Target is my bestestest friend :)

If you are a teacher and you have not shopped at Target, you are missing out! My two favorite "teacher stores" are Dollar Tree and the Target dollar aisle :) Of course, I had started to hear rumblings that the school supplies were out, so I had to go check it out this morning and see what all I could find! After an hour and $75 were gone, here are my goodies...

My original goal and purpose of going to Target this morning was to find this file box to put inside my brand new teacher bag. (Spoiler alert! See the teacher bag unveiling on Monday's #made4math post)

But in order to fetch the lovely file box, I had to pass by the Target Dollar Spot at the front of the store! Oh my, oh my, what wonderful goodies they had!!! One of the first bins had this cute stackable storage boxes. They had them in black, pink, and blue. I plan to use them in my cabinets to store things like paper clips, post its, etc. The boxes even have a place for a nametag at the front. The round things in front are magnetic canisters. I had seen similar items at the Container Store where you could put small items in them, screw on the lid, and then use the magnet to hang them. I will probably use at least one or two in my new teacher bag :)

Turn the corner and what do I see? Oh, be still my heart! I bought the border since it coordinates with my color scheme on the back bulletin boards. I'm going to steal an idea from Pinterest and laminate and put magnets on the back to create a "bulletin board" area on the whiteboard behind my desk. The other items are some adorable to-do lists that I just could not pass up for $1. The calendar looking thing is a mousepad with tear off sheets. I am one of those people that always has tons of post it notes stuck to my desk, so I'm hoping this will give me a place to jot down things.

So as I am digging around in the cool notepads, I see back in the far corner, hidden from view, these dry erase pockets! Oh my... I've hit the motherload!!! These suckers are VERY expensive to purchase from regular teacher stores! Needless to say, I bought a class set. :) Also picked up another mousepad and then a set of really cute file folder labels.

But, I am STILL not done with the dollar spot... Down on the bottom shelf, I find these adorable cardboard magazine files. I love these things for putting workbooks, notebooks, paperback solution guides, etc.

Finally, I leave the $1 section and head to the regular aisles to find my file box. Of course, I have to also go check out their progress on the back to school area. They were still stocking it, so I'm guessing that tomorrow's Target ad will start advertising their back to school sales. But, I did pick up a brand new lunchbox for this year. Actually, hubs saw it first, showed it to me, then started laughing at the look of pure joy on my face. :)

Now, before you start laughing too, let me explain :) My sisters and I started collect ladybug stuff years ago. We have matching ladybug tattoos on our toes (hence my twitter avatar), when we buy each other gifts, it always has a ladybug on it. The ladybug trend has extended to all of the women in our family. When my eldest sister passed away a few years ago, my middle sister and I put a ladybug beanie baby in her casket. Ladybugs are very important to me and it just makes me smile that I now have one to carry my lunch each day.

Whew! All that shopping has worn me out!

Please tell me that I'm not the only one with a Target obession?!?!? New school supplies make me happy, almost giddy with excitement!!! Yay for Target!

Yay!!! It's like Christmas in July!

In case you haven't noticed, I've been in a classroom crafting mode lately. :) During one of my browsing trips through the elementary teacher blog-o-sphere, I found this link over at the Clutter Free Classroom about your Teacher Bag. You know, that bag where you throw all the papers to be graded, all the lessons to be planned, all the best grading pens you own, and anything else that finds its way into the dark crevices.

Like every other teacher on the planet, I have a huge stash of bags. Every workshop, every conference, everyone gives away bags and as teachers have for years and years, I hoard them. Why? I have no idea. Every year, I go through and donate a boxful for Goodwill, only to have the pile grow yet again the following year. For years, I have jumped from bag to bag, never quite finding one that fit my needs. I've tried backpacks and briefcases, beach totes and file totes, and none of them quite fit what I wanted. This past year I used a Vera Bradley Messanger bag and I liked it pretty well, it had several pockets, but sometimes the inside of the bag wasn't as big as I needed it to be.

Enter in the Clutter Free Classroom blog above - as I followed their "linky party", it appeared that most teachers LOVED their Thirty One organizing utility tote. Keep in mind that I had NEVER heard of Thirty One until last week. However, it was getting rave reviews from teachers, so I once again got sucked in by the promise of the ideal bag. That put me on a quest for a Thirty One consultant and ultimately buying one of these totes. I eagerly waited and today it came!!! Without further ado, I proudly present my brand new teacher bag:

Now to fill it up and try it out! What do you use for your teacher bag? What all do you put into it?

Stay tuned for updates!