A Guide to Cheap School Supplies
Often, teachers will use their very own money to design and give supplies to their classrooms. And teachers surely don't have millions of dollars to purchase supplies. That is why we've scoured the internet to find the most moderate quality school supplies that all teachers can use, as well as resources for additional supplies. See beneath for our full list.
Teachers, if you have any cheap school supply resources we missed, let us know in the comments beneath.
Supplies
Bulk oops pencils
Students lose, break, and forget pencils constantly. Purchase a pack of "oops" pencils from U.S. School Supply. These pencils can't be sold in custom packs because of mistakes made in the manufacturing process (often misprints of words and names) so U.S. School Supply packages them together and sells them for next to nothing. $25 gets you more than 430 pencils, costing about 6 cents for each pencil!
Teacher Special Sharpener
When you purchase more than 400 pencils, you're going to require a sharpener to keep them on point. But electric sharpeners and the standard gear crank sharpeners are boisterous and distracting, especially when used during class. Insert the Teacher Special sharpener from ClassroomFriendlySupplies.com.
Made by teachers for teachers, this sharpener is cheap as well as peaceful and portable, allowing students to use it at their desks without distracting others.
Bulk Mechanical Pencils and Lead
Or then again just skip the sharpening all together and check out U.S. School Supply for bulk mechanical pencils. A pack of 48 BIC mechanical pencils is just $18.25 (or 38 cents for every pencil!) while lead varies between $8.75 for 24 tubes of lead to $54.15 for 144 tubes. See all U.S. School Supply mechanical pencils here.
Mini Whiteboards
Small, desk-sized whiteboards can get expensive, especially when you need 30+ of them! Instead of breaking the bank for small whiteboards, use a trap experienced teachers have known about for a considerable length of time: shower board! Shower board is sold at handyman shops like Home Warehouse and Lowes for about $10-$15 per sheet depending on the material used (see a full list here) and are Dry-Erase marker friendly. One extensive sheet creates 40 whiteboards if you adhere to these instructions.
Resources
Hoot of Loot
Hoot of Loot is a website that helps teachers sell their old classroom style and supplies. By shopping at Hoot of Loot, you are supporting different teachers. You're also ready to limit your search by postal district and category. And if you ever change grade levels, you'll have the capacity to sell your classroom stylistic layout as well!
Craigslist
Craigslist.org is often packed with retiring teachers unloading their old school supplies and classroom stylistic layout (especially in the summer!). You can find lots of great deals with some snappy searches (and sometimes supplies can even be free). Use the keywords "teacher" and "classroom" in both the Available to be purchased and Free categories.
Yard Sales
Scour your nearby yard sales for anything that can double as school supplies. No one can really tell what you may find!
Office Supply Stores
While office supply stores like Office Station and Staples are most likely a quite obvious spot to shop for supplies, recollect this tip. Often, these stores will have sales where folders and different supplies are incredibly cheap, but there is a limit to the sum you can purchase. Try not to hesitate to ask a director to lift the sales limit. Just explain that you're a teacher and they should almost certainly supersede the limit. If all else fails, bring friends to exploit the great discounts!