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Behind the Scenes ~ Saving $$ on Supplies

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Not sure if this post will be of help to any of you, but I thought it might be so I decided to write it up. My thoughts were that we homeschoolers use a lot of office type supplies and obviously school supplies, and paying for these adds up! If my experience can help even one of you, it’s worth it to me to write up the post!

I have been a loyal Office Depot shopper for years now and without a doubt shopping with them saves me TONS of money and allows me to be able to order many special homeschooling supplies. I have heard other people who shop exclusively at Staples, or Office Max, but I personally have used Office Depot. What I will recommend is sticking with one office supply store, you will reap the rewards of being a loyal customer, I promise!

Here’s why… (I will be speaking only of OD, although these same things probably apply to the others)

  • Office Depot provides FREE shipping if your order is more than $50 (to most areas). We always wait until we need $50 worth of supplies before we order. AND it is delivered the next day!!! We actually JUST got an order at our door TODAY!
  • Hot Offers (2.15 - 2.21)

  • They have a Worklife Rewards program, that tracks our sales and gives us rewards for the amount we spend each quarter. This is where store-loyalty pays off-we received $69.27 for 2008 in rewards money. These rewards come quarterly in the form of a gift card, I just turn around and type in the code for our next order and it takes that amount off!
  • They track my past purchases in “My Account” on their website so re-ordering things we run out of is VERY easy.
  • They send me valuable coupons in the mail, constantly. I always use a coupon, that usually takes a significant amount off of my purchase. For example, the coupon I just used on my order that arrived today was for $21.55 off of a $100 purchase! That’s a great one! Sometimes we get free gifts (which a few we have actually liked and still use), and other times it is for different percentages off of certain amounts.
  • NO, I do not work for Office Depot-I just really like their store, products, and service!!!

A few of the things I order regularly from Office Depot to help me with homeschooling and more 🙂

  • File Folders… “Spring Colors” (for Lapbooks and File Folder Gamesicon)
  • File Folders… “Fall Colors”
  • Bright Colored Paper…Assortment #1 icon(for printing lapbooking minit books)
  • Bright Colored Paper…Assortment #2
  • White Paper (I order it here for our printers, so I don’t have to go out shopping and buy this huge, heavy box)
  • White Cardstock
  • Double Sided Tape
  • Ink for our HP Printer (this is where the saving really come in handy as the rewards offered for HP ink are awesome, and the coupons really help pay for this big expense)
  • Laminating Pouches icon(for our Scotch Laminator)

Other School Supplies…

I do a majority of my shopping at Office Depot throughout the year, but I do some major stock-up during Back-To-School shopping time (Jul-Sept). The BEST place I have found for this is Staples, and their 1 cent deals. This is where we get our pencils, folders, binders, and MANY more items for the year. Start watching for these deals to begin in July, and they change them up each week.

I also love Target’s Back-To-School section, which always has some neat items that are hard to find the rest of the year. The best example: our tot trainer scissors, I can’t seem to find them anywhere now, and I got them last year during BTS time at Target!

Dollar Tree has a little school section, with teacher items too, sometimes I hit the jackpot there. If you’ve never found this section at your Dollar Tree, be sure to look for it! The $1 section at Target often rotates out different school items too, always worth walking through, especially at season change times-if you’re lucky enough to hit the half price days!

I also shop at Costco for some of our supplies. The best thing I have found there that are much better priced are: 3 ring binders (I use all sizes of these for organizing many different things), they have a whole aisle of office/school supplies and change them up often. Sometimes you can find GREAT deals there!

What about non-office related supplies?

If we’re shopping for books, the best places I have found are:

  • Used curriculum sales
  • Discount stores (Ross, TJ Maxx, Marshalls)
  • Amazon
  • Christian Book Distributors (CBD)
  • Library and Educational Services

The first 2 you are all probably familiar with but just in case you haven’t heard of LES, you should certainly check it out. You have to be a member to shop there, but you will find incredible deals on books you can’t even find elsewhere-they are a wholesale company. My best examples are my science series books, we LOVE these books and I snatch up the sets when they put them on sale (I am talking deep sale, it’s amazing). As for CDB, I shop there a LOT. They do charge shipping but it is always very reasonable. When ordering a book, I will usually check a few sources to get my best price and for me it usually ends up being one of these places.

Honestly, I order just about everything else that is a puzzle, game, toy, etc. from Amazon. I ONLY buy things under their free-shipping option, and always search around for the best price. If I am not ordering online, I will use AC Moore or Michaels (especially for Melissa and Doug Tot School stuff) and get one at a time with their weekly 40% or 50% off coupons. I obviously also stock up on craft/art supplies this way too, saving the bigger ticket items for use with coupons and hitting the moonlight madness sales (usually 25% off your whole purchase) to get the little things. If you don’t already, be sure to get on the mailing list of these stores in your area, that way you’ll get email reminders of the current weekly sales and you can check your ever growing wish list compared to their sales!

