Perfecting the Art of Shopping for School Supplies

Before you continue reading, please make sure that you have already watched this topic’s corresponding video on my YouTube channel. Click here to do so. If you have already watched my YouTube video titled “The Secrets to School Supply Shopping,” then you are ahead of the game!

The purpose of this blog post is NOT to reexplain my 6-Step Strategy for Successful School Supply Shopping; that’s what my video is for. Instead, I will be providing you a mock example of the 6-step strategy in action. So here goes…

Step 1: Figure out what classes you are going to be taking during the upcoming school year. Then make a list—being sure to leave a good amount of space in between the name of each class.

Algebra 1

Pre-AP Biology

English

U.S. History

Spanish

Step 2: List out the REQUIRED materials for each of your classes (please see italicized text); to get this information, I recommend that you check your school’s website or contact your teachers via email.

Algebra 1
•A composition notebook with graph paper
•A folder with pockets and brads
•A graphing calculator

Pre-AP Biology
•A composition notebook with wide-ruled paper
•A 1’’, 3-ring binder
•Box of medical gloves

English
•A spiral notebook with college-ruled paper
•A 1.5”, 3-ring binder
•A folder with pockets and brads

U.S. History
•A spiral notebook with college-ruled paper
•A folder without brads
•Index cards with one blank side and one lined side

Spanish
•A composition notebook with wide-ruled paper
•A 1”, 3-ring binder
•Index cards with one blank side and one lined side

Step 3: List out the supplemental materials that YOU believe you will need for each of your classes in order to be at the top of your game. Please see new italicized text.

Algebra 1
•A composition notebook with graph paper
•A folder with pockets and brads
•A graphing calculator
•A ruler
•A ream of loose-leaf graph paper

Pre-AP Biology
•A composition notebook with wide-ruled paper
•A 1’’, 3-ring binder
•Box of medical gloves
•A folder with pockets and brads
•100-count, 3” x 5” Index cards with one blank side and one lined side

English
•A spiral notebook with college-ruled paper
•A 1.5”, 3-ring binder
•A folder with pockets and brads
•Packet of yellow post-it notes
•8-tab plastic binder dividers with pockets

U.S. History
•A spiral notebook with college-ruled paper
•A folder without brads
•100-count, 3” x 5” Index cards with one blank side and one lined side
•A 1.5”, 3-ring binder
•USB for a PDF version of the textbook

Spanish
•A composition notebook with wide-ruled paper
•A 1”, 3-ring binder
•100-count, 3” x 5” Index cards with one blank side and one lined side
•8-tab plastic binder dividers with pockets
•Pocket Spanish-English Dictionary

Step 4: Create a separate list and title it “General List”. At the top of this new list, put supplies that will come in handy for all your classes in GENERAL.

General List
•Backpack (see picture below for an example of the type of backpack that you should be looking to invest in)

•Pencil bag (see pictures below for an example of the type of pencil bag that you should be looking to purchase and for suggestions on what to keep in your pencil bag)

•Thermal Lunch Box (see picture below for an example)

•Hard-plastic Water Bottle (see picture below for an example)

•Pocket Tissues (see picture below for an example)

•Ream of college-ruled notebook paper
•Ream of printer paper

Step 5: Cross-compare the original list that you created with your General List, and count up how many items of each material that you need. Record what you come up with on a Master List, which is what you will take to the store with you when you go shopping for the school supplies.

Master List
•1 Backpack
•1 Pencil bag (and the stuff to put inside it)
•1 Lunch box
•1 Plastic water bottle
•1 Pack of pocket tissues
•1 Box of medical gloves
•1 USB
•1 Pocket Spanish-English Dictionary
•1 Ream of college-ruled notebook paper
•1 Ream of printer paper
•1 Ream of loose-leaf graph paper
•1 Graphing calculator
•3 Composition notebooks (one with graph paper and 2 with wide-ruled notebook paper)
•1 Spiral notebook (college-ruled paper)
•4 Pocketed folders (3 with brads and one without brads)
•4 Three-ring binders (two 1” and one 1.5”)
•2 Packets of 8-tab plastic binder dividers with pockets
•3 Packs of 100-count, 3” x 5” Index cards that have one blank side and one lined side
•1 Packet of yellow post-it notes

Step 5.5: GO SHOPPING, and use your Master List to guide you so that you can be in and out of the store as quick as possible. Bring a pen into the store with you, and cross items off your Master List as you put them in your cart.

Step 6: Once you get home, unpack all your school supplies and then label each material with the name of the class that it corresponds to. For example, you should use a permanent marker to write “Algebra 1” and your first/last name on the front of your graph paper composition notebook designated for your math class. Do the same thing for all your other classes and materials! Then, put all the materials into your backpack so that you are ready to go for the first day of school; my recommendation is that if you know your class schedule already, sort your supplies in your backpack by period. In other words, put the supplies for your morning classes at the forefront of your bag ordered by period (with the supplies for first period being the most accessible), and put the supplies for your afternoon classes in the back part of your bag ordered by period as well.

With all that said, now you’re ready to carry out these six steps on your own! You’ve got this!