now.
My favorite tip was actually from a listener. She decided to have her kids fill out an “all about me” questionnaire the night before school. Then when they got home, she fed them dirt cake. I thought that was a fun idea, but I decided to serve donuts instead. Easy way to start a new tradition!
5) Wynne Elder’s Notes App Trick
Some of the best internet advice I’ve ever gotten came from Wynne Elder’s wonderful Substack last year. Every year, the papers that come home from school pile up, I eventually get stressed, take a quick pic, and throw them away. But then when I need the information, I can’t find it. Here is where Wynne’s idea comes in.
On Howdy Night (aka Meet the Teacher if you’re not from Texas), I took pictures of the class list and the schedule. Instead of forgetting about them, I took Wynne’s advice and popped them into a folder in my notes app that I could easily reference as the year went on. I added the teachers’ favorites list, field trip information, extracurricular schedules, and on and on. It seriously made finding school info a breeze.
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What back-to-school tradition are you keeping — or discarding — this year? Let me know in the comments.
P.S. Feel free to pull up a chair, crack open a Cherry Coke, and sit with me on the back porch to help me figure out what actually matters. Let’s tend to life, together.
Saving the forms in Notes… why didn’t I think of this years ago??
This list is brilliant, and I am fully on board with your discard. I've never had my act together to have the cute chalkboard showing what grade they're going into or what they want to be when they grow up. This year, we didn't even have new clothes to wear. And you know what? My kids didn't care a lick! It was always about me.
This Notes idea is pure genius, so thanks for sharing it. I am doing that right now before I throw away the Back to School Night papers.
I almost bought myself school supplies when we ran to Target, but I didn't see anything that spoke to me. I think it's time for a solo trip just for me.