CEBU CITY, Philippines — The rising cost of school supplies has some parents adjusting their buying habits.
Instead of buying a dozen notebooks at once for her daughter, who is in high school, Marrisa Cagnaan, 48, chose to simply buy enough for the classes that already had their own set of school requirements for the first quarter.
She is used to buying wholesale, but to free up money for other expenses at the time, she’s now prioritizing which has to be bought first–especially since prices of notebooks have now gone up to P18 to P20 per piece from only P15 before, she said.
According to the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) prices of notebooks this year range from P17.50 to P36.75, while the prices of intermediate pad paper range from P22.50 to P30.
Cagnaan, of Southern Leyte, is in Cebu to help her son, an incoming college student, settle in Cebu City and do some last-minute school supply shopping.
Aside from basic school supplies, she also had to purchase certain items for his son’s boarding house.
With a limited budget, she said she could get better deals in thrift stores or marketplace than in department stores.
With her P500, she said, she was able to buy an umbrella for P155, a white shirt for P140, a binder for P200. This was after she decided to canvass retail stores in downtown Cebu City.
“Mangita og mas barato-barato. Di mupalit dayon og mahal. Kanang naay mag sale, basta barato bisag asa,” she said.
She then mentioned that she is planning to buy the other requirements once she receives the educational assistance from the Department of Social Welfare and Development.
READ: DSWD-7 starts educational aid distribution to indigent students
Limited face-to-face classes will begin on Monday, August 22, 2022, at all levels of schools in the country.
She noted that while face-to-face classes are the ideal setup for students, it also means an adjustment in her children’s daily routine since the pandemic, and most importantly, adjustments in their family’s daily expenses.
“Okay ra sa mga bata kay maka face-to-face naman unya ang gasto laman maoy problema,” she said.
“Maajo ang face-to-face kay lahi man ang klase jud sa skwelahan kaysa ari ra sa bay. Kung mag face-to-face makalakaw sila, di ra mag pirme sa balay. Pero depende pod lagi sa bata kay naa may uban laagan. Kuan laman kay gasto kay mamasahe back and forth, bawn,” she added. /rcg
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