Most Back-to-School Sales are Over!

Now that school has started all over the country, most office supply stores have stopped offering good deals and steep discounts on back-to-school goods.  Since parents and teachers are now forced to buy the supplies they'd put off buying all summer, there's no need to be kind to us and offer a deal.

Office Max is the exception, as they're still running their Back-to-School for Pennies special this week.  The deals aren't incredible, but there are some good things to pick up if you're already there.  Rulers for $0.10 and 12-packs of Sharpies for $5.99 stand out the most, as do the $0.25 binders (nice, bold colors, too!).  There is also an offer for 50% off lamination for those of us who (for some strange reason!) don't have personal laminators yet.

I hope everyone has had a smooth, exciting back-to-school and promise that I will try to update more frequently.  It was a crazy week and I didn't get online much, but I'll be back with the deals in no time!

Cheaper Teachers are Cheaper Eaters!t

Hello, lovely readers.  Here in NY today is the last day of vacation before we return to school.  Even though I was there last week for 3 days setting up my classroom, this is the last true day of summer before life begins again.

So what am I doing this lovely Labor Day?  Hanging at the beach with my fabulous friends?  Going out for a nice, relaxing dinner and a handful of drinks?  I wish.  I'm cooking for the week.

While I am not always the most disciplined in planning menus, I have determined to save money on meals eaten at work this year.  One easy way to do that is to cook in bulk on the weekend so that I have inexpensive, healthy food to bring with me for lunch.

So, in the spirit of the Cheaper Teacher, I thought I'd share what I'm making, what it costs me and how long I can expect to eat off of it.  This is just a sampling of what I've made so far, and I'll update other lunch ideas as I go.

Easy Quinoa Salad:  I loooooove quinoa.  If you don't know what it is, you're seriously missing out.  It's a simple, versatile grain that can be used in place of rice, couscous or other grains.  It's extremely high in protein and contains no gluten, so it's great for both vegans (like me!) and celiacs.  I get quinoa in the bulk bin for about $3.00/lb, but if you're lucky enough to find the Goya bags of quinoa, they're about $2.00 for a 1 lb. bag.  The bulk quinoa is organic, the Goya is not.

I used 2 cups of dry quinoa, which is a little more than half the bag of bulk quinoa, so it cost about $1.50.  Quinoa multiplies like CRAZY when you cook it - it made about 8 cups cooked.  I cook it in water (free) at a 2:1 ratio and throw in a veggie bullion cube for good measure ($0.10?  I don't even know what the breakdown on bullion is, but it's almost free).

Then I throw in whatever veggies I have in the fridge.  I love this recipe because everything goes in this salad and you can use up what you have left over from other recipes.  I threw in a few carrots, a zucchini, an eggplant that was in danger of the trash chute, three plum tomatoes, a handful of stringbeans, a few olives, some red onion, a wilting stalk of broccoli and some  shredded red cabbage. I also squeezed the juice from one lemon A lot of these veggies came from the CSA, so I didn't pay for them out-of-pocket but through my joining fee.  I would estimate that this is about $5.00 worth of veggies if I'm being extremely generous with price - since I use such small quantities of each, I can't imagine it was more than that.  But let's just estimate high.

For no more than $6.50, this recipe yeilds 26 1/2 cup servings - if you eat two servings per lunch, you get 13 meals (lunch, dinner, snack, whatever) for the price - or about $0.50 per meal!

Big Old Pot of Beans:  A 1 lb. bag of Goya beans runs me about $0.89.  Make the whole bag at once and you get about 8 cups of cooked beans.  You can eat these as a filling side to something else, straight as they are, refried in tortillas, on tostada shells, whatever.  Final Cost - about $0.11 per serving!

Gotta get back to cooking - more to come!

These Crazy LeapFrogs Keep Getting Cheaper!!!

I know I told you of a great way to get Leapfrog TAG books at K-Mart for $1.80 each... but what if I told you a way to get TWO FOR $0.60?

If you go here you can print a $4.00 off Leapfrog Product coupon.  These coupons are unlimited, which means you can print as many as you want... but you won't need that many, because K-Mart (where the books are on sale for as low as $4.80) offers a $5.00 coupon (the kind that prints from the machine by the register) when you spend $5.00 on LeapFrog products!

So here's what you need to do:

:::Pick 2 LeapFrog TAG books at $4.80 each.  Use 2 -$4.00 coupons.  Pay $0.80 each, or $1.60 for two books (a little less than you'd've paid for one using the $3.00 off coupon I posted about earlier.

:::Your cashier will hand you a $5.00 off LeapFrog purchase coupon that the register generates.

:::Go find 2 more LeapFrog TAG books.  Get back on line.  Use the $5.00 off AND the $4.00 coupons.  This will knock the price of one down to FREE with a $0.20 overage and the other off to $0.60 ($4.80 - $4.00 - $0.20 overage from other purchase) - Two LeapFrog Books for $0.60!

:::Another $5.00 coupon will print.

:::Repeat from the 3rd step until you have all the titles you want.

I would suggest printing about 6 coupons, which leaves you the opportunity for up to 5 transactions.  If you already printed the $3.00 off coupons, you may want to save ink on your computer and pay the extra dollar on some transactions.

You may also want to have a friend on line a few people behind you with more titles to keep things flowing - you grab 2 books and so does s/he.  You get on line, he lets about 5 people between you.  When you pay, hand off your $5.00 coupon and go get 2 more books.  Get back on line.  Your friend can hand you their $5.00 coupon while they get more books.  This could significantly speed up the process.

I have heard that to use rolling coupons like this you may want to try to get on different lines to make sure no one stops you from making multiple transactions.  I've also heard that some cashiers will let you make 2 or 3 transactions at one time, which means you can just keep handing over 2 books and using the $5.00 coupon that prints!

Best. Center. Ever.

More Leapfrog TAG Amazingness

Holy Almost-Free Leapfrogs, Cheaper Teacher!

Remember when I showed you that Leapfrog TAG Reading Systems were on sale at Target for $25.00 (down from $50), and with a $10.00 off coupon, you could get the system for $15?  And how I ran out and got 2 to create a center in my classroom?

Well, the price on the TAG System at Target is down again - this time to $12.48!  With the coupon, that brings the cost down to just $2.48, which is an incredible savings from the $50 original price.