If you have some great advice for stocking up on supplies-the cheap way-leave your ideas below in the comments, as I know I am not the only one with a few ideas and I would love to know of even more places the deals are hiding! If you have any questions, leave them below too, I will try my best to answer them!

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Carisa Hinson
Homeschool writing class with Fern. Always a fabul Homeschool writing class with Fern. Always a fabulous teacher. Not distracting at all. 

#homeschool #homeschoolers #homeschoolingrocks #homeschoolingmama #homeschoolmom #homeschoollife  #homeschoolfamily #homeschoolfun #homeschoolkids #homeschooliscool  #homeschooldays #homeschoolblogger 
#homeschoolteacher #homeschoollookslikethis #homeeducation #homeeducator #howwehomeschool #homeed #homeschoollifestyle #thisishomeschool
#homeschoolcommunity #homeschoolcurriculum #homeschoolersofinstagram #homeschooled #homeschoolcollective #homeschoolideas #homeschoolinspiration #homeschooladventures #iew
Yes, we still walk our cat in a stroller. Mabel ev Yes, we still walk our cat in a stroller. Mabel even posed for the picture. Our other cats go in the stroller sometimes too, Mabel is the frequent stroller-er.

#calicocats #fluffycalico #catsinstrollers
Swipe to see the books I read this year! Lots of m Swipe to see the books I read this year! Lots of middle grade books last summer (many reviews are on my blog, I linked them in the “2022 Books” highlight above). Did you read any of these? See my ratings on my goodreads profile! I will link in my stories, I am Carisa Hinson on goodreads.

#middlegradebooks #middleschoolbooks #mglit #middlegradebooksuggestions #readinginthemiddlegrades #2022goodreadschallenge #2022yearinbooks
It was a Christmas filled with many emotions. Joy, It was a Christmas filled with many emotions. Joy, happiness, excitement, surprise, sadness, longing, and a bit of emptiness. 

We celebrated with my parents on the 24th, and that was a very joyous celebration. We enjoyed church, gifts, food, and mostly one another. 

On the 25th we celebrated with my husband’s family and sadly we are missing our beloved Nana who went to be with Jesus a few weeks ago. We all did our best to honor her love for fun last night. We played games, we laughed, we ate well, but it was all mixed with a longing sadness, wishing we had her with us. 

The next to last photo is it Kyler and my father in law, who lost his very best friend. We just love him so much and pray for his continued healing as he grieves this horrible loss and emptiness. 

The final photo is of Nana’s grandkids each holding their collage of photos of them and their Nana. This gift brought some tears, but we can tell will be treasured by each of them. She was one of a kind, and so special to all six of them.
Paxton won the gift award this year. Swipe to see Paxton won the gift award this year. Swipe to see what he bought his little sis! She was SO surprised! He loves giving gifts and having a job the enables him to do surprises like this is a gift to him. Sweet moments. ❤️
Not posed. Our foster kitten Jolly posed herself i Not posed. Our foster kitten Jolly posed herself in the perfect spot! See more of her and her sister Holly here: @crazy_foster_kitten_lady Merry Christmas Eve! 

#hollyandjolly2022fosterkittens #orphankittens
#kittenseason2022 #fosterkittens #fosterkittens4thehinsons #fosterkittensofinstagram #fosterkittenlove #kittenfostering #kittenfostermom #kittenfoster #fosterkittenlove #kittenseason #tinybutmighty #fostercatsandkittens
Tree decorating night! Goodness I love my kids. Tree decorating night! Goodness I love my kids.
I know many of you don’t know many of the people I know many of you don’t know many of the people in this photo, but I know many of you pray. The beautiful woman on the far left of the couch is my bonus-momma, my husband’s mom. She has stopped all treatment for her cancer and is going home to be with Jesus soon. We prayed for her to feel well enough to be with us at Thanksgiving, and though she felt pretty crappy, she was there. 

If you know her, you know what I mean when I say this is one of the kindest, most joyful, selfless people I have ever known. The world won’t be the same without her. We are devastated and hurting. We pray for her peace, her comfort, her pain, and for God to relieve her of the suffering. 

