Hey fatwallet users; this morning while I was out hunting for the deals; I remembered that OfficeMax, Office Depot & Staples all have a bunch of school items ranging in price from .01 to .25; coming from an area that doesn't have the best funding for public schools I decided I would spend a few bucks and help make sure that kids have the supplies they need for when they head back to school. This is where you guys (and gals) all come in. During your treks this week take a few minutes out of your day and make up a cheap care package and donate it to your local school district. I'll even do the homework for everyone:

Staples:
Pencil Case - $.50 (Limit 4)
½ or 1" Binders - $.25 (Limit 8)
Dixon #2 Pencils (10 Pack) - Instant Freebie (Limit 2)
12 IN Translucent Ruler - Instant Freebie (Limit 2)

Office Max:
Crayola 24 Pack Crayons - $.20 (Limit 2)
Elmers 4oz School Glue - $.01 (Limit 3)
Yellow #2 Pencils (10 Pack) - $.10 (Limit 2)
BIC Pen's (12 pack) - $.25
Wide or College Ruled 1 subject notebook (70 sheets) - $.10 (limit 10)

EDIT: OfficeDepot removed as deal was only through Wednesday

If you can only hit one of these stores every little bit will help; however, if you are adventurous and want to go all out FW style you can put together a great care package for a student who is headed back to school.

For reference, here is a care package which I put together; this package can be created for only $2 --

Back to school kit

Ok, Ok, I know it's not necessarily the normal type of post we see in hot deals; but even though you don't directly benefit by the savings can't we give back once and awhile?

As a poor teacher who has a few more nice things thanks to fatwallet, I appreciate you taking the time to give something back to our severely underfunded schools. I'll have to get in on some of these deals for my own classroom. Green for you!

These cheap school supplies are great for school supply drives, but if you are feeling extra generous, these school supply drives also have a strong need for things you don't see on the front page of the ads, such as binders, clipboards, and backpacks. Happy donating!

Try your work's supply closet. Empty it out and drop it off at school. Everybody wins, you don't have to spend money and the school gets free supplies. And in most cases the supplies at work are much better than those cheap ones in the school supplies aisles.

Of course there might be a problem if you are asked to take a lie detector test.

Try electing people who budget money for schools. Also, schools are terribly inefficient. They can cut a lot of fat from those places and run like a real business and probably have a surplus.

RBA said:Try your work's supply closet. Empty it out and drop it off at school. Everybody wins, you don't have to spend money and the school gets free supplies. And in most cases the supplies at work are much better than those cheap ones in the school supplies aisles.

Of course there might be a problem if you are asked to take a lie detector test.

Obviously your a product of a public school system.

Fantastic Idea OP

For a few bucks and a little of our time....What a great way to pay back for all the deals we have received.

Photo of the goodies for School

I wish this stuff could be ordered online.. any idea if that is possible?

RBA said:Try your work's supply closet. Empty it out and drop it off at school. Everybody wins, you don't have to spend money and the school gets free supplies. And in most cases the supplies at work are much better than those cheap ones in the school supplies aisles.

Of course there might be a problem if you are asked to take a lie detector test.

Funny. The video I watched specifically said theft of a pencil wasn't going to be asked on my exam.

musix4me said:qube said:Try electing people who budget money for schools. Also, schools are terribly inefficient. They can cut a lot of fat from those places and run like a real business and probably have a surplus.

I would like to know when you last stepped foot on a campus. I'm a veteran teacher and I assure you that schools are running about as lean as you can. Rooms aren't vacuumed every night; we fund raise for many things that you would never agree to fund raise for in a business world. Wake up because you're speaking from the hip and don't know what you are talking about!

I'm afraid you're talking more about the end result of the problem than refusting the original post. There is no doubt schools are "running lean" -- but that is because they are poorly run and lack proper budgeting. There was an article a few years back in the NY Times comparing the operating costs of a school per child in a public school versus a private elementary school -- $7,000+ for the public school versus $2,000+ for the private school. That is the inefficiency being talked about.