Couple this with the K-Mart sale I told you about earlier in the week on books for the TAG System, which can get the books (retail $12-15) for $1.80 by using a coupon and shopping the clearance section, and you've got one sweet deal.  How sweet?

Imagine you want to create a center where 4 children can work at the same time.  You want to give each child a selection of 3 books and have pre-programmed the books into the TAG pens.  4 pens X $2.50 each = $10.  Each TAG comes with one free book, so you'll need to buy 8 books (either duplicate titles or different titles: if you buy different titles, each child could have up to 9 choices but if you buy multiple copies of the same title you avoid fights).  8 books X $2 each = $16.  Total cost = $26.00 plus tax (in NY, that would come up to $28), which is roughly $8-10 LESS than I paid for my two TAG systems when I bought them the first time!!!

While Target does not offer price adjustments, I have this plan worked out for getting some money back on my Leapfrog systems I bought just recently:

:::Go to Target and bring my receipt for the LeapFrog TAGs I bought recently at $15.00.  Also bring two $10-off coupons for the TAG system.  Do not bring the old TAGs with me.

:::Go directly to the toy aisle and check for the TAG at 12.50 clearance price.  If they have it, buy FOUR.

:::Get on line and pay $10 for the TAG systems.

:::Leave the store.  Put 2 TAGs in my car or ask a friend to hold them (if I'm not in the car).  Return with the 2 new TAGs and my old receipt.

:::Return 2 of the TAG Systems and receive a $30 refund.  

:::Since I spent $10 on the 4 new TAGs, I have gotten 2 free TAGs and $20 back at the new price.

:::Go to K-Mart and spend the $20 back on TAG books.

:::Create TAG Center!

Have fun!!!  :-)

Free Clorox Wipes for your nasty, germy, dusty classroom!

Sorry for the weird image, but the Clorox site is weird about letting you steal their logo from the pictures!

Clorox is giving away free disinfecting wipes to teachers.  They mail you a coupon for a free item instead of the item, so it's a full-size, not a trial-size.

Enjoy!

SmileBox Teacher Toolbox ($40 value - FREE)

I'm exhausted from setting up my classroom all day (it looks like Calcutta in there!) but thought I'd give you an update about this cool bit of technology I just found called SmileBox.  Except I'm tired.  And lazy.  So I'ma let the website tell you instead:

"Smilebox is an easy and creative way to safely send photos, videos and personalized information to your students and parents in a secure way. It’s perfect for newsletters, overviews of teaching units, performance and field trip recaps, classroom activities and more!  As a member of the Smilebox Teacher’s Toolbox program, you will receive a FREE annual subscription to our premium Club Smilebox service (a $39.99 value). This gives you unlimited access to more than 900 Smilebox designs. You can choose from thousands of music options or add your own music, email and blog your creations full screen without ads, print any page, burn your Smileboxes to DVD or save them as jpeg images for a photo frame. More designs are added each week. You will also receive special offers and a newsletter with great ideas on how to use Smilebox in your classroom."

I looked at the site and it seems to be a cool, easy way to communicate with families (or at least the families that have internet access, which is sadly not as many as I'm sure we'd all like) and to make archives of stuff you do in class.  I'm also thinking that if I could find an ethernet cable long enough I'd set up some SmileBox photoalbums to put in the hall on Parent-Teacher Night for the parents to look through while they wait their turn with me.  Let me know if any of you end up using the site!

*Note:  I registered on my home computer, but the program isn't entirely webbased and you have to download content, so I'd suggest registering from your school computer and downloading at the same time. 

$11 worth of Lysol Coupons

Hey, Cheaper Teacher.  You nasty.  

Fortunately, Lysol is offering $11 worth of coupons on various products to help you clean your skanky classroom.  With Swine Flu expected to make a second go-round in the fall, you'll probably want to stock a few of these products in the classroom.

For the record, I'm not trying to add to Swine Flu hysteria.  I had Swine Flu in the spring.  It sucked, but not as much as everyone makes it out to suck.  But teachers would do well to avoid germs.

Enjoy!

Leapfrog TAG it Up!

This is a store-specific deal, but a good one.  Remember how I told you you could get Leapfrog TAG reading systems for $15 at Target if you used the $10 off coupon from the Leapfrog site?  And remember how bummed we all were that the TAG books are not really that cheap?

Well, K-Mart currently has TAG books on sale for $4.80 (clearance items - not all books on sale).  The Leapfrog website offers a $3.00 off book purchase coupon, with no limit on how many you can print.  So if you buy a clearance book and use the coupon, each book will be $1.80!  Sweet!

You can print the coupon here.  Remember that not all stores have the same clearance items, so you may want to shop around a few K-Marts to see if you can find good titles.  I'ma get me some this weekend so the Leapfrog / Leapfrog TAG center is ready to go the first week of school.

Enjoy!

Quick Freebie - freeology.com

Hello, Cheaper Teachers!

I haven't been able to update because things are SO overwhelming to get ready to go back to school.  Even though I don't have to report until Tuesday, September 8 here in NY, there's not a lot of time to set up our classrooms (ONE day!  EEK!) so I'm going in early this week to get things moving.  By Tuesday, I hope to have the bulk of the work done and my paras (I have three this year) will be able to help me with all that's left (artsy stuff, decorating, labeling, etc).  

If I'm scattered the next few days, please forgive me.  One thing that's NEVER free when you're a Cheaper Teacher (or a Good Teacher!) is time.  

BUT I wanted to share a decent website I just found - www.freeology.com.  I didn't want to post sites that give you graphic organizers and stuff, but this one is pretty good.  I've been printing some things that I'll want reproduced in the copy center immediately so that I'm not only ready with a nice classroom on September 9th when the kids come, but that I'm ready to get them learning!

Enjoy setting up!  If anyone finds any great deals, please comment so I can update with the info!  

Books for as low as $1.77 at Books-a-Million!

I love the internet!

After googling around for a while, I managed to find a link to a moneysaving blog I don't normally read, which directed me to The Books-A-Million site, which has some serious sales on books.  These books are good for upper-Elementary readers and struggling middle school students; most of the books are TC Level M+.  There are some Roald Dahl, Judy Blume and Paula Danzinger (Amber Brown series) books for sale at discounts as steep as 80%, which means a lot of the books are around $1.77 each!

