Back to School Shopping Tips: What School Supplies Should I Buy?

Back to school shopping can often be a game of guess and check if you do not know what supplies your child will need this year in school. This shopping list and tips will help you to get everything you need in back to school shopping.

Back to School Shopping: Purchase Essentials

There are a number of back to school supplies that require no guesswork because any sane teacher would request that students have these supplies. They are the essentials: backpack, pencils, loose leaf paper, a good eraser or two. Your child will definitely need these supplies, whether the teacher requires them or not.

It is also worth considering, depending on how your child likes to stay organized, getting a 3 ring binder and dividers, along with a folder or two for loose papers. Also on my essentials list for back to school shopping growing up was a pencil case, to help me keep track of all my pencils, erasers, and other small objects. My preferred case was a zippered pouch to fit in my 3 ring binder, although separate cases are also widely available.

Back to School Shopping: Items to Get on Sale

Many of these next items are not essential, but you can purchase them on sale during back to school shopping times, so this is a better time to get them than after school begins. Items such as crayons, markers, colored pencils, scissors, and glue sticks are supplied in many classrooms, but your child may like to have their own to use (and for less than a dollar, you can't go wrong).

Back to School Shopping: Wait for the Teacher List

Many teachers will send home a list on the first day of school with the items they would like each child to have with them every day (if the list was not mailed to you before the school year even began). If you are in doubt about whether to purchase an item before sending your child back to school, just wait until you know from the teacher.

Many classrooms have supplies provided, and if the list has not been given to you yet, your child will definitely not be required to have all of those supplies with them on the first day of school. You can shop later sales, with many stores putting items on clearance to get them out once school has already begun.

Back to School Shopping: General Classroom Supplies

Often, teachers will request that parents send with their children some supplies for general classroom use that are not provided by the school district funds. For example, Kleenex is something that classrooms can go through very quickly, and teachers will often request that each parent send a box of Kleenex in with their child. If you find Kleenex and similar classroom items on sale before school begins, consider just buying some under the assumption that you will be asked to provide it. If not, you can always make use of things like that at home, or even save them for the next year!