Friends, I have an illness... it truly is a disease... I am starting to think I am a hopeless case. And the fact that I just went upstairs to my school supply stash and inventoried everything just further proves what I hopeless case I am. LOL.
Boxes under my bed hold... (and this does not count what is in tote bags all ready for my kids' first day of school)
36 red pens, 22 blue pens, 23 black pens, 3 red pencils,a long pink pencil box, 7 packs of index cards lined and unlined 3x5, 5 packs of index cards lined and unlined 4x6, 3 boxes of 24 count Crayola crayons, 5 scissors, 2 locker locks, 16 big pink erasers, 1 pack of small pencil end erasers (15 count), 1 pack 64 count Crayola crayons with built-in sharpener, 10 pack of rainbow highlighters, 60 2-pocket folders, 4 rulers, 6 pack of post-it notes, 1 pack of dividers, 16 1-subject wide ruled notebooks, 14 1-subject college ruled notebooks, 1 black pencil pouch, 1 graph paper notebook, 1 five subject notebook, 90 yellow #2 pencils, 5 dry-erase board markers (4 black, 1 green), 1 10-piece 'math' tin with compass and protractor, 13 assorted highlighters loose, 13 glue sticks, 13 black gel pens, 2 packs of wide ruled loose leaf paper, and a partridge in a pear tree... (after all, it is the most wonderful time of the year)
Every year I tell myself I won't over buy. I won't get extras. I will get just what is on the list. Heck, maybe I will look under the bed and fill the list from there instead of getting it at the store and then only get what I really need when I go out to shop. And every year... on some random day... I walk down the aisle in Target and there it is... the back-to-school display. I get sucked into the 25cent boxes of crayons and $1 packs of notebooks and 75cent reams of loose leaf paper. HELLO? 10 brightly colored 2-pocket folders for 60cents?!? How does anyone resist?
Ya know, if I psycho-analyze myself, all this school supply over compensation comes from childhood trauma. I was a very smart girl in school, tortured and picked on by bullies, and all I ever wanted was my spiral bound notebooks to be the same color as my 2-pocket folders with a crisp brown paper bag book cover on my textbooks. Is that too much to ask? Some how, that was never the case. I ended up with the 24 count crayons knock off brand crayons when all the other kids had 64 count Crayola ones. Forget about having a Trapper Keeper! That was just dreaming!! I refuse to let my kids feel even the least bit of school supply envy!!
Breath in... breath out...
Okay, so unofficially, I asked Ron to put me on restriction next year from buying more school supplies. Although the supply box is actually under his side of the bed, I don't think he realizes just how much I pack into the under-the-bed box. Keywords in that first sentence... "next year". Some how I am totally colored pencil-less? And Andrew has colored pencils on his list... and Lauren needs hand sanitizer (that's a new one for a supply list)... oh, and a thumb drive too (weird).
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13 comments:
I am a cured school supply shopaholic. My after two years I am still going through my inventory.
"Hello Kerry", you are NOT alone! I too am an office supply junkie! I love Staples and those couple of aisles at Target that hold all the pens/pencils/notebooks, etc. I could spend hours wandering around just looking at it all and selecting just the perfect supply for this project or that. It is a sickness and I regret to say that I've gotten my daugter hooked as well. Every time I say I'm going to staples, she jumps up and grabs her purse and says, "I'm coming too"! She needs book covers this year...which are fairly inexpensive. My mom said, "don't buy them, you father is a wiz at covering books with brown paper bags"... Yeah, right. Like THAT's gonna happen! LOL! "Hi, my name is Kristen, and I buy too many school supplies"...
I got goosebumps when I read that all you wanted was for yout folders to match your notebooks, the 64 crayon box with the crayon sharpener, etc.
I remember looking at all the 3-ring binders and trying to pick one that spoke to me and would not be ridiculed by my classmates, only to be told that I had a choice between the plain red or blue one. THOSE ARE BOY COLORS MOM! I WANT A UNICORN! Ah, that felt better!
I wish my daughter's 2-yr. old daycare class had a supply list! sniffle sniffle
Hi Kerry!
I too am a yellow pencilholic!!
Yep, it's that time of year, the time that mother's across the great US of A are screaming "They're going back to school - HIP HIP HOORAY!!!". We do love the little buggers, but it's time for them to get back to work!
Ron will forget by next year!
I am so glad that I am not alone. I haven't been as bad this year, but I do know that there is a bag or a box someplace in my basement that holds all the excess, and that I forget about when the day comes that I decide that we have to go supply shopping NOW! But we do have this great local program called Project Fresh Start where people donate truckloads upon truckloads of school supplies for needy local families...so that no kid has to be without a backpack or a new box of crayons! And when I was a teacher I always had a good supply stash for those kids that didn't have and I would slip a new notebook or pack of pencils in their desk. They would never tell me but the gratitude was all over their faces. So find a place to donate all those extras...get your kids involved to fill a backpack or two with all the things they would need for their own school...it will feel so good!
Enjoy the day!
Erin
I am SO the opposite. We get a big long list and my eyes glaze over. My kids have half days this week and yesterday I asked if the teachers would be there later because I was going for the supplies and would drop them off. They said to 'hold off' because they already had so much stuff. I did jumping jacks inside myself. Whew.
Then today they said they needed some type of composition books in different colors. I asked, "can I just give you cash?" hee hee.
Kerry...I am the aunt that volunteers to take the kids for their supplies. My sister is very frugal and the kids love it when I take them to get the supplies because they get to pick whatever they want. It is fun for me and they love it too. I too always wanted that big box with the sharpener...and when I finally got to get a box...it was like heaven on earth!
I also made up a little bag that we would take when we would go out to dinner with the kids...it always had that box of 64, probably more for me than for them. I love to color!
Kerry, I love school supplies, too. I just cleaned out all of my old ones. I did go out and buy new ones, especially, crayons. Don't they just smell great?
Wow, Kerry...yes you have a school supply addiction. I remember your talking about your stash under the bed in the past! And typing up your inventory must have taken forever! :-) You sure brought back memories...I remember those brown bag book covers (loved to draw on them), and Trapper Keepers!!! I haven't gone school supply shopping yet....(remember, to me it's still summer).
oh kerry...i can relate and feel your pain...
this year, hubby is going to buy the school supplies...i am turning it over and surrendering...
Hey KErry,
I was the same way when my kids were getting ready to go to school.
My supply looked something like yours. Now that they are going to college I don't have to woory about it that much. I have let the suppy dwindle down.
LOL
Kerry,
I am still LOL! Yes, you still have a problem like Charity! I am still laughing.....
The last few years my kids schools have offered school supply kits so I haven't gotten into my stash and my husband can't pass up those great deals either. So earlier this year I collected up a bunch of the items that I knew we just weren't going to use (no one uses crayons anymore in my house) and posted the entire lot on craigslist. I got a taker pretty quick and then those extras were gone. What a feeling!
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