If your classroom library is in need of an upgrade, this might be a great place to start.  Titles are somewhat limited on the sales, but this might be a great place to get books for guided reading groups!  Even if you buy 5 of a title, that's only $8.85, and you'll be set for a guided reading group right when school starts (if that's the case, I suggest sticking to a TC level that you know a good amount of your class will need help getting to; look over your reorganization sheets, IEPs and other documents you got from last year's teacher!).

Enjoy!

Borders Teacher Rewards Card

Did you know that Borders gives a 25% off discount on books and music for teachers, as well as 10% off educational DVDs?  Because I didn't!!  This is a way better deal than the Barnes and Noble Teacher Rewards (20% on books, DVDs don't apply, I'm not sure what the deal with music is).  It's too bad that so many Borders are going out of business.  I only know of a few locations.  But next time I pass by one, I will certainly stop in and get a Classroom Discount Card.

You need to present photo identification and pay stubs or a teacher's photo ID in order to qualify when you fill out your application.

$14.98 Leapfrog TAG Reading System at Target

 Leapfrog Learning Systems are popular with parents and teachers because kids love them and they help children learn.  I have 6 Leapfrog Leappads that came with corresponding books on vocabulary, reading and math.  The Leappads are kind of old and the books are not the most exciting in the world, but the kids like them.

Leapfrog TAG is an upgrade from the Leappad; the electronics are all stored in the nifty little pen thing, which has a microcamera and can be programed to "read" up to five books at a time.  You download the electronic content off the website and buy the books for the TAG separately.  Each TAG comes with one book, and books sell at about $8-10 full price.

Leapfrog TAGs usually cost about $50.00, which is a little cheaper than the Leappad (which is about $80.00) but still way out of most teachers' price range.  However, with a great sale and a manufacturer's coupon at Target, I was able to score two Leapfrog TAGs at Target today for $14.98 each!

Target currently has Leapfrog TAG systems on sale for $24.98, which is about half price and a good deal even without any additional discounts.  However, if you got to the Leapfrog site, you can print out a $10 off Leapfrog TAG system and a $5 off Leapfrog TAG Jr. system.  I printed two coupons and was able to use both (though, obviously, I couldn't have used two to make the TAG only $5... you can only use one coupon per purchased item.

It's important to keep in mind that not every Target may be running this promotion, or may be on a slight delay from my Target.  Apparently some towns still have the TAG for $35.00, which would bring it down to $25 with the coupon.  It's still an OK deal, but not good enough for the classroom if you ask me. 

While the books aren't cheap, my plan is to buy one or two a month and upload them into both TAGs at the same time.  I might have to buy 2 or even 3 upfront and then buy more as the year progresses.  This is probably a great purchase for Donors Choose if you already have the TAG - I bet you can get a lot of books at a good price from a generous donor.  Or, if you're feeling ambitious, you can try to get some on Craigslist or Freecycle.

Let me know if any of you take advantage of this great deal!

Off to Target

I'm off to Target again.  God, I love Target.  I have some coupons I'm hoping to use to save money both on classroom items and personal items, but I also am in love with some (full price) clothes and shoes that they're selling right now for fall.

The truth is, I'm not like those other money-saving sites I've seen where I won't buy anything at full price... I love a deal, especially on stuff for my classroom, but I buy a lot of stuff at the regular price as well.  While I'll be getting some cat food free with overage (two coupons - one manufacturer's and one target) and might be picking up some Leapfrog Tags ($15.00 with coupon - if I get 2 they'll make a badass center!), and of course the $0.88 colored pencils that went on sale yesterday that I talked about, most of my purchases today will be of normal cost.

Oh, and I have like a million baby wipe coupons that I'm hoping to pair up with some sales.  Because baby wipes are effing expensive.

Anyway, I hope to have some exciting deals to share with you when I get back!

Staples: The Grinch Who Stole Back-to-School

  Today I had a rather unpleasant encounter at Staples when I rushed over to buy, among other things, their $0.01 folders on sale until Wednesday.  When I got there, however, I was met with unpleasant management, ridiculous sale limits and employees who said their hands were tied by Staples Corporate.  One cashier even told me that a lot of people have been disappointed with the sales this summer and that the Corporation is getting "really cheap."  When I asked if they'd been effected by the recession, the cashier laughed and shook his head.  "They're fine, they're just cheap," he replied.

Well.

The letter below details--as briefly as possible--my current complaints against Staples.  I plan to shop at Office Max and Office Depot, who are much more generous to teachers than Staples is, until I hear from Staples.  If their reply is not satisfactory, I might stop shopping there all together.  At very least, I don't plan to buy anything there at full price anymore, which is something I often do when I'm hitting up the sales (for proof, check out my Office Depot Swag post, much of which was purchased at full price while I was taking advantage of Teacher Appreciation Day).  

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To Whom It May Concern:

I am writing in regard to a situation that I have noticed at my local Staples, store number 0147.  While my dissatisfaction is in many ways site-specific, the problems I have witnessed at this store lately indicate a larger problem with Staples Corporate.

I am a teacher and have also been a long-time Staples customer.  I spend hundreds of dollars on school supplies at your store per year and am a Teacher Rewards cardholder.  I buy most of my supplies at Staples at full price, and stock my classroom from your shelves.  The one chance I have to save a bit of money is during the Staples Penny Sale, which I excitedly anticipate each week.  This is both a useful and fun shopping experience for me; I enjoy stocking up on back-to-school materials at a good price, and almost always buy several full-priced items during your sale.

In previous years, showing my teacher identification card and my Staples Teacher Rewards card allowed me to bypass limits on these sale items, within reason.  I thought this was a wonderful thing that Staples does for teachers, and always made sure to buy only what I needed on sale.  This year, however, I was surprised to learn that teachers are held to limits of 25 per item.  While surprising and disappointing, I have mostly been able to make these limits work for what I need.

This morning, however, I rushed to my local Staples because the sale I most anxiously anticipate was going on—one cent for folders.  As a teacher of 5 subjects, I color-code my students’ folders, and your penny sale on folders is invaluable for me.  I needed to buy 90 folders—15 each of 5 colors—and asked a salesperson what the limits were for teachers and was told we are limited to 25.  As the sale holds limits for all other patrons to 20 (as opposed to the usual 5 or less), I found this unfair.  If it is understood that the average patron will need exponentially more than the usual limits on penny sale, shouldn’t the same hold true for teachers?

