financial

School Supplies

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I have heard many comments about the cost of school supplies, and someone just said to me they spent $400 on two kids’ supplies in elementary school. I spent $140, and this included all the wish list items for two teachers. Pause. According to our school district, teachers can’t put things like paper and tissues on the supply list, but they can have a wish list. I assume it’s because the implication is that everyone is expected to purchase all the supplies, but a wish list gives relief. I don’t actually know. I also note that when something is on one wish list, it’s on another supply list. Even looking at other school lists now, they’re all over the place. But have you ever been in a Kindergarten classroom? I’ll supply a years worth of paper towels, tissues, and hand sanitizer. Let’s not forget that while the district is telling the teachers they can’t ask for these basics, they’re also not supplying it because we’ve had several years of poor budget management and just had to take a loan to pay summer salaries. I digress; let’s get back on track.

I shopped Target, Walmart, Office Depot, and Amazon. Amazon is actually awful in this area. I need 3 erasers, not 60. Target was working really hard to be competitive, but Walmart won out by a few cents each time (I’m also a Walmart+ member, so my preference is buying there). Last year, Office Depot ran a sale in June that was incredible, but we were so busy that I didn’t think about supplies. Their prices were fine at the end of July, but they were slightly higher than the rest.

So my main order was $84.97 from Walmart. Then I had to order two packages of white cardstock and a wireless mouse through Amazon, which totaled $22. My second needed a new backpack, which was $33. Here are items we are reusing from last year.

  • This is actually the thing I was most proud of: Ticonderoga pencils. I bought a 96 count of unsharpened pencils last year for $11 (they’re $11.87 this year) (DO NOT SEND UNSHARPENED PENCILS). I sat one night, watching tv, and sharpened them myself. If you purchase a 12 pack of these pencils already sharpened, you will pay more than double per pencil than what I paid. Everyone sees a 12 pack or 2 12 packs are requested, and that’s just what you purchase. If you stop and think, you’ll see that those few dollars will make a difference. So I purchased these last year, sent in what was requested at the beginning of the year, sent in what was requested for this year, and I still have 24 pencils waiting for the next request.
  • We plan to reuse the pencil boxes from last year, but my mother in law has mentioned she’s getting them new ones. She puts their name on them with Cricut. I said let’s just fix the name on the ones they have, but she had already purchased them. This is $1 I didn’t spend (they’re $0.49 at Walmart).
  • Each child needs a plastic blue folder and a plastic red folder. They’re plastic and don’t leave the classroom, so after one year, they’re still in excellent condition. This wasn’t about the money, as this saved me $0.92.
  • Last year, I bought a giant pack of glue sticks. I figured as teachers asked for supplies during the year, I could easily grab and send in. No one ever asked for glue! I was able to provide all requested glue sticks for this year from the left overs. I needed 24 sticks; Target has a 30 pack for $7.49 right now.
  • We are reusing the headphones they used last year. My son has had the same ones since K and is going into 2nd. Sure, there may be a time that they die and I need to replace them, but there’s no reason to purchase new every year if they’re working. Target has wired headphones for $5. Now here, when I first purchased them, I went cheap because my thought was, “surely these will get broken and I’ll be replacing them constantly, so I’ll stick to $5 for now.” Well, they’re about to enter their 3rd year.
  • We are reusing my son’s wireless mouse. My daughter didn’t need one last year, so I had to purchase her one. I spent $10. Pro tip: I added the battery to it before I put it in her supply bag; don’t make the teachers add batteries to everyone’s on the first day. 🙂
  • In the November of last year, my third got into preschool where he was wait listed. Instead of buying him a new backpack, I handed my oldest’s Paw Patrol backpack to him and my oldest got a new one. I purposely had him pick a JanSport because they last. I also purposely had him pick a neutral of some sort so that it’s not a fad that he’ll want to replace in a year. Long story, but he wanted black and that wasn’t unexpected. My daughter picked a $17 clearance backpack at Kohl’s. It was purple and sparkly, and it was so her. We didn’t go shopping for a backpack at the time, but she saw it and wanted it, so I let it happen. Well, it was $17 for a reason, and it barely made it through the school year. I pre-picked 4 or 5 JanSport options during a Target 40% off sale and she picked a pretty, neutral (black with small pink bows) option. With the sale, it came to $33. Again, great that it’s on sale, but the point is that I’m also making an investment in something that’s going to make it through many years, so I would have paid full price if I hadn’t caught the sale.

