No Going Back

You cannot escape the fact that it is 'back to school' time right now. Every form of media blasts us with sales related to school supplies, childrens clothing, lunch box items and dorm bedding.  It's a big business and one that my parents contributed to for the twelve years of my own schooling and then I added to for the fifteen years it took to get my two sons through from kindergarten to grade twelve. For the first few years of elementary school with my sons the supplies list was strictly adhered to, often pre-purchased through the school as a once a year thing, no thought required, until the pile of unused pencil crayons, water colour palettes and glue sticks started to spill out of the cupboards at home. Time to reconsider.  So I shifted to only filling in the gaps in the lists at the start of each year, relabeling items as necessary.  Don't get me started on the labeling. Seriously, do not get me started!  

Private School ready!

Then came high school in a private school where besides requiring the full kit of a uniform and gym strip, that all needed labeling as it was identical for every kid, (don't get me started!) there came separate supply lists from each teacher.  Very specific binder sizes and colours, unusual paper requirements, a special four colour pen, etc etc. Most of this was duly purchased by me and rarely used by the boys. I could never figure that out. Why such a specific requirement when the teacher never actually required the students to use it?  Or did my children just ignore the request? Quite possible.

 My boys both had short lived post-secondary educations that required little more than a binder, some paper and an expensive computer. If they needed anything else I had shelves full of supplies to choose from. But who uses a pencil anymore? Or graph paper or duo-tangs or highlighters or glue sticks?? Nobody I know. Maybe in grade one or two those items are still in high demand but I doubt it.

So fast forward a few years, both sons are no longer in any academics, and my husband and I are preparing for a move. Well, I am doing the preparing, husband is doing the envisioning. While filling boxes I throw open a cupboard to find...school supplies. Dozens of binders, all sizes and colours, some never used. Ditto for those damn duo-tangs and I think you have to be over a certain age to even know what those are. Felt pens, pencil crayons, endless pencils and sharpeners, scissors, tape, binder dividers, White-Out and unbelievably, reinforcements. Those little white stick-on circles that repair and reinforce the holes in binder paper.  What teacher required those and ever got a student to use them? And then there are the reams of paper. Ack!

I was not about to pack and move this stuff to my new place but it pains me to throw out perfectly good items that I have paid for so I had to come up with another solution.  First  I decided to  completely outfit my home office and that of my huband with the best of the stuff. Okay, that took care of maybe a tenth of the supplies. Then I recycled anything that could be recycled, filling my blue curbside collection bag.  All usable items were donated to the thrift store. While watching TV at night I worked my way through a shoe box full of pens and felt pens checking each one to see if it still worked. Yes, I am dogged and thrifty, I admit it. I did throw out broken and crummy stuff, even I have my limits, I am not a hoarder! 

My youngest son graduated high school seven years ago and it has taken me that long  to divest myself of the overabundance of school supplies. I'm feeling good about it now but every so often I will open a drawer and see a pair of small, blunt ended paper scissors with one of my sons' name carefully written on it and I am brought right back to the memory of that mountain of unnecessary things I purchased in the name of education. Then I say a little prayer for the moms and dads out dragging around Staples this week, supply list in hand, trying to do the right thing. I pray that they can throw down the sale flyers, wait to see what their child actually requires and never have to go through dealing with the trail of school supply debris that I had to. I am never doing "back to school" again and it feels wonderful!