Fortunately, I was able to make three transactions in a row to get the folders I needed because there was no one behind me on line. However, a short while later, I returned with my mother, also a teacher, when she needed folders.  While she waited outside with the dog, I went to purchase more folders for her classroom.  She needed 50 folders, which I collected.  When I got on line, the store manager on duty (it was about 12:00 noon) told me that I would not be allowed to make 2 transactions and that I was not allowed to get back on a line with more folders.  I was limited to 25 folders and asked to leave the store without the rest of my purchase. 

At this time I also witnessed a disturbing event; a young girl and her mother were on line in front of me.  When the mother went to look at something in the store, she left her young daughter, who was about 8 years old, to pay for the items she had collected, which included on-sale construction paper and folders.  When the child got to the front of the line, she was informed by the cashier that she was not allowed to purchase sale items because she was under 18.  I asked the cashier why this was store policy, and he explained that Corporate was trying to prevent families from bypassing sale limits by asking their children to make transactions.

Staples’ slogan is “that was easy,” but of late it has become anything but easy for teachers and families—who may need multiple quantities of items and may not be able to afford them without your sales—to make purchases at your store.  I found the staff at my local Staples quite pleasant during these two transactions, but the manager was extremely unpleasant.  When I expressed dissatisfaction with the limit of 25 folders and explained that last year I had been given an override to buy the 90 I needed, she snapped, “This is not last year.  Policies change.”  When she refused to let me back on line and told me I could not make any more sale purchases, she was equally rude.

I am not the only teacher dissatisfied with the position Staples has taken regarding limits on sale items; I spoke to several other teachers who were equally annoyed.  Furthermore, I called your competitors, Office Max and Office Depot, and was told that documented teachers would be able to completely override sale limits at their stores.  When I was at Office Depot last week, they even encouraged me to take beyond the limits on free-with-purchase items!  Office Max is currently running the exact same sale on folders as you are (though limits for non-teachers are 6). 

I manage a blog called Cheaper Teacher, which helps teachers to find deals on school supplies.  I will be posting this letter on my blog at www.cheaperteacher.blogspot.com along with a more detailed complaint against Staples’ new policy regarding sales.  I have already expressed dissatisfaction with the scaling back of your penny sale this year, but I believe my experience today will cost you a great deal of patronage.

I hope that Staples Corporate will attempt to rectify this situation, which has already inconvenienced several teachers that I know of.  I always enjoyed being a Staples customer and am very surprised with the treatment I have received and witnessed at Staples lately.  I do not plan to shop at Staples until I have heard from you and will be making the rest of my back-to-school purchases at your competitors’ stores. 

I hopefully anticipate your reply.

Best regards,

Mallory McMahon

--------------------

I plan to eventually detail my experience even further on this blog, and I promise to post any replies I get from Staples (with their permission) or at very least let you know what, if any, response I get.

How to get 400-ct Post-It Pads for $0.50

Post it notes are not the cheapest thing we buy for our classroom, but they're important school supplies that are useful in many ways.  Here are some of the ways I use Post-Its in the classroom.

--Write comments and feedback for student work without having to write on their work (which some schools frown upon)
--For pre-literate students who are still in the drawing/labeling stages of writing, write down what they said their story is (exactly as they say it) and place on picture (front or back) so that you remember the story or for bulletin board purposes.
--Give to students to make notes about their reading during Readers' Workshop.
--Use in Math Workshop when making bar graphs with the children - each square = one unit up on the bar.

So how can you get Post-Its for $0.50?!  Follow these easy steps:

(1)  Go to the 3M site and print their coupon page.  Coupons are good until 9/6/09 and you can print as many as you want (a lot of online coupons have 2-coupon limits).  I printed 5.

(2)  Cut out the middle coupon for $0.50 of any one Super Sticky Post-It Pad.  It's up to you if you want to spend, save or discard the other two coupons on the page for Pot-It Flags.

(3)  Go to any Office Max during the week of 8/23 - 8/29, where 400-ct cubes of Post-It notes are on sale for $1.00.  Buy as many as you have coupons for.

(4)  When you get to the register, give over your coupons!

Since Post-It packs run between $2.75 and $3.75 (according to the Office Max ad), if you buy 5 pads you are theoretically doing a B1G4 with a small discount!  Wow!

**Note - if Office Max tries to decline the coupons, remind them that they are manufacturer's coupons, so Office Max will be reimbursed for the money you saved by the 3M Corporation.  Ask politely for a manager if the salesperson tries to block your transaction - it's a perfectly OK transaction and you shouldn't have any problems!

Office Max Back to School for Pennies Deals week of 8/23 - 8/30

I am having trouble viewing the Office Max weekly ad for my area, but they did update their Back-to-School for Pennies section to give some decent offers.  As you can see, Office Max is currently running the same penny folders deal that Staples is running; however, Office Max limits 6 per purchase while Staples' limit is 20 for regular people and 25 for teachers.  That said, if you ask the manager nicely they might be willing to give you some overrides.  I'm not sure if Office Max extends their limits for teachers, but Office Depot was so helpful when I was there yesterday that I would not be surprised if they did.

Looseleaf paper is also on sale--$0.20 for a pack--but I can usually get that from my administration so I'm not going to be buying it.  I stocked up on scissors the past two years at Staples, but the $0.20 for a 2-pack of scissors is a great deal.  The best deal in my opinion is the $1 Post-It cube.  Post-Its are almost NEVER on sale, and this is a good deal.  If you could find a $1/1 or $0.50/1 coupon, you could get these for FREE or Almost Free!

By navigating away from the main page of Penny Deals, I found two offers that, while not "for pennies" are still enough to make me want to swing by an Office Max this week:

I have seen almost no good sales on Elmer's White Glue.  Glue stick sales are everywhere (and I got some at Office Depot yesterday) but white glue is my class's glue of choice.  While not an amazing offer, Office Max's B2G1 Elmer's Glue sale is decent if you can find a coupon.  If I find any, I'll make sure to post.  It's really frustrating that glue is so hard to come by this summer!

