Back-to-school shopping was fun! I’m sure you have read my first article on my back to school shopping spree at NBS with some of the Mommas of Manila (haha!). If you haven’t read it yet, read about it here: http://mommyginger.com/2017/05/back-school-shopping-spree-national-book-store.html Now, I wanted to share with you this video that my friend Mikaela and I created on what our tips for moms are.
The back-to-school season is so stressful for a lot of moms, so here are a few tips that we wanted to share with you.
1) Make a list of what you need. Mikaela makes her own list so she doesn’t forget anything. If you have it on paper, you will remember to buy these things.
2) Plan and have something visual to look back at. I have a whiteboard and cork board at home for stuff that I need to check every so often. I have a huge cork board for my goals, to do lists, bills, tuition fee schedule that I just pin. Then I have a a white board which I use when teaching Zeeka and for both our schedules! Both these things can be found, of course, at National Book Store.
3) Organize your home, so you’re READY! Arrange your home so that you have designated areas for different stuff. Also, I have specific areas for where things are. I have paper inside filing cabinets, colored paper in a big box, markers inside a bag, etc. I usually stock up also on different things. It’s good to be prepared for anything!
4) Label all of your things! As I said in the video, I’m a sucker for labeling everything. All of the things that I shared with you in my unboxing video of what I bought in NBS were all labeled!
5) Prepare a Go-Bag for your child. There are earthquakes happening here and around the world, so it won’t hurt to be ready for anything. I usually prepare a Go-Bag for Zeeka, my daughter. This includes a first aid kit, extra clothes, flashlight, whistle, protein bar or crackers, alcohol, bottled water. In National Book Store, you can find these stuff (except the drinks and food)!
How about you? What are your back to school tips! Leave a comment below, so that we can all help each other! You can also share your tips using #BacktoSchoolwithNBS
As a child, I always had fun going to National Book Store with my mom. I was always excited, because that meant new stuff for the new school year. When I became a mom, I found out that it wasn’t as cool and exciting for grown-ups. Haha! But here’s the thing, I have managed to navigate my way around all of these back-to-school preparations, and I’m proud to say that I’m so efficient that shopping it’s actually fun for me.
I do my shopping early. I stock up on things that Zeeka, my daughter, might need. I even stock up on things that I actually might need for my business. As you know, I run two businesses, I blog and I take care of my child and home all at the same time, so whenever I go to NBS, I get all of the stuff that I need to get for all aspects of my life! Last week, I was so happy to have had the chance the complete my list of back-to-school materials that Zeeka needs for this school year last week. I went on a shopping spree with my other mommy friends and it was so much fun.
I love National Bookstore, because it has so many budget-friendly options. I love to stock up on things, so buying them in bulk at really affordable prices is perfect for me. For example, I bought a set of 10 notebooks with 2 pens and 2 pencils under Budget Bundles, and these only costed me Php 150. Another purchase under Budget Bundles was a set of 4 folders (one for monitoring Zeeka’s activities, one for Taxumo, one for Manila Workshops and one for my blog tracking). These folders were only Php 100.
Another reason why I love National Book Store is that they have so many choices, and these choices are for anyone in the family, anyone with a particular style or with a particular lifestyle! I’m the type of parent who spends hours inside groceries and bookstores. The reason why I spend a lot of hours inside National Bookstore is that I would like to be sure that I get the best value for my money. It doesn’t have to be “cheap”, but it has something that will be worth every penny.
An example of which was something that I bought last week when I did my shopping spree at NBS. I came across this aisle of colorful bags, pouches and lunchboxes called Zipit! I bought a lunchbox and a cute Zipit pouch with a pink monster design, that comes with an app.
My daughter downloaded the app, and she now always has fun playing with her talking MonStar. The pouch was worth it, since aside from keeping her things, she enjoys playing with it, too!
For my husband and I, obviously, we have different needs from our daughter. Most of the things that we use also for our own needs and businesses come from NBS. Check out the video of the other things I found in National Books Store during my shopping spree!
To give us more choices, National Book Store carries trusted brands too like Caran d’Ache School Line, the Swiss fine art brand that budding artists adore.
