I guess it’s just that time of year, but I’ve got a serious craving for office and school supplies. I want fancy pens and odd paperclips and fresh piles of yellow legal pads, college-ruled.
There’s absolutely nothing I actually need besides a few Parker gel refills (perfection), but that’s not put a dent in my irrational hankering for a little something more. It doesn’t help that a new Staples store opened up here not long ago, either. I can hear the notebook-and-journal sirens’ song clean through the walls of this house.
And that’s just the new stuff. I’m an avid gatherer of all things vintage. Ebay has become a curse and a blessing, because where else are you going to find those old pop-up phone indexes and boxes of air mail stationery? I’ve hunted like a fiend and it appears everyone in Arkansas is either still using them or threw them away when Nixon left office. Someone has to literally die and have their secret office drawers up for inspection at estate sales around here, which is too morbid and sad even for an addict like me.
I want an two-toned Swingline stapler, but not enough to dig through the used casserole dishes of some lovely woman who’s just gone to her Great Reward. That’s just wrong.
So tomorrow I’m heading out and won’t come back until I have a clipboard, post-it notes, onionskin paper – something – in hand. A cursory look around tells me I’m a little low on snazzy designer file folders and that won’t do.
I. Must. Replenish.
No Telling 
I do it every year obsess about supplies!!
You rock love all your blogs
It's definitely that time of year. You get that sad-ish feeling in your bones and the uncontrollable urge to buy lined notebook paper and three-ring binders. And designer handbags…at least, that's my problem.
All those cool supplies you buy on ebay? Totally came from estate sales. You're just paying a middle man (or woman) to do the deed.
😉
I concur! I do miss free office supplies from my old corporate days.
*sigh*
Haha, I too obsess over school supplies. I remember when the school year would start I would hate the fact that I was going to school but it was so fun to put all of the binders together and label all of my notebooks. I know I sound like a dork but hey its whatever. By the way, I am a “newbie” and only recently started reading your blog so, congrats on your blog of note.
Am I the only one who still regrets that I didn't have the money to buy a separate pack of paper for each tab in my binder? Ah, the joys of paper addiction.
No, Isabella!! Me too! I feel absolutely RICH when I walk into a store and see stacks and stacks of notebook paper. Looseleaf. Has to be looseleaf.
September? Fall? The smell of autumn leaves? Nope. For me it's the smell of a fresh box of Crayolas. My favorite time of year!
There is nothing better than the feel of a fresh legal pad and brand new pen in hand, and totally agree with the Parker gel points.
My kids think I'm totally nutty when I go down the stationary aisle when we make a trip to Walmart and my eyes glaze over with glee and ideas and words start swimming in my head begging to be released onto that fresh paper.
Hahaha, I am a fiend for stationery… on every post I am at I HAVE to search out the Army stationery lolz
It's the same over here in England – there are some serious stationery addicts just waiting for the back to school stock to pop up during the summer holidays. Love that stapler but then I also have a thing about red.
While my middle school teacher and I were shopping the other day, and we passed by a back-to-school display, she asked me if she was a “dork” to just love those displays. Me, the I-sometimes-wish-I-could-have-been-a-librarian, of course, both concurred and celebrated with her. 🙂 M
yes office/school supplies – – –
we've come to associate the apptroach of autumn with “back-to-school”, new beginnings: exercise programs, new journals/blogs, dance lessons, i.e. self-improvement. 🙂
thanks for a good read
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.ero
Don't say it! It is again already that moment of the year. I too love looking for new notebooks, pens, pensils, and so on , which can make the beginning of a new school year less sad and more colorful! I'd like to have that stapler in the pic, mine is less nice!
Buying new office supplies often feels as good as buying a new sweatshirt that feels absolutely cozy when you wear it. Refreshing, comforting, and remarkable nice. I feel the same way you do.
I'm not alone! I love that all of you are as addicted as I am.