But the offer I'm really excited about this week is on the same level as the half-off Expo Markers at Office Depot yesterday that got me so pumped up..... Half-Off Mr. Sketch Markers!  Yahoo!!!  The 18-pack was pictured, and these usually cost around $14, so to get them for around $7 is truly exciting.  These are my preferred chart markers.  The kids aren't allowed to touch them (they get Crayola, which I find bleed on charts and smudge with my left-handedness).  Mr. Sketch have a crisp line, don't bleed and take longer to fade when you hang your charts than other markers tend to.  They smudge much less with my left-handedness (if I'm cautious, they don't smudge at all!) and the colors are really vibrant.  I use these every day all year long and they're a huge expense.  So guess what I'll be stocking up on this week?

Next post will be a rant about my terrible experience at Staples this afternoon.  I'm so mad at them!!!

New Target Weekly Ad - 8/23 - 8/29

The new Target Weekly Ad is up, and it's not that hot for teachers this time around.  There's only one page of school supplies on sale, and the only good buy I noticed was Crayola colored pencils for 88 cents.  I'm not crazy about colored pencils (they break, the kids spend 6 years sharpening them, they're expensive on full price) but it's always good to have a few.  If I happen to be at a Target, I'll grab 4-6 of these, but I won't be loading up like a maniac and I won't be going out of my way.

That said, Target has adorable shoes for fall.

Customer Review: Office Depot Teacher Appreciation Day

I got to Office Depot a little after 10:00 am for Teacher Appreciation Day.  From the get-go, it was much better than the Staples celebration.  I walked in to people cheering and saying "thank you" (seriously - not a lot of cheering, but some fuss every time a teacher walked in the door).  I signed in and was encouraged to apply for an Office Depot Teacher Rewards Card.  The card got me 10% in store discount for the day (I was fuzzy on the details, but it might always give that reward!) and 5% rewards for the day.  Every quarter, Office Depot mails a gift card to rewards teachers with 1% of their spent value back.  Cool!  Considering I have a really hard time figuring out how to claim my Staples rewards, this is pretty awesome.

After I was given my card and my gift pack, I was encouraged to sign up for a financial consultation to take place next week.  If I show up for my appointment, I get a $50 Office Depot gift card!  If I actually take whatever ghetto financial services they offer me after my consultation, I'll get another card for $75 on top of that!  I'll probably go for the $50 card but I know I won't be signing up for financial services.

I was then handed the "Taking Care of Business" year-long coupons for teachers booklet, which had a lot of high-value coupons that last for one month (from September - August, so none were usable today) and a 10% off purchase of $50+ coupon.  Since I already had a 10% off $40+ coupon, I saved the new coupon for another day.  Another 10% off $40+ printed as a Register Reward when I made my purchase, so I got $20 in cashback savings just for showing up!  

Then I was invited down to a continental breakfast (and proudly passed on donuts and bagels, having only coffee and sticking to my back-to-school diet!) and helped by a wonderful employee to find everything I had written down on my list (based on sale items).  He threw me a couple of freebies and overrode the store limits to help me get enough of everything I needed for my classroom.

There was also a different raffle every 15-20 minutes, but unfortunately I didn't win anything.  Some of the raffle items were electric sharpeners, electric staplers, gift cards and a backpack full of goodies.  Every teacher got one free raffle ticket when they came in, and all drawings were from the same pot.

It was a lovely experience and I had fun.  I hung around for all the drawings, even though I was done shopping, and I chatted up some other teachers.  It was really well organized and everyone was super helpful and nice.

As for my gift bag, in addition to the coupons, teachers were gifted with:

--1 reusable tote bag ($1.00 value)

--1 plastic folder ($0.39 value)

--4 #2 pencils ($0.50 value, estimate)

--1 Crayola erasable colored pencil (sample from company - no value)

--2 Expo dry erase markers ($2.00 value)

--1 mini legal pad ($0.50 value)

--1 DVD-R ($1.00 value)

--1 3M poster stickies ($1.69 value)

--1 Fold-It Ruler ($2.00 value)

Total value was about $8.50, which is less than the Staples gift, but when you factor in breakfast, coupons, rewards and 10% full store sale, it was a much better deal for a teacher to go to Office Depot than to Staples for Appreciation Day.  Everyone at Office Depot was absolutely lovely and I'm glad to have discovered this store for school supplies.

Customer Review: Staples Teacher Appreciation Day

I got on line outside my local Staples around 8:40 am.  There were a lot of people milling around when I got there, and then other people started the line, so even though I was about the 5th person there, I was maybe 8th on line.  The doors opened at 9:00 exactly and the line moved quickly.  You showed your ID, got your gift bag and could get to shopping.

There were no special sales for teachers, just whatever was in the weekly ad.  Since I'd already bought what I wanted from this week's weekly ad, there was nothing I wanted to buy.  Even though Staples was offering $2 reward for every $1 spent (double rewards), I wasn't motivated to buy anything.  The Staples employees told me that teachers will get double rewards until 9/15/09, which is awesome, but made me even less interested in buying at Staples when I knew there were big things going on at Office Depot.

However, this didn't prevent me from going to a second Staples later in the day to pick up a second bag.  The bags and swag were exactly the same at both Staples, except that at the second one I also got a paper folder with a coupon and some information about home office supplies in it.  My Staples gift consisted of:

--Staples reusable tote bag ($1 value)

--blue plastic pencil box ($1 value)

--2 packs of 3M Poster stickies ($1.69 value X 2 = $3.38 value)

--100-ct vinyl-coated paper clips ($1.50 value)

--50-ct push pins ($1.50 value)

--one highlighter (guessing $1.50 for 12-pack = $0.12 value)

--one mini mechanical pencil with comfort grippy (total guess here - $0.50 value)

--12-pack pencils ($1.29 value)

--paper folder ($0.15 value)

--2-pack eco-friendly mini-legal pads ($2.50 value)

So the whole kit was about $11.50 worth of stuff, which is actually pretty good.  Strange, when I total it up, the package looks WAY better than it felt when I got it.  I think part of the problem was that Staples used to give us the gift in an expandable file folder, which is smaller, so it looked fuller.

I left Staples sort of disappointed with my gift and with the fact that there were no special sales for teachers that morning, but in hindsight, it was a very nice gift.  Especially since I cheated and ended up with two!  That's $23 worth of goodies.

Thank you, Staples, for appreciating what teachers do.  

What I got at Old Navy!

The picture quality is a little crummy, but this is what I got at the Old Navy $3 t-shirt sale.  There was a limit of 5 shirts, but I wanted 7 so I just got back on line.  I also wanted a pair of flipflops to close out the summer in - they were 2 for $5, so I got my mom a pair, too (not pictured).

