July 7, 2025 • 12 mins
Money matters in the substitute teaching world, especially when your paycheck doesn't match that of permanent teachers. The eternal question: Should you spend your hard-earned dollars on classroom supplies?
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Greg (00:00):
Greg Collins.
Substitute Teachers Lounge.
It's episode 296, july 8th 2025.
You know, I talk to a lot ofsubstitute teachers and I know a
lot of them have the attitudethat they don't pay me enough to
be spending my own money onother things for the classroom
(00:22):
while I'm there.
So today we're going to talkabout the cheap substitute
teacher and how to do it.
Substitute Teacher's Loud.
All right, guys, I hope you arehaving a great summer break.
(00:46):
I just I couldn't believe it.
This week I looked up theschool's calendar and students
go back to school on August 13thhere, which a little bit later
than some, a little bit earlierthan some.
Some don't go back to September, but I'm thinking, man, that's
just barely what five weeks away.
I can't believe it's going bythat fast.
(01:07):
I've enjoyed the vacations I'vetaken.
Can't talk enough about EpicUniverse.
I liked it a lot.
I encourage everyone, if you'rein the Orlando area, to check
that out.
I had never been to a Universalpark before and certainly glad
I did.
In fact, I've already thoughtof I got to go back there at
least one more time because Iwant to do this again.
(01:28):
I want to try this one that Ididn't do all that good stuff.
So today there are some thingsthat if you want to save money,
you can.
I'm going to tell you what theyare.
I'm going to tell you theramifications of them.
I'm going to tell you theramifications of them.
Everybody's different.
I will go on record now assaying I tend to error on the
(01:51):
other side.
I guess that's error when I useit that way, isn't it?
I error on the other side.
I probably spend a little bitmore than I should, but I figure
you know I can afford this muchmoney.
It's not hurting me any.
Let's say I have to go withouta couple of meals to pay for
this.
I don't really care.
But you are correct in thatsubstitute teachers are not
(02:16):
teachers.
It's difficult for them to cometo the rationalization of
buying supplies and other thingsyou might need for the
classroom when you're gettingpaid so much less.
And let's see what we can dowith this.
First of all, you have heard metalk over and over about me
buying candy for the classroom.
(02:38):
I will go ahead and say Iprobably spent $30 the last
school year for Jolly Ranchers,and that's a little misleading
in that I give some of those tomy grandkids.
I'm not taking them all toschool.
So I'm not sure when I lookback if I didn't actually give
more to my own family than gaveto school, but that's a way to
(03:03):
save some money.
I could have done some otherthings with those $30.
I could have figured out a wayto get them to focus without
bribing them with candy.
So maybe that's your first wayto be the cheap substitute
teacher.
Stop buying candy.
Look in the teacher's desk whoknows Now teachers?
You know for the most part theygive candy to kids who go out
(03:28):
of their way in class and infact most of them tell me when I
get there you're free to givethis.
You know children a sucker ifthey do a good job and all that
kind of thing.
So stop buying candy.
That's how you can be a cheapsubstitute teacher.
Let's go to pencils Now.
I've only bought pencils.
(03:48):
When I was long term I got abox of I don't know it might
have been a gross of sharpenedpencils for about $8 on Amazon.
I started out by using just theregular teacher's pencils.
I started out by using just theregular teacher's pencils and
then after a few days of that, Iasked around.
There was one teacher that whenyou got a pencil.
(04:13):
She made the student leavetheir shoe at her desk and they
had to turn back in their pencilto get their shoe.
So I tried that a couple ofdays.
Didn't really work for mebecause some of the kids were
immature enough that theythought it was cool to leave
their shoe whether they needed apencil or not.
(04:36):
But that's one way to do it.
Here's the way to really be thecheap substitute teacher.
First of all, if you havepencils on hand, you will save
some time because instead ofrummaging through the drawer
trying to find them a pencil apencil that they should know,
especially in the afternoon youknow what were they using the
rest of the day.
If they don't have a pencil,but they know to bring pencils,
(04:58):
so you shouldn't have to supplythem.
Will it make your life a littleeasier if you do supply them?
Yes, it will, because then youcan move on and not have to look
for pencils.
I'll encourage you to do thisEvery day.
I've ever substitute taught.
If I look on the floor at theend of the day especially if I
(05:21):
am, schedule-wise, able to staya little bit after the kids
leave you're going to findmultiple pencils on the floor.
Just keep you a little box,collect those old pencils and
you can use those for those thatdon't have pencils.
The rest you know later daysthat you substitute, so pencils.
(05:44):
That's another way you can be acheap substitute teacher.
I buy my own dry erase markers.
I shouldn't have to Dry erasemarkers, generally speaking, for
what they are.
It probably takes them maybewhat 10, 15 cents to put one
together, all material-wise, andthe markup is maybe to a dollar
(06:07):
a pen.
I don't know.
But those dry erase markers Ikeep them because I don't want
to look for the teachers.
But you know, should I have tobuy those, maybe I should just
send a student around to anotherteacher to get some dry erase
markers.
Why should I have to spend myown money buying dry erase
(06:28):
markers just because they'remissing or they're dry or you
can't use them?