And Laura, while I know those vintage lovelies on Ebay come from those same sweet old women, at least those aren't my hands pawing through the leftovers of their lives. Yes, I'm rationalizing. Yes, I still feel guilty. Just not quite so much. Pitiful, huh?
Yeah, back to school is taking on a whole new meaning for me. My son starts his first day on Friday!
post-its…ha I love those. Can never have to many!
Love school supplies! I really love school supplies that are on sale! Let's hear it for five-cent spiral notebooks or ten-cent packages of loose leaf! I could stock pile every year and never have enough – then I don't want to part with them for my kids to actually use them for school. They'll just mess them all up.
I bought four packs of black crystal stick pens, two bottles of white-out, two (expensive) notebooks, two packs of the twist-up mechanical pencils, and a box of colored staples and I don't even go to school anymore. I'm hopeless. My dad sees no method to the madness either, but says nothing when I quietly pitch another pack of pens in the cart.
oh i just love the smell of office supply stores!
So what are you going to do if you don't get your red Swingline stapler? Set the building on fire? 😉
It is so terrible.
Every year, I must buy supplies that I already have some of at home.
I love the blog!
I still have a fetish for new Crayola crayons.
I have a thing for journals. Beautiful, inspirational journals just waiting for my hearts words to fill the pages.
Of course, the problem is, I have about five of them in my bedside table awaiting their turn…
I know exactly what you mean! Just the idea of September being just a month a way puts me in a good mood. It makes me think about school and buying school supplies for myself and not for my kids! Sometimes I think I should become a teacher because my favorite time of year is after summer when the kids go back to school.
I think we must suffer from the same disease. This time of year I get a craving for all things office supply! There's really no reason for it other than the next 9 months are going to be spent shoveling feet of snow so I better be prepared??? I guess I was just trying to justify my addiction. LOL I'm off to Staples! 🙂
I hope you're all at the store or on your way. It seems the school crowd has bought up just about everything.
FYI, it looks like Staples is waaay better than Home Depot, and Target is running a close second. I still have to hit the old downtown office and school supply stores, though. They have lots of forgotten goodies hidden under this and that.
For me, it is that time of the year. The first year after I graduated from high school, I would crave buying school supplies, but I wasn't going to school. When I worked as a legal secretary, I used my need for pens and pencils to go shopping, and it always seemed to be during this time of year. So, when I decided to go to college, I didn't have trouble going school shopping. I'd shop the local stores and the college book store and end up with multiple pens, pencils, notebooks, and so on. Now that I'm teaching, I there right along with the kids shopping for my school supplies. Hope you find the vintage office supplies you're looking for.
Last year Sharpie came out with a fine line pen that doesn't bleed through paper. Be still my heart. Give me a couple of those and any lined paper that has the recycled label on the front and I'm a happy girl!
I love shopping for office supplies too! Shiny this and crisp that…yay!
I must say i to share an obsession with supplies, but mine isn't the stapler, but paper. This time of year note book paper is on sale everywhere for back to school. I have this need to stock up on these notebooks I don't want to run low, for i use them for my bible studies during the year. I figure since they are on sale, I should as many as i can. i have more notebooks than i can count.
Does anyone remember that “eye-ease” green loose-leaf notebook paper? I can't find it anywhere.
Folks, there's no such thing as too much, unless you can't get out of your house and the EMTs have to carve a path to save you.
great blog so far!! this is a great post, true too.
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thanks!
Thanks, LivingLoud! Remember this: the “La Grange” solo is always, ALWAYS worth the time.
Hearing it right now…
It's good to know there are others who have a thing about office supplies.
There's just something about a fresh five-subject notebook waiting to be inked on. Even if I have nothing to say.
I know, I know. I feel like an outsider who is just blabbing on and on about school supplies but that is won't really mean anything until I own a Swingline Red Stapler (Vintage). There is nothing like school supplies shopping to give you the ultimate pick me up and no collection is complete without a Swingline. Great post!
Sleuth, are we long lost relatives?
Still working on that vintage red Swingline…