Even though my family homeschools we still love back to school time and the sales we can often find on school supplies. While many of the supplies we buy are specialty and things we can’t get at box stores this isn’t true for all of it. Like everyone else we need pencils and pens and paper and erasers and such. Why not get them at a good price while they are on sale?
Sales are one thing, getting off brand items are another!
If you know our family you know that it is very rare that we shop at Walmart for moral reasons so it should be no shock that we ended up at Target a while ago doing our back to school joyful shopping instead. We picked up some binders, folders in themes the kids love like skylanders and Hello Kitty. We got pencil sharpeners and pencils and colored pencils. The list goes on and on.
My husband and I made a mistake though, we went with an “Off” brand for some of it like the mechanical pencils. We got two packs thinking they might last half the year. Oh my, here we are just two weeks later and they are almost all gone. Why? Because they are made cheaply and not worth even the cheap money we spent on them. I should have gone with a name brand and then gotten $5 off when using Target coupons! We also picked up a few pencil sharpeners that are just junk and eat up pencils, they are also off brand. We have no luck when it comes to pencils for far this year so we will be doing more shopping.
What happened to Crayola?
We at least know better than trying to get the off brand crayons and thought to get their colored pencils as well. What has happened with Crayola and their colored pencils? Those have broken left and right and even when using good pencil sharpeners we are already seeing these will not last the first quarter of the school year never mind the year. I know we have a beloved brand for colored pencils but for the life of me I can’t remember what it is and need to dig through the kids collection of them or just ask other homeschool Moms as I bet they will know.
My point in all this, be picky about what supplies you get and try them out with your children. If they are not working be sure to get a different brand next time and look for the sales rather than just picking the cheap items! They are often just not worth it.