I'm a very visual person and Ihave found that if I write
something on the board usuallyget the kids to pay attention to
what you're writing, whereas ifyou're just talking they're not
paying as much attention.
So should I have to buy dryerase markers?
(06:49):
Well, maybe not if I want to bethe cheap substitute teacher.
It will save some time, allright, one other thing I bought.
This is probably the biggestthing.
I bought Two things the nexttwo things they're both and
software type things.
So I do have a Kahootsubscription.
(07:10):
You can get free Kahoot butit's very inconvenient to
navigate around their freeKahoot and when you find one you
like you realize it's got adollar sign down on it and it
means that if you don't have apaid subscription you can't get
to that one.
The free ones aren't as good.
You have some branded stuff inKahoot, like Disney has a
(07:34):
program with them and if you'rewith the younger kids that might
be good but you probably can'tget to it.
But I do pay for a Kahootsubscription.
I get a discount because ofbeing a teacher.
Should I have to do that?
Kahoot does make some of theclasses go more smoothly.
In fact, one of the best ones Idid last year was in a third
(07:55):
grade class where we just did itas a class in total.
I told them you all pick onestudent in your class to give
all the answers, but you all candiscuss with her before she
gives the answers.
But it's her job to decide whatanswer it is.
And they pick one of thestudents they thought was one of
the smarter kids in classbecause they knew if she had
(08:17):
multiple answers she'd probablyknow the one to pick.
So I do have a Kahootsubscription, but why should I
buy that for myself?
That's something I can drop ifI am a cheap substitute teacher.
Now the other subscription is,of course, subalert.
Why should I have to buy that?
That's just more money out ofmy pocket.
(08:38):
I should be able to go straightto Frontline, use their
notification system to find thesubstitute teaching jobs that I
want, and it's much better thanit used to, and, as far as I
know, it's still free.
I haven't checked lately, sothat's the other place as a
substitute teacher.
Why should I have to buy that?
(08:59):
I want to be cheaper than that.
What about a whiteboard?
I like to have a whiteboard aportable one is what I'm talking
about now because I can carryit around to different classes.
I might write something on itthat I can use for the next
class or that I'm using inmultiple classrooms.
But why should I have to buythat?
(09:21):
Shouldn't I just be able to goto the office and get a
whiteboard from them?
Why should I have to do that?
Why should I have to log on tomy own Netflix subscription.
If there's a movie that needsto be shown but I can't log into
the teacher's computer to getto her Netflix, why should I
have to buy all that?
(09:42):
So all those are ideas abouthow to be the cheap substitute
teacher.
Let me finish with this.
I won't call this episodetongue-in-cheek, but I did bring
those all to light to let youknow I do all of those.
I don't want to be a cheapsubstitute teacher.
(10:06):
I want to have as many tools bymy side that helps the class
flow more smoothly, make yourlife easier.
I mean, we'll go to aconvenience store and spend
twice as much on a bag of chipsor a carton of milk because it's
convenient.
I pay for convenience.
(10:27):
When I went to Epic Universe,it took me a while to decide to
do it, but when the pricedropped $100, I said, all right,
I'm buying the Express Passbecause I like the convenience
of walking past the line andwalking pretty close to the
front, the most significant onewe did.
(10:47):
The wait time was two and ahalf hours and it took us 15
minutes.
So I pay for convenience.
There are ways, just like Imentioned, that you can be a
cheap substitute teacher.
I'm not even saying it's wrong.
It's probably correct.
Why should you have to spendall that to teach when you get
(11:07):
paid a lot less than regularteachers?
In my opinion, I don't become acheap substitute teacher
because I want my substituteteaching life to be easier, but
it's up to you to decide foryourself, and it will only cost
you maybe half of a day'ssubstitute teacher pay to get
(11:30):
all of that done.
Greg Collins.
Substitute Teachers Lounge.
It's episode 296, july 8th 2025.
You know, I talk to a lot ofsubstitute teachers and I know a
lot of them have the attitudethat they don't pay me enough to
be spending my own money onother things for the classroom
(00:22):
while I'm there.
So today we're going to talkabout the cheap substitute
teacher and how to do it.
Substitute Teacher's Loud.
All right, guys, I hope you arehaving a great summer break.
(00:46):
I just I couldn't believe it.
This week I looked up theschool's calendar and students
go back to school on August 13thhere, which a little bit later
than some, a little bit earlierthan some.
Some don't go back to September, but I'm thinking, man, that's
just barely what five weeks away.
I can't believe it's going bythat fast.
(01:07):
I've enjoyed the vacations I'vetaken.
Can't talk enough about EpicUniverse.
I liked it a lot.
I encourage everyone, if you'rein the Orlando area, to check
that out.
I had never been to a Universalpark before and certainly glad
I did.
In fact, I've already thoughtof I got to go back there at
least one more time because Iwant to do this again.
(01:28):
I want to try this one that Ididn't do all that good stuff.
So today there are some thingsthat if you want to save money,
you can.
I'm going to tell you what theyare.
I'm going to tell you theramifications of them.
I'm going to tell you theramifications of them.