I had a 20% off coupon, which I used on my transaction for the first 5 shirts and the flipflops.  The other 2 shirts I had to suck it up and pay the full $3.  Oh, well.

The shirts were tagged at $12.50 EACH, which means the total cost of everything pictured here should've been $90.  I paid a little over $20!  What a deal!  To sweeten the pot, I also got 10% my next purchase for filling out a very quick survey with my receipt details online.  Nice!

These shirts will be great under little jackets with jeans or with cute skirts for back-to-school.  I'm lucky because the dress code at my school is pretty casual, so I can count these as work clothes, even though they'll get mostly weekend use.  The flipflops, obviously, I can't  wear to work, but I plan to live in them after 3:00 weekdays and all day Saturday and Sunday until October.  

What I did for Teacher Appreciation Day

Check out what I scored for Teacher Appreciation Day!  You can't see everything in the picture, so of course I'm willing to give a breakdown of the scene (which, for the record, took forever to set up, so I hope you appreciate it!)  

*OD indicates Office Depot free gift for TA Day

*S indicates Staples free gift for TA day (I went to 2 different Staples, so I got doubles of everything)

$OD indicates that I purchased the item at Office Depot.

From left corner, moving down:

Two purple milk crates $OD

4 packs of Ricola Minis $OD

10 "Very Useful" small storage cubes w/ tops (5 packs) $OD

2 Plastic Pencil Boxes *S

5 Steno Pads *S 2 eco-friendly 2-packs / *OD 1 single

Fold Out Ruler *OD

2 Boxes of 12 pencils *S

2 Herbal Essences conditioner samples $OD (hey, they were a quarter each, I couldn't resist!!!)

2 packs 50-ct Push Pins *S

2 packs 100-ct vinyl-coated paperclips *S

Post-It Note dispenser *OD

5 packs of 3M Poster Stickies 4 packs *S / 1 pack *OD

From just left of center, heading down:

2 Staples Tote Bags *S

Sight Words Bingo $OD

Money Tray $OD

4 larger-sized (7 l) Very Useful Containers with lids (2 blue, 2 clear) $OD

5 packs of 4-ct glue sticks $OD

6 packs of 12-ct pencil top erasers technically $OD, except they were FREE.

2 Chapsticks

Center, foreground of photo:

3 packs Expo Dry Erase Markers (2 10-ct with whiteboard eraser / 1 16-ct) $OD

2 highlighters, 2 pencils, 1 pilot Varsity fountain pen, 1 Expo marker, 2 mini-mechanical pencils with squishy grip things *S highlighers and mechanical pencils w/ grippys / *OD pencils, Expo marker and Varsity Pen.

2 folders paper folder *S / plastic folder *OD

DVD-R *OD

From far right, heading down:

Office Depot Tote *OD

White Sentence Strips $OD

Multicolored Sentence Strips $OD

--------------------------

Aaaannndddd for the totals!  Drumroll please:

All Office Depot purchases cost me $79.00 out of pocket.  I got two coupons while I was there (one Register Reward and one tear-off as part of TA day) for $10 off future orders.  If I apply those savings now (as theoretical, since they function like cash-back) I spent $59.00.

Going over my Office Depot receipts, if I had bought this merchandise at full-price without my teacher's discount, I'd have spent $185!  That means that I SAVED $126!!!  If I estimate the costs of the free merchandise from both Staples and Office Depot, I probably saved closer to $150!

Future posts will detail my experiences at both Teacher Appreciation Days (and the Old Navy T-Shirt sale!) and give a little bit more information about where my biggest savings were and what the best (and worst!) parts of each day were.

Appreciate Me!

I'm off to be appreciated this morning!  Don't forget that from 9:00 - 11:00 both Staples and Office Depot are hosting their Teacher Appreciation Days!

Also, just a reminder that today is Old Navy's $3 t-shirt sale.  One day only!

Don't be lazy!  Be  cheap!  :0)

New Office Depot 8/23 - 8/30 Circular with some good deals

I'm new to the Office Depot game, largely because I don't feel compelled to trek into Manhattan from Brooklyn to shop there.  That said, there are some great deals going on at Office Depot next week that might just get my lazy self on the train... especially if I can meet up with someone to have lunch or something.  

But for those of you lucky enough to live near an Office Depot--or those who will be near one this coming week--I wanted to share the highlights from this week's sales.

First off, 10-packs of #2 pencils are $0.10!  Awesome.  While it's not 10 or 12-packs for a penny (why hasn't Staples offered that yet this August?  Is the Office Max sale for real?), it's getting late enough in the season that this deal looks good.

Pencil cases (they look sort of cute) are also on sale for $0.10.  This is a better deal than the previously posted Staples pencil cases for $0.33, but it's hard to tell from the picture what the quality is.  Worth looking into, for sure.  

Wow!  Purell is on sale for $0.25 - well worth getting a whole bunch!  I go through this stuff like crazy with my young students.  These look like travel size bottles in the picture, which is not as big a savings as if they were bigger, but travel Purell still retails at around $0.99 - $1.29, so this is still somewhere in the ballpark of 75-80% off.  

Also a quarter each are 2-packs of scissors and 24-ct crayons, though it's worth noting that these are NOT Crayola crayons.  I usually don't display brand allegiance in the face of deals.  There are three exceptions where I ALWAYS buy my brand:  ketchup (Heinz), tampons (you don't really need to know that!) and Crayola crayons/markers.  I wouldn't buy anything but Crayola because the crayons seem to break/crumble and the markers seem to dry out on every other brand.  Even if they're super cheap, it's not worth it in the long run.

Now, there ARE LIMITS on these items, and Office Depot's position is that they do not waive or extend limits for teachers, so you need to either bring people with you or be willing to make multiple transactions to get what you need.  

They also have some cool FREE items, either with instant or mail-in rebate.  Up to 5 folders and up to 3 protractors are absolutely FREE - no rebate or anything! - in store all week.  Crazy!  While you can do multiple transactions for the sales, I don't think you'll be able to get away with that on the free items.

There are also FREE mail in rebates on Sharp Calculators ($6.99 laid out, given back on a prepaid Visa) and Sharpie 5-packs ($4.49 laid out, given back on a prepaid Visa), which is sort of nifty.

