How much of your back to school shopping is secondhand stuff?

**nuisance26** · 07-07-2010, 09:27 AM

~Clothes, books, gear(backpacks, lunch boxes), and school supplies(laptops, calculators, etc); how much of what you buy comes from yard sales, hand-me-down and thrift?
How do your kids feel about it?
What are you most interested in finding and buying used this year?~

**ahmom** · 07-07-2010, 10:22 AM

100% of the stuff DD's had for BTS was second hand.

**TigerGirl1226** · 07-07-2010, 12:52 PM

DD's uniform are second-hand. It's all we've gotten so far. I doubt anything else will be.

**frugalwarrior2** · 07-07-2010, 01:00 PM

I have 3 tubs of school supplies from clearance,super sales and G,sales. Doubt we'll need anything. DD is in college doubt I'll buy much for her,Oct. b-day,xmas usually suffice and it will be resale.
Ds get 4 pair of jeans and some t-shirts usually at kohl's. We aren't back until Sept. 7th high school and DD is year round.
I may get hit for shoes for DS. Ds will suffer w/ his current laptop until June Grad. Dh just fixed DH's. We have plenty of backpacks.
Senior year can be expensive.

**Libby** · 07-07-2010, 01:04 PM

Most of my school supplies were second hand from the previous siblings. My mom hoarded school supplies when they were on sale come late Aug and into Sept. I believe we never ran out of ruled binder paper and Bic Classic pens...I still have tons of this stuff left - it doesn't go bad!

**frugalwarrior2** · 07-07-2010, 01:27 PM

Libby- I agree w/ the exception of those smaller/thinner glue sticks. Just threw DD's out that I saved for DS.

**Libby** · 07-07-2010, 03:20 PM

fw2 - glue sticks were a luxury that the school introduced me to. I was given Elmer's white glue while other kids were using their Uhu glue stick

Your kids are living the life of luxury!

**jodihernandez** · 07-07-2010, 04:31 PM

I buy my sons clothes second hand. I prefer it becuase you know it will stand up to washing with out looking old. Because it already has LOL. New stuff now tends to look horrible after a few washings. And I only use the dryer when it rains in the winter so it is not dryer wear but poor craftsmanship. I will reuse any school supplys We have but will probably need to spend about 20 to fill in the blanks and for new socks and underwear. Also A pair of shoes at payless shoes store come the next BOGO because my DS6 is going threw a growth spurt AGAIN and will need another size by then.

jodi

**BlissMommy** · 07-07-2010, 05:41 PM

I tend to only buy clothes second hand. Backpacks I buy new and school supplies I buy in bulk when they have the big BTS sales at Target and Wal Mart.

**Momto5RN** · 07-07-2010, 07:59 PM

not counting socks stocking and underwear

i would say it differs with each child .

with dd 13 90% of tops are hand me downs shorts about 50% - pants maybe 10% because none of her friends are as short as she is .
she doesnt mind they are usually name brands the kids wear she is just one of the smallest in her class- they are big on sharing clothes so hand me downs is just permanent sharing in her mind .

90% of her school uniform is because i run the uniform exchange at school

for ds 9 - uniform wise again 90% hand me down
reg wise lately not much in hand me downs for him and the thrifts are more $ than buying off season off clearance racks at walmart and JCP where i am getting him jeans and sports pants for 1-3 $ new.
he really couldnt care less about where his clothes come from

for middle son 16- school uniform jacket shirts ties are hand me down from older brother and or friends who went to same school. pants - i buy two pairs if he needs them if not last years are fine .

reg clothes wise - 75% hand me downs from friends or older brother - 25% new alot which i give him as christmas gifts ( funny tees - mario nintendo themed etc ) he really doesnt care either as long as they are clean comfy fit right and not blatently out of style.

oldest ds 22 grad college and works FT he is on his own as far as clothes work supplies he needs ( pens etc )

oldest dd 19 is in college works as waitress she buys her own clothes and uses papers / folders etc i buy on a good sale.

supplies- i watch the BTS sales and get so much so cheap and buy in october off clearance shelves so its 90% new but at really cheap prices.

i have a dresser i found curbside that i cleaned up and s stenciled in my enclosed sunporch that i put extra supplies in when i buy them on sale / clearance. that way no paying full price for any paper pens etc during the year .

**sueh** · 07-07-2010, 09:37 PM

Me too not counting socks & underwear
All of my girls clothing will be 2nd hand as well as they will reuse their backpacks and lunch bags

I just went through my 5 tubs of clothing and my girls are all set for the winter. I will need to look for snowboots but that's it.
They did get a backpack for Christmas last year and they are both in great condition.

I have already gone through their school supplies and they will only need a handful of things. I will got to Staples dollar days and get that stuff.
They usually buy lunch at school so their lunch bags are brand new looking.

**TheresaRHPS** · 07-09-2010, 06:55 AM

I buy my textbooks for college used. The school bookstore is still outrageous, so there are plenty of online stores for even cheaper. If you get REALLY lucky, sometimes the professor will say that an older edition is sufficient, and will be even cheaper!

My backpack is my sister's old backpack, lol. My most awesome teal Jansport with the lifetime guarantee was in a fire...and apparently fire isn't covered in that guarantee, lol. So I have my sister's, which is still in awesome shape.

I tend to go through pens and pencils quickly, so I often raid my mom's stash. She gets tons of promo pens from conferences and the like. Sometimes they're the REALLY good ones, lol.

**ecgsmama** · 07-09-2010, 08:26 AM

When we were paying down debt, everything that wasn't a gift was second-hand.

Now that we are totally debt-free, they'll have a combination of both.

We never really went crazy with back to school shopping anyways. For the first month they'll wear the nicer things they've been wearing through the summer. "Back to school shopping" just seems like another marketing scheme. Shopping year-round with a focus on need seems like a much more sensible strategy.

**imagine** · 07-09-2010, 12:14 PM

For school supplies we reuse as much as we can from year to year. Then we shop our school supply box ( bought on sale or given) before we buy new preferably on sale.

Here are my favorite "used" school supply stories this year.

Little Miss wanted picture spiral notebooks this year. She will using two Care bear spiral notebooks that my mom found in her basement ( mom bought them on sale when I was a kid and they got lost in her stash) my mom was a teacher and she had a very big school supply stash. She loved school supply shopping. Now that she is retired form teaching the supply is slowly being gifted to us.

loose leaf paper - Last year when students were cleaning out their lockers many student threw good lined paper in the recycling box. Buddy rescued the paper and is starting out the year with it. He also found a reward coupon for a free slushy in the recycling bin.He was told that he could keep it. (that was a great summer treat)

**TheresaRHPS** · 07-09-2010, 12:40 PM

Originally Posted by imagine

loose leaf paper - Last year when students were cleaning out their lockers many student threw good lined paper in the recycling box. Buddy rescued the paper and is starting out the year with it. He also found a reward coupon for a free slushy in the recycling bin.He was told that he could keep it. (that was a great summer treat)

Before taking a position at the board office, my mom taught high school for many years. After school had let out, the janitor let my mom take whatever she wanted that was left in the lockers and Lost and Found box. Kids will abandon NICE backpacks, packs of pens and pencils never opened, and tons of notebooks and loose-leaf paper.

I always looked forward to all the goodies she'd bring home, and often started out school the following Fall with a lot of the supplies.