Comments on: The Simple Dollar Weekly Roundup: Side Writings Edition

By: Courtney

Courtney — Thu, 05 Aug 2010 21:08:02 +0000

We are just about done with our back to school shopping – three kids and three looong lists of supplies! Here are a few things I’ve learned over the years. When it comes to crayons and markers, buy Crayola. Roseart may be cheaper but they are inferior in quality, the colors are off, and although they claim to be washable, they are not. Buy a high quality, wellmade backpack. Backpacks go through a lot of wear and tear and the cheap ones fall apart quickly. Same thing for lunchboxes. I usually buy each kid an extra lunchbox at the start of the school year and then stash it away until Christmas. By that time, their lunchbox is looking shabby and they’re ready for a new one. Pencilboxes also tend to fall apart, so I always keep a few extras on hand. Stockpile crayons, pencils, gluesticks, etc. when they’re on sale because your child will probably need to replace those items throughout the school year. I also stock up on poster board because my kids need it frequently for projects and having it on hand has saved me many trips to the store!

By: DreamChaser57

DreamChaser57 — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 18:05:27 +0000

Although I’m naturally biased – I wrote what I thought was quite an insightful, albeit lengthy, comment to one of your posts -it never posted, it was not overly negative. What are your guidelines for letting comments through the moderation process? It seems quite arbitrary and frankly very discourages a robust dialogue if you are selectively deleting commentary based on content and not tone.

By: valleycat1

valleycat1 — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 17:14:08 +0000

RE The Nonprofit Boom – If I patronize a store because of its charitable contributions, I want to see something more specific than a percentage of its business profits. Nonprofits can plow all their money back into the business (& the assumption is that the employees/owners are not deriving exorbitant incomes from the operation), so I’d want to know how they’re defining business profits & whether they’re guaranteeing a minimum total $ amount (or capping the amount) – & how much they actually contributed (in dollars, not percentages) in previous years.

By: Kristia@FamilyBalanceSheet

Kristia@FamilyBalanceSheet — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 14:09:24 +0000

A supply list for preschool?? that is crazy. Although to keep costs down, our preschool asked for donations of snacks, tissues, paper towels, etc, so maybe not so crazy.