Our children love art and I like for them to be uninhibited in their use of paper and supplies. Keeping an unlimited supply of paper available all the time can really add to your budget.
On the other hand most businesses throw out reams of paper daily. Paper that has been used true, but usually printed on only one side.
You do see where I’m going with this, right? We get all of our children’s scrap paper from area businesses for free. We use this paper for nearly everything, including school work.
You can go into a business that you frequent and ask if they have any paper that is printed on only one side and is going to be thrown away and ask if they would be willing to save it for you. It may be nice to bring a large box for them to put your paper in. Then you can go back a day or so later and pick up all your free paper. Be aware that there are some businesses who can not pass on their paper waste because of copyright or privacy concerns (i.e. doctor’s offices or Kinko’s), but if you find a business that has a lot of internally generated, non-private paperwork, bingo!
We currently have a relationship with a local trucking company and I just let them know when I need more paper and they collect it for me. One stash from them will last us for months.
You may also enjoy:
Kimberly,
You can also get free end rolls of newsprint from newspaper publishers, at least it was available where we used to live. They put all their endrolls out on a certain day of the week to be picked up by anyone who wanted them.
Jama
[Reply]
We do the same thing! My hubby works in advertising and he brings home a big box full of paper every few months for the kids to use for art and we also use it for scrap paper and notes. It’s great.
We are still using up our free supply of school paper that we found on Freecycle several years ago… gotta love saving money.
[Reply]
[...] may be interested some tips for minimizing laundry, how we save money by getting and using free paper for all of the children’s artwork or reading about the unique environment where God placed our family that helped shape us into what [...]
[...] and craft supplies – We keep an unlimited supply of paper (that we get for free) available to our children and allow them access to crayons, pens, pencils, markers, [...]