If you go here you can also print a $10 off $40+ purchases coupon, but since you probably need to make 8 million transactions to get enough pencils or whatever, you may not be able to spend that much.

New Staples Weekly Ad!

Usually we have to wait until Sundays to see the new Staples Weekly Ad, but I got an alert to my inbox today about the new sale!  Woot!  I couldn't navigate to it through the mainpage (I still got the current weekly ad) but see if you can see the page by clicking the link they sent me here.  Just don't buy anything - you're logged in as me!  :-)

In case you can't see the ad, or in case you're feeling lazy on this hot-as-Hades August day, here's my brief synopsis of the best of the weekly ad.  This is not a complete listing, but they're the deals that I thought might actually be worth it.

2-Pocket Folders are finally on penny sale!  Yeah!  Usually teacher limits are 25, but that's when in-store limits are 2-5.  Since the normal person limit on these is 20, we'll probably be able to push the envelope on this one, but since I need 100, I'll still need to make multiple trips (or bring friends to help).

Staples 4-pack Dry Erase Markers are $3.99 BOGO - works out to $2 a pack or $0.50 a marker.  Pick from fine or chisel tip.

Expo Dry Erase 12-pack are on sale for $10.00, down from $15.98!  This is a good deal if you like to have assorted colors for your dry-erase boards (I know I do!) and works out to $1.20/marker.  While this is higher by over 100% than the staples Dry-Erase on sale, you may choose Expo for one of several reasons:  Expo are known to be excellent dry erase markers, while I think the Staples brand is new.  You may have a finicky white board that isn't as good with cheaper markers (I'm looking at you, LiquiMark!  You suck!).  Or you may just be into the colors.  I would suggest getting one or two Expo 12-packs (put one away until December) and then using the BOGO above to stock up on everything else you need.

Sharpie Felt-Tip Pens BOGO - $6.99 for a fine-tip 4-pack or $9.99 for the assorted colors 6-pack.  The assorted colors are good for grading (black, blue, green, purple and orange, plus a red that I'm sure you can use for something).  I am OBSESSED with these pens, and this is a really good deal.  Seriously, best. pens. Ever!

24-pack multicolored Sharpies $10.00.

36-pack Staples brand Gel Pens $10.00 (I thought Gel Pens went out in like, 1999!)

Staples Plastic Pencil Cases B1G2 $0.99 (works out to $0.33 each!)

Staples Construction Paper Ream B1G2 $4.99 (works out to $1.66 each!)

20%-50% off backpacks 

HP 4-gig Flash Drive $9.99 

And now here's a deal that might  be worth it and might not be.... I won't do it, but you might be interested, depending on how much money you're willing to lay out.

Staples is offering a BOGO after Rebate on 5-ream Typing Paper Cartons.  These retail at $24.99 each, so paying for 2 requires you to shell out $50.  Yikes!  But then you'll get a $25 instant rebate and have paid $25 - or $2.50 each ream - for the paper.  There are also coupons floating around (I haven't found any, but if I do, I'll post - I'm on it!) that are $20 off orders of $50+, which could get the layout down to $30 and the total cost down to $5.00 - or $0.50 a ream!  I'm not usually a rebate fan, and I wouldn't lay out the $50, but I would be willing to lay out $30 to get 10 reams of paper for $5.00.  I'll post if I find the coupons.

Potential Office Max

Tonight I was watching the premiere of Project Runway (best. show. ever!) and I saw a new Office Max penny commercial.  

If you don't feel like watching, I'll tell you what the specials listed were:

One cent boxes of crayons (damn!  I paid 25 cents!)

One cent rulers (I have enough)

One cent pencils (I saw them on the commercial in my area but NOT on the YouTube video.  weird)

One cent spiral notebooks (I already got some at Staples but would get more)

I'm not sure if these are general updates or if I got a preview for next week's sale (this week's goes on until 8/22) but it's good to keep on the lookout for these things!  :0)

Another wipey post!

 Another wipey post!

Just wanted to let everyone know that www.coupons.com has a printable coupon to save $1.50 on any "Huggies Diapers Product."  There seems to be some debate on internet coupon forums whether this counts towards wipes, as they're not technically a diaper product, but are a diapering product.  Ah, semantics!  

Anyway, I'm not sure if this will count towards wipes, but if you can't find the Walgreens coupon for $2 off this is a good alternative, bringing the price down to $1.29 from $2.79.  If you can find the Walgreens coupon, you may be able to double them, bringing the price down to FREE for the first container of Wipeys and $0.79 for each additional package!  There's actually a little bit of overage on the coupon, so you may have to adjust one down OR you may get the discount rolled over to the remainder of your purchase, so if you're trying to use both coupons, definitely get 2+ boxes at this amazing price!

Dilemma! Old Navy T-Shirt Sale is the same day as Teacher Appreciation Day!

Old Navy has been having some great sales lately.  Earlier in the month they had all ribbed tank tops on sale for $2, and all women's jeans are currently $19 (kids' jeans are $10!).  On Saturday, August 22, 2009 they are running a one-day promotion where all basic tee-shirts will be on sale for $3 (limit 5).  For those of you who are not math teachers, that means you can get 5 shirts for $15 with tax.

Also, every Thursday night Old Navy updates their Weekly Ad, and they include hidden clickable coupons in the pictures.  Grab your mouse and start clipping, and you can find some good deals!  Mostly I've found 10% off your order (which brings the shirts down to $13.50 for 5 / $2.70 each) but there are better deals floating around out there.  There is even a $75 off orders of $100 or more (!!!!).  That's almost free!

So what's the plan now for Saturday, where I have two Teacher Appreciation days and the Old Navy sale (which, remember, is while supplies last?)

Scenario One:  Get up at 7:45.  Be on line at Staples by 8:30 to get my package right at 9:00.  Check sales quickly and make some purchases (if I find anything good).  Leave by 9:30.  Get on train to Office Depot in Manhattan and arrive by 10:30.  Grab a free coffee and a gift, check sales and be on line by 11:00.  Rush to nearest Old Navy (14th st?) on the Subway, get there between 11:30 and 12:00, buy t-shirts (unless I found a major coupon, in which case I'll get other stuff too).

