I am very proud of my kids' elementary school teachers.  They are making a concerted effort to encourage all of the kids to reuse their school supplies for the next academic year (this includes the backpacks, pencils, pencil cases, etc.). Usually the peer pressure from other students at the beginning of the school year is so great.  Hopefully, most students and parents will use common sense and use their school supplies that are still in good condition.  When I was in college, I had a friend that used her backpack from elementary school and never replaced it (at the time, I thought that she was extremely frugal but now I realized that a lot of these school supplies are made to last a long time and it's OKAY to reuse them).  I throw my kids' backpacks in the washer and wash it in a delicate cycle and it's as good as new.  Please keep this in mind as you begin planning for the upcoming summer months.  Also, with older kids, you can convince them that the money that they saved from purchasing new school supplies can contribute to vacation, activities, camps, etc.