07 March 2018
By
Melanie Godley, Buyer - Stationery
You don’t need me to point out how tight school’s budgets are at the moment - but there are some quick things you can do to help save money.
Stationery is a consumable that schools pretty much can’t live without - and with stocks needing topping up frequently, cost soon mounts up.
But fear not, there are some quick ways you can save money on your stationery supplies, without compromising on quality.
- Switch to own brand products
One of the first things you could do is swap from buying branded products, to buying ‘own brand’ products for necessities such pens, pencils and rulers. Prices are often more affordable and you don’t need to skimp on quality.
- Look out for our promotions
To save yourself extra pennies make sure to keep an eye out for promotions, such as our very own Budget Stretcher as there’ll be some great, hard to miss deals up for grabs. It’s the perfect time to get stocked up and organised.
- Replace caps on colouring and whiteboard pens
It can be annoying to see pens scattered around the classroom with their lids missing, and it’s also quite wasteful. Tell children to make sure they replace the caps on pens after using them and store whiteboard pens horizontally so the ink doesn’t dry out.
- When sharpening pencils, only turn twice
Turning a sharpener too many times can easily break pencil lead. Be sure to sharpen with care to not waste pencils.
- Buy a heavy-duty sharpener
Instead of buying many small sharpeners, invest in one big one that you can place at the front of the class for everyone to use. It’ll stop sharpeners from being misplaced and will save money as you won’t need to buy new ones.
- Cover all books with film
It’s not uncommon for children to damage workbooks, meaning they need new ones! By covering all class books in book covering film, you will reduce the chance of books being ripped and broken.
- Buy large packs of stationery
Just by viewing the price, it may appear that its more expensive to buy stationery in bulk. However, this is not the case. Buying large packs of stationery will not only save school money, it will also save time as you wouldn’t need to stock up as often.
- Clean out the cupboards
Without a doubt, there’ll be missing stationery hiding in drawers and cupboard. Have a classroom audit and go on the hunt to see what you can find.
- Use your vouchers from loyalty schemes
If you receive loyalty vouchers, such as YPO’s ‘Share of the Profits Loyalty Scheme’ make sure to make the most out of them. You can use them to buy stationery and multiple vouchers can be used on one order.
- Use social media and enter competitions
Follow your favourite stationery supplier’s Twitter page or Facebook. For example, you can follow us @ypoinfo for the latest news, offers and competitions. You never know, you could be the winner!