What You Can Do with Extra School Supplies

When school time comes around we may go a little overboard with buying school supplies in lieu of sales on pencils and papers. Conversely, we may have misjudged the amount of wholesale school supplies to order and are now left with ten boxes of unopened crayons laying to waste in your basement. There can be any numbers of reasons why you find yourself with a surplus amount of extra school supplies, but the real test is how you’ll utilize those clip-boards, or plastic folders. At Bags in Bulk, we understand the need for wholesale school supply kits, but we also promote the importance of utilizing the excess when you simply have too much of it!

Start a School Supply Drive

If you can start taking department store levels of inventory of your extra school supplies, then perhaps you can establish a school supply drive. There are plenty of programs such as schools, religious institutions, camps, etc. which would greatly benefit from the cost breaks of donated school supplies. As funding is cut year after year it becomes increasingly imperative for communities to help their teacher and or religious figures to help sustain programing, even if they’re already buying affordable wholesale school supply kits. One way to ensure the supply shelves are stocked is to host a school supply drive. Showing that the extra school supplies is going toward a good cause and advertising a reward for the family who can bring the most notebooks or pencils are wonderful motivators for people to drop of bags of extra school supplies. Hiding in many people’s basements are folder and reams of paper collecting dust when their children left for college. Reignite the spirit of giving by doing some good with your extra school supplies.

Keep It!

This may come as a shock, but there’s a good reason we should remind you not to discard extra school supplies. In the hustle to clean out closets and drawers before summer break we can throw the baby out with the bathwater and discard barely used school supplies. We live in a culture that thrives on new-ness, but a notebook with only two used papers is as good as new. Parents spend up to $200 per child on school supplies, much of which goes unused during the school year. When it comes time to cleaning out your child’s locker or desk, think twice before throwing away half sharpened pencils or a notebook full of unused pages because they can help you save money in the long run.

Extra School Supplies DIY Projects

Even after all is said and done, extra school supplies come in many forms from half used notebooks to pencils will next to no erasers. When you don’t want to throw something out, but your child simply cannot bring them to class anymore, get creative with some DIY art projects. Have your child invite their friends over with semi used extra school supplies and create decorative picture frames, ipad covers, candles, and more! Not only will you have a new piece of art to add to your fridge, but you’ll teach your child the importance of recycling used materials.