Does anyone know of any online discount stores for order school supplies? Got the kids book lists for next year. If I can do it for less then the $200 each that would be great! LOL
My boys school goes through Office works. I just mark off what they need on their lists, taking off the stuff I know I can pick up cheaper elsewhere and email it in.
It gets delivered to my door in the middle of December. Much easier than trawling the shops at the end of January thats for sure
yeah I was hoping that I would find some where on line that was cheaper then office works etc. Our school has a speciality store that does up there lists & I know I can get it cheaper by getting it else where BUT that involves the whole going to the shops thing LOL. But each of the kids lists work out to around $180 each if I just do the order with who the school uses.
Really? That much? Holy crap I wasn't prepared for that lol I remember even in high school, not including a scientific calculator, our lists coming in under $100. I guess that was a long time ago now.
I'm not sure about online suppliers but am interested to know, I'll be getting my DS's book list by the end of term. I was excited, now - not so much lol
Primary or secondary? OMG, that's $$$ for primary! As a primary teacher, whenever we did up booklists, we were very conscious of what we asked parents to buy. We kept the texts and 'specialty' stuff to a minimum. I used to add up my booklist and it never came over $60 if you went through the school supplier. If you did it yourself, you could do it for under $50, including pencil case, dictionary and folders and things that are generally reused from year to year. I don't know of any cheap online book suppliers, but if you look out for specials, you should be able to get exercise books etc cheaper (though beware, the 'cheap' pencils, sharpeners, glue etc usually don't last anywhere near as long, you end up buying more throughout the year and it ends up costing more in the long run). It just means lots of running around!
Our school has sent out a long list and recommended a provider - without including any information about prices. So I basically have to schlep all the way over there to a)work out what is on the not-very-detailed-list and b)work out what the price is. After having to go back and forth (it's not actually very close to where the school is and even further from where we live) it's probably cheaper to just expend the petrol on one trip and get every thing there.
Oh and that's after I have to shell out $750 for a "resources" fee that is due in Nov...given she doesn't actually START at this school until Feb next year ().
I *will* be bringing this up at the very first P&F meeting.
What about adding an exercise book or two to your weekly shopping? Nearly all supermarkets have all you need for school anyway so if you added things to your trolley each week it might not be as bad as buying the lot at once
$750 resources fee? WTF? Is that at a public or private school? Crazy! The only fee on top of uniforms and books we pay is $125 IT contribution fee which goes towards the Mathletics and Reading Eggs program which we have access to at home as well as at school. Lucky to be sending DS to a brand new public/private partnership school that opened this year decked out with 100% Apple technology. All the perks of a private school (minus a swimming pool which some don't have anyway, but they do swimming lessons at an external provider in term 4) without the $6,000 plus fees!
Private high school. TBH I think they have done it that way to maximize the amount that parents can claim on their tax...but charging it before she's even started is a bit rich IMO.
Ahh true didn't think of it like that. Agreed, should be due when all other fees are due, November is the worst time for a big fee like that, right before Christmas.
Primary I have a prepy , yr 2 & yr 4.
I was gobsmacked when we moved here as the school in NSW the boys attended supplied exercise books etc. I think we paid about $40 for the text books stuff & that was it.
So then start of this year when i got the list I was floored!
from the preferred supplier (school gets a commission)
Prep is $94 .. Not including the school book bag or chair bag (which I can make)
yr 2 is $175 ... again not including some items that we need to supply for the classroom like tissues etc.
yr 4 is $187 .. ^^ same again.
Then we have the school fee which I think was about $60 each. Then there is a heap of voluntary contributions which add up to about $300 per family I think. I don't pay those. There are things they cover that I don't utilise or don't agree with. Oh there is also the P&C voluntary payment also which again I didn't pay this year because I felt we contribute enough with the fund raising events.
Oh & as for adding each shopping.. Thats a good Idea I will have to keep an eye out & keep a list of things. The lists are rather specific.. yr 2 rule 64 page not a4 x 10. scrapbook 96 page x 8 etcetc. I don't stick to the exact brand they have listed but the books are not just plain exercise books, they all have different lines ruled depending on the grade/purpose of the book.
Wow, it definitely is a school-by-school thing, isn't it? The only other fees the schools I've worked at are excursions (nothing over $30), camp (every second year, not over $150), computer licence for a reading program ($7 as a one off and it lasts from years 4-7) plus a voluntary contribution of $30 per child or $50 per family (which only one school charged). I'd definitely be bringing your concerns up with the school.
I always buy my exercise books when they're 1c or 5c ea (I send DH in to get as many as the limit says, plus I go a few times!). Or, the multi packs are good value too.
BellyBelly Member
QLD's book lists - online suppy/discounted
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