Nicole Sebastian has been “a little choosier” when buying school supplies for her two kids this year. With inflation at its highest since the early 1980s, prices are up across the board, and notebooks and markers are no exception.
Sebastian bought most of her kids’ supplies — including coloring and craft supplies for her first grader, Bruno, and graph paper and a protractor for her fourth grader, Ophelia — at Target. When she couldn’t find a flexible binder Bruno needed, she ventured to OfficeMax. Thinking Post-it Notes would be cheaper there, she put the ones from Target back on the shelf.
Sebastian, who lives in the Lathrop Homes neighborhood, estimates she’s spent about $200 on school supplies for her kids. And she hasn’t yet bought new backpacks or uniforms, which are required in her children’s Chicago Public Schools classrooms. School starts Aug. 22 this year, the earliest first day in years.
