Schools almost out for summer here, perhaps some of your children have already broken up for the holidays?

Whilst in the shops the other day picking up a few things for end of term parties, I couldn’t help but notice all the “back to school” stuff already coming out in the aisles.

There were tons of lunchboxes and drinks bottles being placed on shelves and displays of socks and P.E plimsolls everywhere. I do like to be organised but that did seem a tad premature, they usually wait at least a week into the holidays before they start pushing the back to school stuff!

I tend to buy some things online and some in-store depending on what it is. The boys uniform has to be ordered from school before term finishes, so that is always one of the first things ticked off. Our daughter’s uniform is only sold by one local uniform shop, but that can either be purchased in-store, or online. Lunchboxes and water bottles the children like to choose themselves, as well as things like school bags and pencil cases.

Stationary is something we seem to go through really quickly. There’s something really lovely about nice new stationary to start the term as well. Given the age ranges of our children, they all need a variety of things, so it’s much easier to purchase a pile of stuff online I find. You can find a range of educational supplies online, anything from pencils and rubbers, protractors and scientific calculators, and files and folders.

If you home educate your children, the world of online shopping can offer so much. I love browsing through all the many learning resources available.

If you have a left-handed child then you are much better looking online for school supplies as lots of stores don’t seem to stock left-handed items as standard. You are far better to just search for the item online, you’ll be spoilt for choice.

The queues for school-shoe fitting can be horrendous sometimes. Anyone who has queued out of the door at Clarks will know what I’m talking about. I always find the best thing to do is get feet measured at some point during the last few weeks of the summer holidays and then order shoes and trainers online. This approach avoids any in-store shoe shop meltdowns from children or grown-ups.

Do you get organised early for September or are you last minute with all your back to school purchases?