School supplies - Share your cheap (online) supplier

[*Efjay*]

So Im on the hunt for a bargain. Does anyone use online stores to purchase their school booklists? Who? Where? cheap cheap cheap! lol

[Phteven]

Our school uses OfficeMaxSchools - we just order online by selecting our school and grade and they deliver everything on the list to the school.
We used to use Jacarandah which has the same system but they changed it this year.

Do you have to find everything on the list yourself? That would be a total PITA.

[*Efjay*]

no I can use the school supplier (ours use flexischool) but Im boycotting because each child would be over $150 each then the school ALSO charges you a resource fee (over $100 each also) add that to the normal school fee's & for public education that is just insane.

[nothing2lose]

Our school does the same as Zazou's. As soon as we pay our voluntary contribution ($250 base rate) we get our box of goodies.

I don't think you'd get any cheaper online than Big W or Kmart.

[*Efjay*]

at a glance officemax seems to have good prices

[Chocaholic]

Prices are cheap maybe but check delivery fees. I always get caught there

[Katters]

Why not order online then go pick it up from store always cheapest. They pack it for free.

[AnyDream]

Our primary school also does it through OfficeMax. I've found their prices are comparable with what you might get elsewhere. I've not found it cheaper to shop around except for the costlier items, eg, dictionary (usually cheaper at Big W), calculator, USB drives, art pencils.

Having said that, for the budget-minded, we keep our overflow supplies from each year and only buy those things that we absolutely need. For eg, each year they might say your child needs a dictionary - but in actual fact it's the same dictionary that only changes once from lower to upper primary AND you can usually get it cheaper at Big W. Every year, I sit down with a box of nappy wipes and clean and sharpen all the pencils, test out the textas etc. This usually means we only need to top up a few items rather than buying every single thing on the list. Likewise, any exercise books that only have a few of the pages used get re-covered and used the following year. You would be surprised how much you can save by doing this.

In early primary school they often share all the pencils etc in tins, so I send them in like normal, but in higher grades the spare stationery stays at home in MY cupboard, regardless of what the teacher says. Especially in public schools where the school cannot require the parents to supply stationery. In the past we've sent it all in as requested for the "spares" cupboard (eg multiple pens, pencils, coloring, gluesticks) but in actual fact those materials have been given to other students, so there were none left to replace DD's supplies as she ran out of things during the year.

[*Efjay*]

yep, office max didn't have all the stuff I needed & Officeworks had almost all (except for a few od Isla's things which I only need 1 of each, where with the boys I need to supply 15 of the 1 book!) & Yep, opt for pick up . I will source my stationary needs (pencils etc) from Kmart, as while I know the quality is not great. My boys have proven every year that they can not keep track of their belongings so I am not spending a heap on quaility stuff that *should* last at least the first semester because I can bet my right arm, 3 weeks in they will tell me they need something because its lost. Im actually going to speak with their teachers about it. Last year was just insane. My oldest tend to break things I think out of nervous/anxiety related issues & my second oldest out of frustration. They are both special needs so I think it would be a fair call to ask the teachers to not let them keep everything at their desk this year.

And YES the whole bring in 10 books so we can supply your child throughout the year, yet we give them to everyone... ****es me off. Last year I covered Isla's books for her. I spent time & money on covering them for her, how she wanted them. Special for her first year at school. When they went in, anybooks covered, had the cover removed & it was all shared amongst the class. Now I know I might sound slack but parents are told to pay a resource fee per child on top of supplying everything the child needs, including several boxes of tissues & hand soap as well as copy paper. So I expect the items I send in for my child to be for my child.

This year I am sending in portions of the requested items & as they need them, I will send more.

[Phteven]

I don't mind the sharing of supplies, subsidising a few pencils and so on for my children's classmates is no biggie. My boys have never run out of stuff even though the pencils in the class rooms are pretty stumpy by the end of the year.

[Olive]

Our preppies shared everything which also didn't bother me, but this year for grade one, we have to label everything including pencils

[Phteven]

Labelled pencils.
You could save yourself hours of fiddling with tiny labels and buy personalised pencils.

[Olive]

Yup
I know re personalised but we get everything supplied so can't unfortunately

[Trillian]

Can I just say how totally bull**** I think it is that you all have to buy everything for your kids and then have it shared? I've had kids in public school for the past 7 years and never have i ever had to do that. I get that it's not your fault and nor is it the school's fault because I guess they just can't fit it into their budget to buy books but that's bull**** bull**** bull****. There would be parents deliberately not buying stuff at all because they know other people will pick up the slack. I know there are kids who dont' have any pencils etc of their own at our school because they know the school supplies it, but there is just something really unfair about parents having to pick up the tab like this.

