The first day of school is just around the corner which means it is time to scramble to get the school shopping done. But wait! I have a few tips to help make your preparations easier and more Earth conscious.
- Shop your home first: if you are like me, your office and kids play area are overflowing with art supplies, pens, tape, glue, folders, and paper. Most of the supplies will be brand new since you forgot that one time you bought a 10 pack of scotch tape at Christmas for gift wrapping. Go through the school list of supplies and pick out what you already have first. Trust me, you can probably check off nearly half the list this way. You can also get creative with things like pencil cases. Old makeup bags work great.
- Reuse old supplies: who says everything has to be new? I don’t buy my kids a new backpack every year. As long as there are no major holes and zippers work, my kids will be using the same one for years. JanSport actually guarantees their backpacks for life – they will fix it or replace it if it breaks. I still use my high school backpack for hiking… twenty years later! And old notebooks are perfectly acceptable. In fact, if you look through your house, you can probably find several that just have a few papers used. Recycle the used paper and send your kids to school with the rest.
- For new supplies: check out local art stores. You can find everything from non-toxic, recycled dry erase markers to sustainably made colored pencils and recycled scissors. But you don’t have to bust your budget. Even Target now sells 100% post-consumer waste recycled paper notebooks, folders, and loose leaf paper at comparable prices to the other versions.
- Clothing: We are bombarded with commercials and mailings with back-to-school sales. Resist the urge to follow the marketing ads and purchase the latest trends in clothing for your kids. They outgrow everything so quickly. Make it a habit early on to stick to used clothes or hand-me-downs and your kids will never know the difference. I am sure to present an awesome garage sale find to my daughter with excitement. You can also shop Goodwill, St. Vinny’s, local consignment stores, resales, and garage sales with your kids and let them pick out their own style. This doesn’t have to be done in August! My one exception is gym shoes. I usually purchase new shoes because they get such heavy use. Companies like Nike will recycle gym shoes at their end of life. If they are still in good condition, but outgrown, they can be donated.
- Classroom assistance: Label an empty box for markers along with your phone number or email address. On the first day of school give the box to the teacher to keep in the classroom for collection of markers that no longer work (any brand) and ask him/her to notify you when it is full. You can help out by exchanging the box for a new one and mailing the full box to Crayola for recycling, free of charge.
Now you can lay back in your lounge chair, sipping Rose, and soak in the last rays of summer feeling smug about how you slayed back-to-school shopping this year.
How do you do school shopping? Do you dread or embrace it? What tips do you have for those on a tight budget who also want to cut down on the environmental impact? Please share!
