Back To School In Dollar Store Style

Marlene Alexander

The stores consider summer to be over once August arrives and they start filling their shelves with school supplies and other fall gear. Dollar stores are certainly no exception. The difference is, binders, notebooks and pencils will cost you a lot less at a dollar store than they will anywhere else so you can send your children back to school in dollar store style and save the bulk of your budget for sturdy backpacks and the new clothes they will need.

Besides all of the usual gear like calculators, math sets and pencils, Dollarama has a few new items for school this year.

Student planners - There are a couple of different planners available. One is a five by seven-inch spiral bound student agenda for $2 and the other is called an academic planner and this one is about eight an a half by ten inches and costs $2, as well.
Laptop skin, $2 - This is a peel and stick thing that's not a necessity but fun, certainly. You just pick the pattern of your choice and cut it fit your laptop lid. Dollarama also has smaller sticker sets for laptops that you arrange as you wish and they only cost a buck for each set.

Stackable locker shelves, $2 each - These hard plastic shelves come in four different colors and sound like a great idea to me but, having been through the teen years with my own two, I'm not sure how much use these will be once a kid tires of organization and begins dumping stuff into their locker helter skelter.
Report covers - A package of two plastic report covers with transparent front costs a buck. These are a good alternative to the paper report covers because they're more durable and highly reusable.
Large pencil case - An 11 1/2-inch by five and a half inch neoprene pencil case costs $1.25. For the student with a lot of small gear to carry, this super-sized pencil case is just the ticket.
Molded plastic 1 1/2-inch binder, $2 - These sturdy looking binders look like they can take the rough and tumble of being tossed into the bottom of a crowded locker. I saw them in four different colors.
One-inch binders with tinted view windows, $2 - This is the type of binder that has room for an insert on the front and back covers. The only difference here, is that the windows are tinted in different colors.

Marlene Alexander is an independent writer and Dollar Store Diva. She writes tips and ideas for using things found at dollar stores.

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