Last night was a huge mixture of pure joy and devastating sadness. We celebrated and hugged, and laughed, and we cried. It’s just so hard. Thanks for praying for our family. ❤️
We decided to decorate with a polar bear this year We decided to decorate with a polar bear this year. ❤️ 

#🐶baxter❤️ #pitmix #pitmixes #sleepydogs #marshmellie🐶 #greatpyrenees  #greatpyreneesofinstagram  #greatpyr  #greatpyreneeslovers #greatpyreneesfamily #doggo #rescuedog #adoptdontshop #doglife #pyreneesofinstagram #dogsofinsta #doglover #instadog #gentlegiant
Webby and the lizard. Swipe for the video version Webby and the lizard. Swipe for  the video version. 🐱 🦎
I love my Christmas birds. We love having the deco I love my Christmas birds. We love having the decorations complete before Thanksgiving so we can relax and enjoy our home with our favorite decor of the year! I got started today, not close to done, but enjoying my adorable birds. A lot. Do you decorate early?
Mabel has turned out to be the most entertaining c Mabel has turned out to be the most entertaining cat we have ever had. She is sweet and sassy, mischievous and marvelous. Equal parts of each. She annoys all of our other animals just like a little sister should and keeps the humans on our toes too. She LOVES Lili, and is still BFF with Pebbles (Lili’s cat). So glad we decided to add this rambunctious ball of fluff to our crew!
Fun night celebrating my momma’s birthday and tr Fun night celebrating my momma’s birthday and trick or treating in her neighborhood with Lili and her friends! The gum ball machine costume made it back for another year!
My amazing bonus-momma, my husband’s momma, is f My amazing bonus-momma, my husband’s momma, is feeling good today so we met for lunch. She hasn’t had many good days lately so we take the moments when they come!

She has cancer and chemo is making her sick, it’s been a long hard road as any of you who have dealt with there horrible C word know. We don’t know what the future holds, so we cling to today! I loved sitting by her and laughing together. I am so blessed to have her as my mother in law! ❤️

Sadly since it was last minute, my boys couldn’t make it to lunch.
Every year they drive up to the mountains for the Every year they drive up to the mountains for the day and just spend time together. It’s their thing and I love it. Today they hiked, that’s Lili laying on the rock! She’s not much of a hiker but she loves the mountains, the leaves and her Daddy!
Goodness they are cute. Love them so much! 🧡🧡🧡
Totally thought I would hate it. It’s not that b Totally thought I would hate it. It’s not that bad. Reading it for chemistry this year, and I have to admit I am learning a LOT, and it is interesting! 

We are using @guesthollow Chemistry in the Kitchen, this is one of the many books we are reading and will read.

#homeschoolchemistry #napoleonsbuttons #guesthollowchemistry #homeschool #homeschoolers #homeschoolingrocks #homeschoollife  #homeschoolfamily #homeschooliscool  #homeschooldays #homeschoolblogger 
#homeschoolteacher #homeschoollookslikethis #homeeducation #homeeducator #howwehomeschool #homeed #homeschoollifestyle #thisishomeschool
#homeschoolcommunity #homeschoolcurriculum #homeschoolersofinstagram #homeschooled #homeschoolcollective #homeschoolideas #homeschoolinspiration #homeschooladventures #homeschoolhighschool
Beautiful Fern on my beautiful new fall cat blanke Beautiful Fern on my beautiful new fall cat blanket. 🧡🧡🧡 

Thanks to my momma for the new blanket!
Link in profile to see answers and share your answ Link in profile to see answers and share your answer on my Facebook page! Not on FB? Share in a comment below! 

I have been homeschooling for a long time, one of my kids is graduated, one is a junior, and the other is in 8th - homeschooled the entire time. I am still a curious homeschooler and love to know what is working or hasn't worked for others. I have a series of these posts planned and hope that many of you will share!

First up - MATH! What curriculum are you using? Do you like it? Did you switch from something else? Any thoughts you're willing to share - good or bad! 

If you have a blog or Youtube and want to link to a specific post/video about math, feel free! 

#homeschool #homeschoolers #homeschoolingrocks #homeschoolingmama #homeschoolmom #homeschoollife  #homeschoolfamily #homeschoolfun #homeschoolkids #homeschooliscool  #homeschooldays #homeschoolblogger 
#homeschoolteacher #homeschoollookslikethis #homeeducation #homeeducator #howwehomeschool #homeed #homeschoollifestyle #thisishomeschool
#homeschoolcommunity #homeschoolcurriculum #homeschoolersofinstagram #homeschooled #homeschoolcollective #homeschoolideas #homeschoolinspiration #homeschooladventures #homeschoolmath
Remember them? We don’t see much of my oldest no Remember them? We don’t see much of my oldest now since he’s been living on his own (renting a house with friends), but we love when we do! That’s his dog, Melody, who is temp. living with us due to not getting along with a roommates dog. She’s smiling in this pic because he came over to visit her and she ADORES him. 

Paxton is 20 and doing great, I know many of you have watched him grow up on my blog! He works for a robotics company that contracts with Amazon, so he runs the robotics portion of an Amazon warehouse (did I explain that kinda right @paxtoroni ?) he’s VERY into cars, and has been for years, this is his car account in case you’re into cars too: @paxgt 😬 I don’t love cars but I LOVE him.

#marshmellie🐶
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