All in all, had I purchased everything, even down to another backpack, my total would have been $230. And that includes substantial wish list items (e.g., ziploc bags of all sizes, paper towels, tissues, hand sanitizer, all kinds of printer paper and cardstock). I purchased name brand where it was requested – Crayola, Ticonderoga, Elmers, Expo.

Circling back to what made this post idea: I looked up this one person’s supply list. It is about half the size of what I was asked to provide, and I would have spent $39. If I add the wish list items in, it would have been another $36.

People are quick to complain about the cost of things, but they’re not willing to take the time to stop and think. Did you purchase out of convenience? Did you buy name brands where the brand probably doesn’t matter (e.g., a Ziploc sandwich bag doesn’t work any differently or better than a Great Value zipper sandwich bag)? Did you purchase things because it’s on the list without considering reusing items? Did you purchase things that you already have in the house that are adding clutter?

So, if you’re reading this, please realize you have more control than you think.

Post Employment Health Insurance

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We have been financially secure for Mr. ODA to quit working for years. In fact, the plan was that after he met the requirements for his paternity leave taken (which was essentially work the number of hours you took as leave), he would quit. That goal was met back in early 2023. The hold up for him quitting was always health insurance. Him working wasn’t a huge detriment to our life and things we wanted to do, and he was getting most of his health insurance cost covered by his employer.

Well, at the beginning of 2025, the deferred resignation program was introduced. While the first round was very questionable, our life was greatly affected by his employment and the government over the next few weeks, so it was a no-brainer to take the program during the second round. His last day of work was at the end of April, but he was considered employed and paid through September 30th.

As part of his separation, his health insurance was covered for about another month. He had the option to extend his current insurance for another 18 months after that, and that he’d be responsible for paying the full premium. At the time, it was about $1700, and the 2026 premium is $1900 per month.

MRS. ODA’S INSURANCE OPTION

Meanwhile (just coincidental timing), my current employer was investigating a new insurance policy for their employees across 4 offices. They were originating their insurance through the Ohio office. It was a really expensive policy for them. For the 5 people who were taking advantage of that insurance policy, they could have covered 23 employees on this new policy. We learned that Ohio is one of the most expensive states to originate insurance out of it, so we moved the policy to Kentucky.

Anyway, through that process, the insurance sales person was completely incapable of answering basic insurance type questions. Mr. ODA asked for the brochure of benefits. He said, “I emailed you the summary of benefits.” Mr. ODA pointed out that the summary of benefits was a summary of a much larger document, and we wanted those details. He said that didn’t exist. Mr. ODA called the actual insurance company, and that lady laughed and said they definitely have that.

The policy also required a gap coverage policy. The information given to me did not make me feel like it was going to be a smooth process. It sounded like the doctor’s office would submit the claim to my main insurance company. Once it was processed, I’d have to take my bill and EOB and submit it to the gap coverage company for payment. So I’d have to manage the paperwork processing and the payments between everyone.

Their quote for the family policy was about $1750. I told Mr. ODA that it wasn’t worth all that extra effort and the concern that this insurance policy would even work right (because this sales person was not able to answer questions or quell concerns), just to save about $150.

FINAL DECISION

So in the end, we decided to keep the enemy we know. All of our doctors are now solidly in place since we’ve been in Lexington for 3.5 years. I didn’t want to risk needing to switch to a different doctors office because of eligibility and coverage. I didn’t want to risk the coverage being a fight even more than my current policy creates. But mostly, in case something did end up going awry with this new policy option, we couldn’t get our old policy back. So while adding $1900 to our monthly expenses while losing Mr. ODA’s income isn’t the most ideal situation, this is where we’re at in life.