OK, I swear I'm gonna go broke & my ds is only in Kindergarden!!!! I just got ANOTHER fund raiser type thing sent home today in his folder!! Yikes!!

Ok, so I paid the school fee's,$14.50, school supply fee, $12.00, PTO membership, $5.00, put $25.00 in his lunch/milk money acct. I've bought him a school t-shirt $10.00(every friday is school spirit day and the school colors are orange & black, & he only has 1 orange shirt) I've got 2 Scholastic Book orders(I spent about $15.00 total) and 2 Market Day flyers(I didn't order anything from this) I had to sign up to bring snacks for the class, I'm sure I'll be asked to donate to the "harvest party" Then today I got a Scrips order blank(its some sort of gift card fund raiser ) I've also got several flyers to sign up for dance & karate lessons!! & I've heard that there will be a magazine fund raiser!!! OY!!

My gosh, whats next, is the bus driver gonna ask me for GAS MONEY?????

Don't get me wrong, I really like this school(its public) and I love my ds's teacher, but geez, enough already!!

Is there any way to be frugal about this?? Does anyone else feel that their kids school is nickel & dime'n them???

Sorry for the rant, and thanks for reading this!!

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You forgot picture money Yes I have been feeling nickel and dimed! Really not looking forward to my other ds when everything will be doubled

We have 1 fundraiser (well 2 this year as we are getting a new playground ~ours was vandelized last year ~ city is paying for half of it!)

then we have pics! and Spirit wear if we buy them!! other than that maybe 5$ for the parties!! (that is for hte year!!) so I guess we are not too bad!!

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Kelly mom to 3 great girls A Peanut, a monkey and a little burrito.

I sat and quickly figured out that between my 5 kids that are in school, scouts, band, music, and baseball, that we are asked to do about 40 fund raisers a year!!!!!!! That equals about 8 fundraiser things a year per kid......I am sure that I forgot some also.

This number does not count book orders, school pictures, t-shirts for every occasion (school play, music, baseball, singing group, etc). It also does not cound field trip money, snacks that need to be sent in, donations to raffle baskets, teacher appreciation meal donations, birthday treats (that now have to be store bought, not made at home).



We only support the fundraisers that are for programs that must support themselves....scouts, music, baseball......the ones that are to help the school, we do not take part in......my feelings are that the school needs to support itself and it gets money from the government.......others things do not get government money and without our help, they would fail. n my soapbox:

You're right I did forget the picture money, that was another $30.00!!

I guess ds will be an only child!! Heck even the dog costs us a ton w/vet fee's, Frontline & Heartworm med!

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You guys are defiitely making me appreciate the fact that our schools do not do traditional fund raisers!!!!

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~Happiness is a large family~

Oh yeah, my kids are on different fundraiser schedules. so I just got preschool fundraiser and I just turned it elementary school findraiser. Now I'm supposed to ask people to buy again and they havne't rec'vd the other stuff yet.
BTW- our school does 2 picture days. the one in the fall is for yearbook, official, and the one in the spring is for "fun". you can bring in props, within reason, for that one.

anita

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allgirls, mom to 3 girls

We pay for preschool $310 a month for 5 mornings. She also had a snack fee $100 for the year. I drive her to school so I have extra gas expenses. They do several fundraisers. The largest fundraiser is basket bingo. We sponsored a basket $50. That will be the end of my donating for the year. However, they are requesting each family buy tickets to basket bingo $20 each. I'm not buying a ticket for something I won't be able to attend (no kids allowed) I purchased scholastic books $20. They sent a flyer home for Small Hands magazine. They pushed tshirts & tote bags. They will have a party for all the usual occasions for which they will ask for donations of food or party supplies. They will have a candle sale, wrapping paper, etc. I can't remember all the stuff they pushed last year. We also have pictures this month.

I have 3 school age children 14, 13, and 10. So far this year the youngest has brought home the coupon books, which I didn't buy because after looking in it I wouldn't use hardly anything and they were $25. Scholastic book sale which I did let her spend $10 but I have to rotate back and forth between the two older and youngest one on that so I don't get hit all at once. Candy sale, had to buy some...can't resist chocolate! I sent out money for fall pictures yesterday plus the teacher had asked for help with supplies which I did but that was small. I agree the fundraisers are getting a bit rediculous. I usually only buy when there is something that I actually want or need.

ok i think i'm the odd man out here my school district is really good about no fundraisers in elementary. we do send empty pop cans on thursdays if we have them(thirsty thursdays!) this money goes into a fund to pay for field trips. it has been so successful that nobody has paid for their kids to go on field trips for over 5 years. we do have a school carnival and i did pay for school pics. other than that they don't sell anything. they do book orders but thats up to you. heck my district even took my kindergartner last year to two movies at the theatre charlottes web and one other one. our district also gets businesses and individuals willing to pledge a certain amount of money each month this helps all our families in our district we just added 10 more businesses and tow more private donators. i love our district they seem to manage their money very well to get the maximum benefit for our students and families. plus they provide the milk and snack.