Half Price Books, Oh How I Love Thee!

There are a few things I am truly obsessed with in life besides food (different blog probably needed for my obsession with food):  School Supplies & Books!  Clearly my budget takes a huge hit this time of year in both of these categories -- I can't seem to get enough of either!!  I justify this by saying things like, "If you have to be obsessed about something, these are not bad things!"  Sound familiar to anyone?

To help my budget in a big way, I frequent Half Price Books.

 

If you have a Half Price Books near you and have not visited it, I urge you to make it a stop in your weekend (might want to budget a bit of browsing time ;) .  Tip:  They also have one of those "Clearance" isles where sometimes you find not much and sometimes you hit the JACKPOT!!

So...let's say you have a $100 budget (generous, I know, but I am changing grade levels and I thankfully have a husband who understands) and you want to buy some books.  There are lots of places you may go to get some good deals.  I'm not telling you not to go to your favorite places, because I love Amazon and Barnes and Nobles as much as the rest of you.  I'm just giving you another resource and..........wait for it............They have a 10% Teacher Discount!!! BONUS!!

Here are yesterday's selections:

Everything you see here was only $1 each!!!

Each of these cost $1.99

From the Magic School Bus Chapter Book series - literally "half price" at $2.49

$2.49 and up, but I made each of these selection because I "needed" them for one reason or another.

This is a picture of $108.00 (only slightly over budget) well spent!!

A few disclaimers:  "Drink This, Not That" is for me and my friends (a steal at $1).  I will NOT be reading Edgar Allen Poe to my 2nd graders (You may breathe now.) -- that is for my 17-year old son, who is a Poe fan (another $1 steal).  The "Scrabble to Go" was did not have a price on it and didn't look to be in great condition, so they gave it to me for $1 - perfect because I just wanted the letter dice in there anyway :)  Oh, did I even mention that Half Price Books has games, movies, puzzles, magazines, & much more??  Also, a couple of these books are gifts, so there is my justification for going over budget...

You may notice many of my selections are non-fiction.  One day of my training this week was devoted to non-fiction, it's importance and some strategies.  I will definitely be writing a separate post on non-fiction in the next week or so.

For now, my handsome son has agreed to help me put together my new bookshelves so I can get my 2nd grade classroom library set up.  I really must go take some of this clutter these school treasures to my classroom and get busy.  I would love to hear if anyone else is a Half Price Books junky. :)

Happy, Happy Friday!!! 

Summer Shopping Linky Party

Linking up with the Summer Shopping Linky Party at Ladybug's Teacher Files.
Why? 
Because like the rest of you, I have been SHOPPING!!!  I LOVE TEACHER/SCHOOL SUPPLIES!!!
Target, Hobby Lobby, Michael's, Dollar Tree, Wal-Mart, Big Lots, Sam's, JoAnn's, & our local teacher store, Jacque's -- I hit them all this week!  I also made some awesome purchases on Teacher's Notebook and Teachers Pay Teacher, but I'll save those for another post. (Teaser:  expect to see lots of organizational binder from Sam's)








I do not have pics for it all, because you would be laughing at me far too hard, but here is a small sampling of what is sitting around the house.  Much is already in the classroom (like my square cubes from Target that will be at my small group table, and my new fabric from JoAnn's for my bulletin boards).  Those pics will have to wait until I get my classroom more in order and closer to "ready." 

 

CUTE glitter notebooks $1.17 at Hobby Lobby - Clearance isle!

Who knew I would finally find my purple Posti-it notes I've been looking for at Big Lots? lol

I cannot turn down a $1 GIRAFFE book cover!!!  I LOVE GIRAFFES!

You can never have too many alphabet stickers in my opinion ;) (Target $1 isle)

AND...of course the adorable new ice cube trays also from Target's $1 isle!

Look at all of these cool treasures!!  Some will most certainly appear in future blog posts -- so many, many things to do.  For sure I will let you know when I get those baskets set up for my Daily 5 materials (see the 5 colors?).  Those and the cute tropical flower stir sticks are from the Dollar Tree -- AAAHHH -- can you say "PERFECT!"??  

Clearly, I have much to do, so...until tomorrow (when I reveal my amazing shopping trip to Half-Price Books) -- night, night and Happy Shopping!

Hellooooo Dollar Tree!!!

So...I've bought quite a few items due to all the inspiration I have gotten this summer. I've been to our local teacher store "Jacque's," 3 different "Dollar Stores," "Michael's," "Hobby Lobby," "Card & Party Factory," "Ikea," and of course the teacher fave: "TARGET" more times than I can count.  I kept meaning to share all of my finds, but never got around to it.  I imagine I will be posting various items as they are put into place and in use during the school year.  I figured I was about done with my purchasing, UNTIL...I dropped by the Dollar Tree to pick up some beads.  You see, my team and I decided  to have students complete a version of this adorable activity on the first day of school.  I ran across the idea at  Sunny Days in Second Grade




 Yea!  I found my beads!

But I also found other teachery (new word) treasures, so I thought I'd share my finds!  Because well, they were only a DOLLAR - lol

Adorable plastic containers to finally get all my junk supplies organized!

What teacher doesn't need these? =)

They say "center sticks," but I can think of several uses for these!

Cute tubs - love these colors!

My favorite find:  Word Cards - Nouns, Verbs, Adjectives, Adverbs - OH, the POSSIBILITIES for L.A. activities!!!

So you see, there are many more bargains to find out there, fellow teachers.  Go shop and get inspired!  Happy weekend!