Where did the time go?
Yep, it’s the end of July, and the back-to-school sales are ramping up. If you’re like me, you hate this kind of shopping. So I was delighted when, about 5 years ago, my son’s school offered Edu-Kits – everything required by the school in a box delivered to the classroom.
Sure, it was expensive. But I knew I was paying for convenience and not having to run around to 3 stores to get everything on the school supply list.
Do you get what you pay for?
Reporter Patricia Lopez with ABC13 news in Houston did a comparison shop in 2014. For $20.93, she was able to recreate the pre-packaged school supply kid that was selling at a local store for $67.99. Yikes! That’s a big upcharge for convenience.
In addition, in the last couple of years, I realized that I was buying the same stuff over and over again, when many supplies could just be reused from last year. For example, every year, the school asks for a pencil bag (reusable), a huge number of spiral notebooks (barely used – tear out the written-on sheets), protractors, compasses, calculators, etc.
Just by going through my son’s backpack on the last day of school, I had half of the supplies needed for next year.
So, with very little effort, I’ve managed to scale back back-to-school spending. Maybe I’ll sock that extra money into his 529 account!