FWIW Efjay, big W had a shedload of stuff on special for only $1. I brought ten packs of those papermate HB pencils that come in the 5 pack because they only cost $1 and we go through heaps of pencils just at home. And they had books quite cheap too.

[Phteven]

I don't have any problem with sharing. I'm pretty sure that most families buy the supplies and since the school has a fund to help the families who can't afford it that includes the lower income families.

Personally I prefer the system because it reduces my labeling and lost property responsibilities to cloths and lunch boxes and my children don't have the break their backs lugging stuff to and from school.

[AnyDream]

I don't mind the sharing of supplies, subsidising a few pencils and so on for my children's classmates is no biggie. My boys have never run out of stuff even though the pencils in the class rooms are pretty stumpy by the end of the year.

Yeah, but when your child is trying to write in an unlined book (because the extras you sent with lines in have all been used) and only 1 out of 3 of their maths books have been graph paper ones, that's a bit ripe. Especially when you've stood in the classroom and witnessed another child using your lovingly covered and labelled books with your child's name scratched out .

ETA - Trill - yes, we were living in an above-average income area (demographically) but I know there was a "This is a public school therefore it should be FREE" mentality which meant that parents wouldn't buy stationery. Not necessarily because they couldn't. Mind you, the school's ordering/paying/collection stationery system was unneccessarily complicated (ie you had to order in December for the following year and there was a narrow pick-up window) so maybe that was a barrier for some families too.

[*Efjay*]

In prep, I don't mind the sharing of pencils etc. I would be happy if they did this (tins of coloured pencils per table group) in the higher grades as well, except I know my child(ren) would have issues with this. Not because they can't share but for Glenn perticular his ASD limits his tollerance to people touching, taking (or what he sees as grabbing at) things that are there for a group exercise. He once flipped a table over because they had to do a activity with the wooden counter blocks (you know, units, tens & hundreds). The teacher didn't think & each group of tables had been given a icecream container full of them to share. Each table tipped them up so they were spread out on the desk. But for Glenn, he seen what he needed/wanted but so many little hands grabbing at everything in no "order"was very overwhelming & yeah.. It ended badly. But had he been given his own container with a selection of what he would need he would have been fine. So the pencil sharing is fine for *me* but not my kids.

Anyway.. My problem with the "Sharing" of supplies is as its been pointed out above. I am already paying for the things MY children need for their education. I have 5 kids. This is not a cheap exercise for us, so to buy for my kids, who then miss out on using their things because other kids had nothing... well as I said, Im already buy for 5 kids, why am I buying for others especially when most schools would have a fund to dip into for under privileged students AND I am also paying a resource fee. To me its taking my money AND my supplies & giving my child nothing OR cheaper quality stuff because its all got shared out.

Our kids don't bring it all home each day. They have a Tidy draw at their desk for their books in use. Then they are meant to also supply a magazine holder to house their other supplies. But It just gets bundled up together.

Now on the flip side of this, I also feel it is unfair on other parents that they have to supply for other kids because chances are MY kid will be using their kids stuff. Not because my child was sent with nothing or because he used up his pages BUT because he destroyed his book(s) in a moment of frustration. This happened the in 2011. By the end of the year, even though I was replacing when I was told of it happening & had actually taken in a set of supplies for this reason. He was using sheets of paper because he could not go a day with out destroying his work. This OT but had they took the time to address the cause rather then just punish him for his actions it would not have been a continued problem. But its an endless battle I am learning..

Anyhoo.. I have ordered the bulk of the exercise books via office works & for the 3 kids in school it was under $30. I still need to do the stationary but will do that between kmart & big W sales. I should manage all that is needed for all 3 school kids under $150. Compared to using the schools supplier which would be $150 EACH.

[Rowellen]

Anyhoo.. I have ordered the bulk of the exercise books via office works & for the 3 kids in school it was under $30. I still need to do the stationary but will do that between kmart & big W sales. I should manage all that is needed for all 3 school kids under $150. Compared to using the schools supplier which would be $150 EACH.

Well done! That's a huge saving. TBH I'm surprised to hear that supplies sent in get shared with other students (not prep though). My personal experience was my parents supplied my things and they/I labelled & covered them all and if I ran out they replaced them. The school supplied some pencils for days when your own got broken but they were to be returned. I would have expected the same seeing as I haven't moved interstate. I don't mind paying a fee to cover underprivileged kids but to have my own kids things get shared around and have them miss out, I would be mighty annoyed.