It’s Back to School time, are you ready?

Going back to school can be expensive

It’s back to school time again. I must admit it is going to be a relief to have the children occupied for at least part of their day. I am talking about teenager’s here, not just the little ones.

Each year we get gulled into buying new stationery even when the children still have from last year.http://kasheringyourlife.co.za/the-back-to-school-rush/

As part of trying to get rid of the clutter in my home and keep it clutter-free, I am also trying to get out of debt.

Inventory

It is time to take an inventory of what they have left from the previous year. We get a long stationery list each year and off I go to buy everything on the list, at least I used to. Last year for the first time my children had to use what was in the house.

I also chose to buy stationery from the cheapest places I could find, since I know that about 90% of it won’t last the year.

We go through each pencil case and school bag, every drawer and cupboard and even through the rooms of my two eldest who are finished school! I collect everything and then look at the condition of what we find.

Keep, donate or sell?

I put the stuff we weren’t going to be using, into two piles. One pile to put out on the corner for street recyclers to collect and maybe use for their children and the ones that were not usable at all go into either trash or recycling bins.

Thankfully the trend has turned and those that need textbooks are happy to sell their old ones and buy secondhand. This means a lot of children are using used books and we as parents can save money on the cost of what is already an expensive exercise.

I did have an issue one year when both my son and my oldest daughter in different grades had the same English set-work books!

Secondhand book resources

Here are some useful places to find this:

On Facebook: the groups- Secondhand School/Tertiary books and uniforms’, run by Janice Liebowitz and Ashleigh Elad, I am sure you can find someone in your area that has what you need in JHB and surrounds (people have couriered to other parts of SA before).

For Johannesburg, there is Orchards Books 0824920124, run by Nicky who also pays a small amount for your good condition books. She has a large selection of school books.

For the Cape, there is the Helderberg School Exchange and auction.

For KZN, there is https://www.facebook.com/groups/427655424101784/?ref=group_header

I am sure there are many more places and people to get secondhand textbooks from. Our school sends out a list of parents (with their permission of course) from the grade above that you can contact.

Earn when you spend

Usually around the first week in January SnapnSave have cashback on stationery, so you can earn while you spend.

If you don’t have the app, do yourselves a favour and get it. Here is my invite code Adrienneb 713(I do earn R10 when you snap your first 5 coupons but so can you).

Back to school while never cheap can be a less expensive exercise when you make use of community groups! We are truly a small world.