Getting My Life Together: School Supplies (Check!)

Over the weekend we took all four of the kids back to school shopping for supplies.  I always separate the supplies shopping from the clothes shopping.  Supplies shopping is my FAVORITE part of back to school preparation, so I like to do that before clothes shopping.
 
I do not go around to ten different stores.  The best use of time, energy, and patience – for me and for the kids - is to get it all done in one place, when possible.  (Another option is online shopping.)
 
Here is our process for back to school supplies shopping:
 
STEP ONE: Make a list for each kid:

1. The 4 year old creates her own list because her school does not actually require specific supplies.  Her self-generated list includes:

• scissor skills sheets
• new scissors
• coloring book
• sticker book
• crayons
• lunch box
• pencil box
• notebook
• book bag

2. The 7 year old is going to second grade and the school provides three lists of supplies (one for him, one for the second grade classroom, and one for the art/music classroom):

• Pencils
• Erasers
• Red folder
• Blue folder
• Red notebook
• Blue Notebook
• Any color folder
• Pencil case
• Pencil sharpener
  
• scissors
  
• Glue sticks
• Dry erase markers
• Sharpies
• Paper towels
• Clorox wipes
• Hand sanitizer
  
• Paper plates, cups, utensils
  
• Prizes for prize box
  

3. The 13 year old is starting her freshman year in high school.  She is taking 8 classes and her schedule is on an A Day/B Day System.  To make sure that she has what she needs for each day, she gets two book bags (one for Day A and one for Day B).  In addition to the two book bags (one purchased in the store, one ordered online), her self-generated list includes:

• 4 two-pocket folders
• 8 one-subject notebooks
• mechanical pencils
• pens
• highlighters
• assignment book (backup to an assignment phone app that she uses)

4. The 15 year old is going into his sophomore year in high school.  He is taking 7 classes and his schedule is also on an A Day/B Day system.  To make sure that he has what he needs for each day, he has two book bags (one for Day A and one for Day B).  He opted to reuse his book bags from last year.  I imagine he will want to reallocate the book bag funds for a higher shoe budget.  His self-generated list includes:

• 7 two-pocket folders
• 2 five-subject notebooks
• pencils
• pencil sharpener
• pens
• highlighters

STEP TWO: Take the lists to the supply store of your choice (we went to Target)

• Get separate shopping carts to keep supplies separated.

 
STEP THREE: Divide and Conquer:

• The older kids (15 and 13) have their own cart and can grab what they need on their own.
  
• With the younger kids (7 and 4) we start with the “fun” stuff.  For them, this means picking out the book bag, lunch box, and water bottles of their choice.  Once those are taken care of we start on the more detailed items on their lists.
• I go through the three supplies lists with the 7 year old.
• The 4 year old picks our her items.  We do not find scissor skills sheets or any scissors to her liking.  So I order these items online later.  (She gets everything else on her list.)

 
STEP FOUR: Check out.

• I opt to ring up their items in separate transactions.  One for each kid and another separate transaction for the school supplies requested by the teachers for the classroom.

 
STEP FIVE: Get the items home and start organizing.

• The older kids (13 and 15) organize their items as they see fit.
• We put the 4 year old’s items into her book bag.
• We put the 7 year old’s items into his book bag.
• We separate the items requested by the teachers (one bag for the second grade classroom and one bag for the art and music classroom).

 
DONE: All of this is about a half-day’s work, including:

• 30 minutes to generate the lists
• 1 hour getting the supplies (yes, we actually got all the supplies for all four kids in about an hour)
• 30 minutes checking out (self-check out  with separate transactions)
• 1-2 hours organizing the supplies after we got home.