Affordable School Supplies

Last Saturday, I finally enrolled Ren.  He will be in Grade 1 this coming school year.  After I paid for his tuition fee, the school gave me a list of items that he needs to bring on the first day of school.

We had a family date last Sunday, so I decided to buy some of the things listed there. I thought that the crowd at stores are still lesser these days because it is still early to buy school supplies, well I was wrong.

We went first at SM Department Store to check the school shoes section.  The prices of school shoes depends on the brand.

Florsheim, Rusty Lopez, Chicco, Gibi and Elle’s price ranges from Php 1,000- Php 2,000.  Tough, Parisian, Rocksport, Ben10, Hotwheels, Tom and Jerry, Sugar Kids’ price ranges from Php 500- Php 1,000.

I decided to buy one with a Php 499.75 price tag because Ren’s feet get bigger quite fast.  If I will buy him an expensive one, I feel that he will not be able to use it on the second semester.  For Php 500.00, I can buy two shoes in a year.

Also Read:
• Easy Soft Shoes by World Balance
• Elle Shoes

Next, we went to the school supplies area of SM.  I checked the items and I found them limited so I decided to go to National Bookstore instead.

There were a lot of people at the National Bookstore already when we arrived.  But NBS is always prepared for this season, they organized and put all the items in special shelves at the center of the store.  Doing this will help the customers to find and get what they needed easily.

For Grade1, Ren needs writing notebooks.  Last year I bought him a special kind of notebook with larger spaces for P25.00 each.  He is the only one at their school who have it.  He is not very good in writing so I thought that a notebook with bigger spaces will help him get used to writing properly.  Unfortunately, most of his notebooks were not used much.

I was planning to use his old notebooks, but his teacher told me that they are going to use a notebook with smaller spaces, so I bought him 7 pcs. for Php 13.50 each.  These are the cheapest writing notebook that I found.

Yes, you will find notebooks with Php 10.00 – Php 12.00 price tags but they don’t have a plastic cover with them yet. Itong nabili ko meron na!

There were also Frozen inspired Notebooks on display and sobrang patok ‘to sa kids.  But when I checked the price, hindi patok sa budget.  Imagine the writing notebook is sold at Php 35.00 each WOW!

Sana lang pag binili nyo to walang color coding ang notebook ng bagets kundi useless yung cover.

UPDATE: This year 2015, I decided to choose this notebook with colors na. Last year kasi out of stocks yung ibang color.  I bought these at National Bookstore for P14.00

For the color, I decided to choose Crayola’s Twistables Crayons.  I learned about this kind of crayon from Ren’s OT 3 years ago.  I bought him his own set and until now buhay pa! Yun lang kulang kulang na yung color… I don’t know san na napunta yung iba.

Mas sanay na sya gamitin ‘tong gantong klase, so even though the one indicated in the list is Jumbo Crayons, I choose to buy this one and I know his teacher will understand.

For pencils, I saw that there is also a Twistable style.  I bought one but they are not that sturdy compared with normal pencils.  So I opted for the traditional pencil na di tasa.

On the list they are also asked to bring an eraser.  Last year, ang eraser ni Ren madaling mawala at madaling mabali.  So, ngayon ito na binili ko may lagayan at hawakan.

For his pencil case, I have chosen this kind.

It has more space and it is more organized. It is also affordable for P112.50

I know that the school supplies are cheaper at Baclaran and Divisoria, but it is quite far from where we reside now and with this hot weather I don’t think I can go there.  I still prefer to spend a little more if I will be more comfortable in return.

Update:  I went at National Bookstore today and look … ang luwag.

If you want to avoid the crowd, I advice that you buy your kids school supplies as early as now.  It is also better if you can go to the stores on weekdays rather than on weekends.