Money Matters

Do you spend your personal hard-earned money on materials for your speech and language students? I do!  If I had a budget of $500 a year would I purchase items with my own money? Probably not, but unless you are the luckiest SLP in the United States your budget probably looks more like mine so purchasing a few key items with the school money is all there is room for. I know there is a saying about being able to do speech and language therapy with nothing more than a pencil and a piece of paper-which I’m sure we all could do, but why when there are so many fun and engaging activities/materials out there? I try very hard not to go “overboard” when purchasing materials for my students. I make sure to really think purchases through which is why I love the “wish list” option on Teachers Pay Teachers and being on the mailing list for Super Duper. This way I can have an item in mind and put it on my wish list (or just keep the email from Super Duper that links to the item) and decide in a few days if it is something I just “can’t live without”.  Realistically, I could live without all of it, but some items just make my life so much EASIER!  Being a first year, school-based, traveling SLP I have found it difficult at times to balance my career and my personal life.  In order to help ease the burden of lesson planning and not lose focus of all the little things in life that are so important I frequently purchase inexpensive therapy materials out of pocket. Here is a list of my favorite places to purchase therapy materials (in a very particular order) and why I love them:  

1.    Teachers Pay Teachers-products created by teachers for teachers.  These are activities created by the people who are “in the trenches” just like us so I ALWAYS find them very useful.  Plus, if I am going to use my hard-earned money on therapy materials, my first choice of people to give it to is going to be fellow educators.

www.teacherspayteachers.com (link to the main TPT website)

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Speech-a-saurus (link to my TPT store)

2.    Goodwill (and other thrift stores)- These stores often have the best “deals”.  No need to wait for a sale because everyone is already priced so reasonably! It’s typically already used items, but when taking items into an elementary school to be played with/used by lots of little hands items look “used” after the first group gets ahold of them so who cares?! Another BIG reason I love Goodwill is because they do a lot for the communities they are located in.  At the high school I work at I have several students who are working at Goodwill through our job skills class.

3.    Apple ITunes- I love all of the resources out there that provide information on when apps are free/reduced in price.  However, sometimes I see an app that I just “have to have” and I do purchase it with my own money. I use my personal I-pad for therapy so I use personal funds to purchase apps.  I do like to post on FB group walls before purchasing an app to get feedback from all of you first!

4.    Target- The dollar section…you just never know what you are going to find here! I often find great surprises for my “treasure box”. 

5.    Super Duper Online Store- I love this site because they offer a wide variety of well-made, functional materials.  However, this is where my school “budget” money most often goes because the materials from here can be pricey.  I did just purchase a product from here with personal funds because it was “Sharon’s Deal of the Week”.  I subscribe to this site so I am reminded every week to check for Sharon’s Deal.  Even if I don’t have the money to buy an item that I see on this site, I can sometimes adapt my own materials to do the same type of activity with my students. http://www.superduperinc.com

I’d love to hear your perspective on purchasing materials with your own money and your favorite spots to shop for therapy materials so please leave comments below!  Also, please don't forget to follow me on FACEBOOK, PINTEREST, and TPT  (by clicking on the hyperlinked words in purple) to get blog updates.  Any flash freebies/sales etc are always posted on my FB page! I also just set up my "follow by email" and just might have a little surprise for everyone who subscribes ;) 

Happy Holidays!