Scenario Two:  Get up at 7:00.  Drive to the shopping center that has a Staples and an Old Navy, about 15-30 minutes away depending on traffic.  Get to Staples by 8:15 and get on line.  Take my time shopping the sales, get a gift and head over to Old Navy around 10.  Skip Office Depot.  (Less free stuff, but less hassle)

Scenario Three:  Get up at 7:45.  Be on line at Staples by 8:30 to get my package right at 9:00.  Check sales quickly and make some purchases (if I find anything good).  Leave by 9:30.  Get on train to Office Depot in Manhattan and arrive by 10:30.  Grab a free coffee and a gift, check sales and be on line by 11:00.  Skip Old Navy and pass on the super cheap t-shirts.  Go home.  Cry.

I'll let you know which one I choose!  :-)

Target Dollar Deals - Mostly Prize Box

I love Target (as I've said before) and I hit the dollar bins for a bit today to see what kind of deals I could snag.

It was a little picked through, and there were obviously a lot of parents shopping for back-to-school, but I managed to score some great deals, especially for my prize box.

For The Classroom:

 This is not the exact set I got, but they look very similar.  Plastic magnetic clips (assorted colors or in solid black or solid white) are $1 for a 4-pack.  These are great for pinning charts to the whiteboard/blackboard and to other magnetized surfaces (like those big industrial heaters in the corner of the room that are only on for a few months!).  They can also be used on the chart line in a pinch, but they're a little heavy for that.

These plastic clothespins were $1 for an 18-pack.  They came in blue but I got them in bright pink.  I know it sounds like a nothing issue, but they're really cute.  Even though I could use plain wood clothespins, for $2 I got enough of these to make even the chart hangings in my classroom super-cute.  I know it's lame, but things like this really do get noticed.  If I had to pay out a lot for this item, I'd have stuck with wood, but for such a low price it was better to get them now and get something cute.  This is especially true because I always forget to buy clothespins and end up bumming off other teachers or scrounging around in the bottom of my closet to try to find some.  It's not worth it.

For The Prize Box:

Okay, before I show you the great stuff I got for my prize box, I should explain my system.  This is no dinky treasure chest.  This is a serious deal.  Prizes in the prize box are given "price" values ranging from 2 - 100 (really big ticket items are "intangibles" like lunch with the teacher - a great way to bond with your student with almost no cost and a great vocabulary word).  Students earn tickets for doing the right thing in the classroom but they do not lose tickets.  Every 2 weeks the prize box opens and everyone can shop.  You can choose to spend or save or a combination of the two.  

In order for the prize box to work, I have to have a wide variety of prizes that appear to be "worth" different amounts, even though they're all dirt cheap.  The Target dollar bins SAVE me in this area, because a lot of their dollar items can sell in my classroom for 20-40 points, which means I'm not giving them away as quickly as the small prizes and it encourages the  children to save.

I know a lot of teachers have a problem with prize boxes and incentive programs.  I got yelled at for being a Behaviorist in one of my grad school classes last year.  But I mean it, nothing beats the prize box for classroom management, and I like being able to reward the kids for doing a great job.  I also do all of the classroom community stuff to help teach my children to be good people--prizes or no--but the prizes really help them remember this message on the days they want to forget.

This here was the find of the week!  These are High School Musical 3 poster books that retail on Amazon.com for $7.99.  They were in the dollar bin, so I stocked up and got 8.  There are 12 kids in my class and only 4 girls, but sometimes kids buy prizes as presents for friends and relatives.  Also, everyone likes HSM (not just the girls) so I needed to be prepared for a lot of people to want them.

Buying large quantities of a good item is also good for prize box inflation.  Let's say I got 8 HSM books and I put 5 out in the prize box and they go right away.  Maybe some kids are disappointed that they didn't have enough tickets to buy one before they sold out.  I time it so that a kid (or a few) who would've liked it (or wants another) may have enough tickets for it and I announce at Prize Time a few weeks later that I managed to find three more HSM poster books!  I may decide to charge the same "price" or I may decide to jack the price up a little bit to really encourage the kids to work for it over the next few weeks.  But most importantly, this is a prize that they will LOVE, and that keeps everyone happy.

This is not the exact image of what I got; I found something even better!  For $1 I got a package of 6 large, puffy, shiny Hannah Montana binder stickers.  In case you didn't know, little girls will do almost anything for Hannah Montana, but her stuff is expensive because she's both self-branded and a Disney product.  I was shocked to find Hannah Montana stuff in the dollar bin.  The only other time I managed to score some HM product was when Kay-Bee Toys went out of business last year and everything was prized to go; even then, I didn't get any HM stuff for a dollar.  Since she is so loved (like HSM, which is a little easier to find on the cheap, though it's sometimes knockoff stuff) and so hard to get at a good price, I got several of these and may go back for more before  school starts.

Everyone likes Super Heroes (while not everyone likes Hannah and HSM), so I was excited to find these Spiderman magnets in the dollar bin.  Again, the quality is way higher than $1 and I can easily rank this set at 25 tickets so it'll last for a while.  

Even more exciting than Spidey, though, was the other super hero that was offered in a magnet set (though I couldn't find a picture of the set online).  No, not Superman or Batman.  Not even Aquaman or the Green Lantern.  I'm talking, friends, about IronMan.

...what?

OK, let me explain.

This is Ironman.  I have no idea what his powers are.  His outfit is pretty dopey looking to me.  But I have a boy in my class, N, who is obsessed with Ironman.  Every Prize Box day N would ask me if I'd managed to score any Ironman stuff for the Prize Box.  I never saw anything Ironman EVER, forget about on the cheap, so he was always a little disappointed (though easily plied with Tek-Decks and Legos, both of which are sort of expensive).  N is one of my biggest behavior issues, but he responds to stuff.  If he knew he wanted something in the Box, he would keep himself in check until he got enough tickets to buy it.  If he wasn't interested, he'd be punching people, cursing, throwing things and other disruptive behaviors.  While we will be working with N a lot next year on his behavior and his anger (I finally got him counseling services), the very idea of Ironman in the Prize Box excites me.

I also found Spiderman activity/coloring books that are pretty cool, but I couldn't find a picture anywhere.

Anyway, I spent less than $20 in the dollar bin today and I got a ton of classroom stuff, including some really high-value items.  I know Target dollar bins vary in stock by region, so you may not find the same deals I did, but it is ALWAYS worth checking the Target $1 section; I almost always get at least a few things for my class.