Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Tuesday, August 18, 2009 | Posted by
Bebegirlz |
Welcome to The Teacher Feature! If you are an educator, either a teacher or homeschooler, then you know how much supplies and resources can cost. Here at Free2BeFrugal you will learn how to acquire materials frugally or better yet, free!
Today I would like to share a tip on how to get some FREE supplies for your classroom...Ask and ye shall receive!
- Some stores give away discontinued wallpaper sample books to teachers who ask (these are great for crafts, covering textbooks, etc.)
- Some stores will give you carpet samples of rugs they no longer sell. These are great for reading centers or circle time. Try Home Depot and local flooring stores.
- Ask copy shops for their misprinted paper. The blank side is just fine for scratch work for math class or drawing paper.
- Some printers will give away sample reams of paper they get from suppliers but consider too low quality to use. This would make great drawing paper!
- Know a shop going out of business or moving soon? Ask them for their old letterhead. More scrap paper.
- Keep your ears open! I recently overheard someone telling a story about cleaning out their office and discovering boxes of that ole track-feed printer paper. Remember that stuff (with the tear-off sides)? I quickly jumped into that conversation and asked if I could have it. Guess what I have 3 boxes of now?
- Camera shops will give you film canisters if you ask; they only throw them away anyway. These are good for science experiments (Google it, there are bunches!) and craft projects.
- Some grocers will give you foam platters they use for packaging meats and such. These are good for using as paint palettes. They will also usually give you boxes.
- Join your local Freecycle on YahooGroups. People give away lots of great free items in wonderful condition all the time. Don't see what you are looking for? Tell them you are a teacher and ask if anyone has what you need. You would be surprised how generous a community it is.
- Check Craigslist regularly. There is a free section.
- Ask your friends and family to save you items they normally throw away: toilet paper rolls, egg cartons, tissue boxes, margarine containers, shoe boxes, cereal boxes, etc. All these things are great craft supplies. There are books and websites devoted to projects using these free materials.
And finally, everyone should search using Swagbucks. It earns points which can be traded in for gift cards. My new favorite is Amazon gift cards for 45 points. I use my points to "buy" used teaching idea books and children's books for my class library.
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