Back to the books
New school year means costly shopping for many parents
Some parents are feeling the crunch of making sure their children will have the right supplies for when they return to school on Thursday.
Shopping for back to school can be a costly tradition, with schools often providing parents a list of what supplies their children will need for the year.
While many items like scribblers have to be replaced yearly, reusing items is one way parents can save money.
“We try to reuse every year what we can but most of the stuff doesn’t last,” said Jana Jamieson, who has daughters in Grades 2 and 5 at Montague Consolidated School.
Christina Compton has four children in kindergarten to Grade 6.
She said hunting for sales is how she keeps the cost of school shopping low.
“There are pressures to get some of the more expensive things but they’re not really necessary for function,” she said.
Costs for school supplies vary and can often end up being more than $100 per student.
This can be expensive when a parent has multiple children enrolled in school.
Kellyanne Roche’s daughters attend Grades 3 and 6 at Donagh Regional School.
Roche said that instead of school supplies shopping, parents of kindergarten to Grade 4 students at Donagh pay a $40 fee and then school supplies are provided to the students.
“That’s great versus $126,” said
Roche, referring to the school supplies bill for her eldest daughter.
Jamieson said she’d like to see more schools require a base fee instead of parents providing the school supplies.
“I think (it) is a lot easier on the
kids, on your wallet,” she said. “I would hope our school turns into that because it’s a lot easier to send the $40 with them (than) the $250 bill.”
Jamieson said the goal is to stick to the supplies list provided by the school but it’s not always
possible to get the exact item.
“It’s hard,” she said. “I couldn’t find what they asked for so I got the best that I could come close to.”
Roche said she didn’t stray too far from what’s on her eldest daughter’s list other than a
couple of colourful binders.
“You have to stick to the lists,” she said.
“The way I look at it you want the kids to (have the) same kind of stuff.”