For high schoolers and college students who do drafting and sketching, Blackwing Pencils are the best of the basics and a long-time favorite.
The third thing that I love about NBS is that they understand convenience. I found these Grab and Go Packs that had things inside it that were packed based on what the level of your child is. This one, in the picture below, is for kids in the 4th to the 6th Grade. How convenient is that, right?
Another thing that NBS now has, compared to what I had when I was little, is that moms nowadays can just shop from their home. If you can’t find the time to go to the store, you can call the delivery hotline 8888-627, or shop online at their website, www.nationalbookstore.com. When you check out their site, you can directly go to the back-to-school section when you go to the NBS website. Materials are grouped according to grade level so you can immediately see the recommended supplies for each one. The site is very simple to use! Orders worth P1,000 or above get free shipping.
So these are the reasons why I love National Book Store (NBS). Back-to-School shopping, or even stock-up-again-on-supplies shopping is such a breeze at NBS. You can find mostly everything that you need there from lunch boxes, pouches with apps, mosquito patches, hand sanitizers, sophisticated pencils and hard-core art materials, kikay notebooks and folder, etc. You name it! NBS has it.
Want to join me shop again soon? Tell me your own reasons why you love National Book Store! For more updates, follow them on social media – @nbsalert on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube and visit the NBS Blog – blog.nationalbookstore.com.
I usually start preparing everything that my child needs for school during the month of May, early May to be exact. There are a lot of benefits to being ready early. One benefit is that you avoid the rush that happens, and you can get to choose from the various items that are available. My 4 year old daughter is one who loves choosing stuff by herself, and having a toddler amidst a huge crowd will be dangerous and chaotic. But I’m not here to share with you the usual tips that I assume you already know about. I’m here to share with you the personal strategies that I have; I’ll share with you some mommy hacks that I personally do — my very own back to school tips.
1. Have lots of labels with the name of your child and your name on them (as guardian) with an emergency contact number. We normally just have the name of our daughter / son printed with the grade level, but I think there is a need to place the parents name and the contact details as emergency contact. Place this on all personal belongings of the child.
2. Have a drawer/s with all of the “possible” school supplies that your child might need. If there is one thing that being in events has taught me, it was being ready for anything with everything. I have stock of folders (different sizes, a few color), art materials, all kinds of paper (from short/ling bond, construction, board, etc. and in different colours, too), glue gun, glue sticks, ordinary glue, scissors in all sizes, punchers, staplers, all kinds of colouring pens, permanent and whiteboard markers, oil pastels, crayons, index cards, illustration boards, etc. I practically have everything in the SM Stationery Department of SM. I truly have it all, too!
3. As parents, school means just thinking about your child’s “school”. In my case, I also look for after school activities where I can enrol her. As early as May, I already think of extra-after school fun activities that she can do. She has math lessons after school and I’m already waiting for the schedule of the art school where I inquired with a month ago. With this, I can fill her days already with activities, so she makes full use of her time enjoying learning. My daughter loves going out, so the activities that we prepare for her to do at home, isn’t enough 🙁 So for this mommy hack or back to school tip, it really depends on what you think your child needs. If you want them to do a few activities at home after school, for toddlers, there are sticker book activities, fun workbooks that are available at SM Stationery (got mine in SM Stationery Bacolod).
4. Get a head start on creating the meal plan and the activity schedule for your child before school starts. I always want to have it all ready to be seen by everyone in the household one month in advance, so that I will always have a guide one or two months before. With the meal guide, I will know what ingredients or food to buy from the grocery. With the activity guide, it will tell everyone in the house what my daughter is up to every single moment.
5. In choosing school materials and even in choosing activities, I always involve my child. I have noticed that she is more engaged when she is part of the decision making process. Check out our fun trip to SM Stationery in Megamall. Do you know that they have ready-made back to school packs for each level. Check this out! It’s only at Php 399 each.
So these are my own personal hacks and tips. I hope that this article was useful in anyway to you. Oh, btw, if you want a copy of the cute labels that I have mentioned above, please leave me a message in the comment section below so that I can email a copy of it to you! The printables are lovingly made by LD Design and Creative Pursuits.
