Shopping for the Classroom

I have an addiction.

I admit it and I'm trying to come clean...

...I am...

...addicted to...

...shopping for my classroom!

Seriously, I should upload a picture of the back of my car because I went to 5 different stores on Friday (with coupons, of course) and stocked up on all of the essentials for my classroom and now my car is packed.

I'm linking up with Kristen at Ladybug's Teacher Files for her Summer Shopping Linky Party...check out her page and the wonderful ideas she has there, as well as all of the wonderful ideas that others have posted! (click on the button below to go to the linky party!)
    

I'm switching classrooms for this school year and I'm so excited about the space that I have and what is already in my room, but there were some things that I was missing that I needed to pick up.  Because I got some great deals, I wanted to share them with you to let you know what I got for my classroom in case if it will help you out!

First off, STAPLES has a  card that you can buy for $10 that will take 15% off of every purchase until mid-September, which is definitely worth picking up if you will be buying a lot of supplies.  If you don't have one already, pick up a staples rewards card...definitely worth it, especially if you have ink to recycle because you get money back for it.  Staples changes its deals every week, so the deals that I got are expired...however you should go to the staples website to see what the weekly ad is this week.  The best deals are the ones you get a rebate back on (paper is $1 each and you get $6 back from a rebate!).  

Second stop was at the dollar store (we have a dollar tree by me) and I picked up some binders and tab dividers for, of course, $1 each (where in staples the binders are averaging $6 and tab dividers are about $3).  The dollar store is a GREAT place for find organization bins for the classroom (where I found my center bins for last year).  

Lastly, my FAVORITE FIND for my classroom came from Bed, Bath and Beyond...and you know, we all either get in the mail, newspaper, or can find online those 20% off a single item from BB&B (if you don't have one...go to the website and sign up for e-mail to receive your coupon via e-mail).  My biggest thing that I have to tackle this year is organization and effective use of space.  So I found something at BB&B that will help me with just that! 

So instead of having regular chairs around my U-Shaped table for reading groups, I picked up four of these: 

                                                  

This is a storage box that you can also sit on (up to 300lbs!) -- you can click on the picture to be sent to the website to purchase.  They also fold up so if you need to pack up your room at the end of the school year to be cleaned, they can easily be stored away in a closet!  I'm so excited about this because I think I am going to store my binders in these.  

This week, Michaels is also having a sale on all of their storage items.  

Definitely check all these deals out!  Please leave a comment or link back to what you found for your classroom this summer!

Happy Shopping!