Life Hacks for Teachers

Have you ever watched the TV Hack My Life? It’s great show that tests these hacks they advertise on the Internet. Some of the ideas they try seem like great ideas, others, not so much. So, I thought, as teachers, we could certainly use some hacks to make our life easier. There are some dollar store life hacks I would love to share with you.

Which Dollar Store Do You Use?

There are a ton of dollar stores out there. Dollar Tree, Family Dollar, General Dollar, Target’s Dollar Spot are four that I can think of off the top of  my head. My favorite is the Dollar Tree. I like the merchandise they have in their stores. I have been shopping there for many years now. I know what works and what doesn’t.

The Dollar Store has a great teacher resource section. There are name plates, alphabet strips for the bulletin board, posters, certificates, and stickers. There is much more, just not enough room here to list. The bins, toys, and snacks are great. It certainly saves a lot of money for something of quality for a buck! Most of the stores are set up in the same way, so as I travel, I can go into a Dollar Tree store and know where to find things.

What can I do with Dollar Store Treasures?

I was just searching a link from another site that mentioned using dollar store finds to decorate their house. I click on it and it opened up a whole new world for me. (It doesn’t take much!) Dollar store life hacks are made from the products from the dollar store transformed into a completely different object that what the products were made for. The first project I saw was a display tray using:

Trends and Ideas

Hot glue the tray on the top of the candle holder. Some versions have two tiers, or three. Spray paint the tray a metallic paint. And you have a great display tray.

Isn’t that great!

Dollar Store Life Hacks for the Classroom

How can the dollar store help us in our classrooms? I know there could be thousands of ideas out there. So hopefully we can all add to this post with more ideas. Please, share as much as you want. Dollar store life hacks are win/wins. Great ideas with out going through the roof with costs. I don’t always come up with the ideas, but I can take the ideas as it is and change it up to make it suit me.

1. Popsicle Molds hacked into crayon or pencil holders- 

 

2. Vase transformed into a pencil holder- great gift for Teachers’ Appreciation-

or for gifts for parent helpers.

3. Dinosaur Phone Stand- great idea for Fathers’ Day- 

Eat Sleep Make

4. Transforming composition or notebooks into personalized notebooks for the children’s writing and reading notebooks-

 

 

The first picture is just using scraps from any decorative paper- Bursts of Creativity

The second one is gluing glitter onto the cover. How about using washi tape or the decorative duct tape? Possibilities are endless!Madigan Made

5. Cups with Animal Handles- How adorable-  It may be cool to paint the cup with chalkboard paint.

Dollar store life hacks can make our lives easier. Who doesn’t want that? There are going to be more posts like this on my blog. Keep posted!!!!