Thrifty Finds

Raise your hand if you spend a small fortune on printer ink? You can’t see me, but you’ve got to know both of my hands are raised. High.

As a teacher I’ve spent more of my own money than I choose to count on printing things for school. While I’m one of the lucky ones that does have access to a color laser printer at my school, there are limits of its use (as well as being courteous to my colleagues!) and time sensitivity for me needing to print things.

Many of you may already be aware of Staples Ink Rewards and, like me, have been using it for quite some time to purchase necessities (including ink!) with your rewards check.

You simply collect your used ink cartridges and turn in up to 10 cartridges per month using your Staples Rewards card. Next month you receive $2 per cartridge you turn in — up to $20 — in the form of a rewards check, which can then be spent on ink or other items you need at Staples. (Fine print: You do have to have spent $30 on ink in the past 6 months to earn your rewards, but you’ll see why this isn’t a problem in a minute.)

How many of you are still purchasing name brand ink? I was too, up until a few weeks ago when I decided to price my cartridges on Amazon. While I was searching for my cartridges using Amazon’s handy tool (I have a Canon MG5320, in case you’re wondering), I found several generic ink combo packs that had great reviews and were *drumroll, please* less than the cost of ONE black ink cartridge.

Can I get an amen? AMEN. For under $7, I was able to purchase ALL of the ink cartridges for my printer. That’s right. Three color cartridges, photo black, and regular black. For $7!

If that’s not amazing enough, let’s remember that I also recycle my cartridges. Time for a little math, so bear with me.

5 replacement cartridges = $7 spent (Free shipping with a $25 purchase, or free if you have Amazon Prime like I do.)

5 recycled cartridges = $10 in Staples Rewards

That’s $3 I get paid after the cost of my ink, in Staples Rewards, to buy ink and use my printer just like I always do.

Now I’m not saying Amazon will have generic ink for every printer out there — they don’t, especially older models. But it is worth a look (and reading the reviews, to choose the right vendor!) to see if you can be earning money for things you’ll already buy for your classroom at Staples while also printing all of those colorful centers and decorations with your (no longer) expensive ink!

I hope that this helps you stretch your dollar (and buy some much needed classroom supplies) a little more! I know this definitely helped me to save some money and not feel so guilty about printing lots of things for my classroom!

One of the most daunting things for me in preparing for my first year is that, as a family, we’re also preparing for my husband’s first year! Finding things for our classroom — books, manipulatives, materials, furniture — on the cheap isn’t just a sport (it totally is for me!) it’s a necessity. Luckily, we have a good track record with the Goodwill (and love their 20%-off coupons) and our Target Dollar Spot is well-stocked!

Earlier in the week we stopped by the Goodwill to peruse their bookshelves for some more books for our classroom libraries, and spied something in the middle of all of the furniture they were selling. It looked like an easel, but wasn’t unfolded and had crayon and tape all over it. I saw the price tag of $9.99 and decided that for $10, I could put some elbow grease into it and fix it up!

We got it home (thanks to some creative placement in the car), cleaned it up, and there she is, in all her glory:

I looked her up and she retails for around $100, so not bad at all. This will go in my classroom to anchor our meeting area, so I’m debating about whether to leave her as-is, or paint her. I spied some ruby-slipper spray paint in Hobby Lobby the other day, so I’m tempted. Very, very tempted.

Today on our grocery run to Target I spotted a cart in front of us with bins that looked suspiciously sturdy and rainbow-y. I asked the very nice woman where she saw them, and I must have asked a little too excitedly because she smiles and says, “Teacher, huh?” Yes. Where, oh where did you find them?

The Dollar Spot (though only the buckets were $1; the bins and caddies were $2.50 each). Usually that’s our first stop, but it was too close to the Lego aisle to brave today before naptime. I high-tailed it over there and scored these:

During our last trip to Target I noticed they were taking down the seasonal section and prepping it for what looked like Back-to-School and I was totally right. Of course I couldn’t help but check there too, and sure enough, there were some goodies to behold! My favorite?

I got five packs — all that they had.

And then… there was this (my heart may or may not have stopped).

My husband brought it to my attention, which I’m sure he now regrets as I’m plotting a way to justify buying a pack or two of each. These are 8-packs of “themed” crayons… perfect, right? I was standing in front of it and literally felt a TPT unit incorporating these flash before my eyes. Pirate crayon pack? Check. Dinosaur crayon pack? Double check. Cupcake crayon pack? Triple check.

I somehow managed to only leave with the “Glitterati” crayons, despite Crayola trying to trick me into buying an 8-pack of primary colors with their Oz-marketing. Like I said, school supplies = kryptonite.

Everything, all-told, was under $50. Phew. I’m slowly but surely putting everything together to create Oz on a budget I can live with. There are some other things I’ll need, but I need to get into my classroom and assess it before I make any bigger purchases. (Please let there be a rug. Please let there be a rug. Please let there be a rug. Oh, and a kidney table.)

I’ll leave you with my “currently” — my first linky party! Ahhhhhh, finally I get to join in instead of just scrolling through and reading everyone else’s!

How to Make Your Ink Work for You

Thrifty and Full of Rainbows!