Make the most of your classroom budget with edding

Whether it’s markers that run out whilst you’re in full flow, to missing glue stick caps causing your scarce resources to dry out – we feel your pain. Now more than ever, it’s important to make the most of your budget and resources. We sympathise with the hours you spend online or deep in the catalogue searching for resources with the magical balance between price and quality, and ultimately – value for money. 

Read our top tips for making the most of your classroom budget below.

Take care of essentials first

Make sure you account for classroom essentials as a priority when spending your budget and ensure you have enough to last the year. Think about how much you use essentials such as pens, pencils, paper and art supplies, and consider these a priority when planning ahead for your budget.

Check your existing stock

Before making any new purchases, have a check over the products you already have. Do a spring-clean of any storage cupboards or forgotten shelves, to make sure you know exactly what items you already have. This can help inform what else you need to purchase.

Buy in bulk

Buying in bulk helps to save you money in the long run, with suppliers often providing discounts when purchasing items in bulk. If you know you’ll be using the item all year round, it often makes sense to purchase a larger quantity at the beginning of the year, to last you to the next financial year. Buying in bulk means that you won’t run out of any classroom essentials during the year, too. YPO stock a range of bulk buying options from big brands, including our new edding School Pack, featuring large quantities of your favourite essential pens and markers.

Make the most of seasonal offers and discounts

Make your budget stretch further by taking advantage of seasonal sales and discounts on your favourite brands and classroom essentials. Look out for YPO’s yearly budget stretcher promotion, featuring discounts on hundreds of brands including edding, designed to help you stretch your yearly budget further.

Save money by buying refills

Buying refills for certain products can help save you money in the long run, as it avoids having to purchase brand-new items every time, and instead gives you the option to refill your existing items. YPO stock refills for a range of products including pens, whiteboard erasers, notebooks and more. Refilling is particularly useful for items like pens, incurring high usage day-to-day, such as drywipe and whiteboard markers. Our whiteboard markers can be quickly refilled when they run out, a convenient and eco-friendly solution to prolong the marker’s lifespan, saving you money as well as helping to protect our planet. Explore our range of edding whiteboard marker refills for an easy way to stretch the life of your pens. 

Plan ahead

Planning your budget ahead of time helps save you money by ensuring you have enough money to last you the year. Whether you prefer to make one big order at the beginning of the financial year, or spread it out across the year, it’s vital to make sure you plan your purchases ahead of time to ensure you’re not left with a shortfall towards the end of the year.

Create a wishlist

If you’ve got your eye on some items that you’re wanting to purchase at some point during the year, such as our new edding School Pack, add them to your YPO wishlist so they’re ready and waiting for you. Wish lists are a great tool for staying on top of your spending, as well as checking back on items for further discounts later in the year. It’s also a great way to plan for bigger purchases, such as furniture or IT equipment. 

Assign a budget to each category

Assigning a budget to each category can help you spread your budget more wisely, by allocating more budget to higher priority categories. Divide up your classroom needs into categories such as stationery, art supplies, paper and furniture, and make sure you stick to the allocated budget for each category. If you have any budget leftover in any categories at the end of the year, you can use this to inform how you spread your budget in the next year. 

Browse YPO’s Budget Stretcher promotions for the latest discounts and offers on big brands, and explore edding’s large range of bulk purchasing stationery options here.