Everybody's different.
I will go on record now assaying I tend to error on the
(01:51):
other side.
I guess that's error when I useit that way, isn't it?
I error on the other side.
I probably spend a little bitmore than I should, but I figure
you know I can afford this muchmoney.
It's not hurting me any.
Let's say I have to go withouta couple of meals to pay for
this.
I don't really care.
But you are correct in thatsubstitute teachers are not
(02:16):
teachers.
It's difficult for them to cometo the rationalization of
buying supplies and other thingsyou might need for the
classroom when you're gettingpaid so much less.
And let's see what we can dowith this.
First of all, you have heard metalk over and over about me
buying candy for the classroom.
(02:38):
I will go ahead and say Iprobably spent $30 the last
school year for Jolly Ranchers,and that's a little misleading
in that I give some of those tomy grandkids.
I'm not taking them all toschool.
So I'm not sure when I lookback if I didn't actually give
more to my own family than gaveto school, but that's a way to
(03:03):
save some money.
I could have done some otherthings with those $30.
I could have figured out a wayto get them to focus without
bribing them with candy.
So maybe that's your first wayto be the cheap substitute
teacher.
Stop buying candy.
Look in the teacher's desk whoknows Now teachers?
You know for the most part theygive candy to kids who go out
(03:28):
of their way in class and infact most of them tell me when I
get there you're free to givethis.
You know children a sucker ifthey do a good job and all that
kind of thing.
So stop buying candy.
That's how you can be a cheapsubstitute teacher.
Let's go to pencils Now.
I've only bought pencils.
(03:48):
When I was long term I got abox of I don't know it might
have been a gross of sharpenedpencils for about $8 on Amazon.
I started out by using just theregular teacher's pencils.
I started out by using just theregular teacher's pencils and
then after a few days of that, Iasked around.
There was one teacher that whenyou got a pencil.
(04:13):
She made the student leavetheir shoe at her desk and they
had to turn back in their pencilto get their shoe.
So I tried that a couple ofdays.
Didn't really work for mebecause some of the kids were
immature enough that theythought it was cool to leave
their shoe whether they needed apencil or not.
(04:36):
But that's one way to do it.
Here's the way to really be thecheap substitute teacher.
First of all, if you havepencils on hand, you will save
some time because instead ofrummaging through the drawer
trying to find them a pencil apencil that they should know,
especially in the afternoon youknow what were they using the
rest of the day.
If they don't have a pencil,but they know to bring pencils,
(04:58):
so you shouldn't have to supplythem.
Will it make your life a littleeasier if you do supply them?
Yes, it will, because then youcan move on and not have to look
for pencils.
I'll encourage you to do thisEvery day.
I've ever substitute taught.
If I look on the floor at theend of the day especially if I
(05:21):
am, schedule-wise, able to staya little bit after the kids
leave you're going to findmultiple pencils on the floor.
Just keep you a little box,collect those old pencils and
you can use those for those thatdon't have pencils.
The rest you know later daysthat you substitute, so pencils.
(05:44):
That's another way you can be acheap substitute teacher.
I buy my own dry erase markers.
I shouldn't have to Dry erasemarkers, generally speaking, for
what they are.
It probably takes them maybewhat 10, 15 cents to put one
together, all material-wise, andthe markup is maybe to a dollar
(06:07):
a pen.
I don't know.
But those dry erase markers Ikeep them because I don't want
to look for the teachers.
But you know, should I have tobuy those, maybe I should just
send a student around to anotherteacher to get some dry erase
markers.
Why should I have to spend myown money buying dry erase
(06:28):
markers just because they'remissing or they're dry or you
can't use them?
I'm a very visual person and Ihave found that if I write
something on the board usuallyget the kids to pay attention to
what you're writing, whereas ifyou're just talking they're not
paying as much attention.
So should I have to buy dryerase markers?
(06:49):
Well, maybe not if I want to bethe cheap substitute teacher.
It will save some time, allright, one other thing I bought.
This is probably the biggestthing.
I bought Two things the nexttwo things they're both and
software type things.
So I do have a Kahootsubscription.
(07:10):
You can get free Kahoot butit's very inconvenient to
navigate around their freeKahoot and when you find one you
like you realize it's got adollar sign down on it and it
means that if you don't have apaid subscription you can't get
to that one.
The free ones aren't as good.
You have some branded stuff inKahoot, like Disney has a
(07:34):
program with them and if you'rewith the younger kids that might
be good but you probably can'tget to it.
But I do pay for a Kahootsubscription.
I get a discount because ofbeing a teacher.
Should I have to do that?
Kahoot does make some of theclasses go more smoothly.
In fact, one of the best ones Idid last year was in a third
(07:55):
grade class where we just did itas a class in total.
I told them you all pick onestudent in your class to give
all the answers, but you all candiscuss with her before she
gives the answers.
But it's her job to decide whatanswer it is.
And they pick one of thestudents they thought was one of
the smarter kids in classbecause they knew if she had
(08:17):
multiple answers she'd probablyknow the one to pick.
So I do have a Kahootsubscription, but why should I
buy that for myself?
That's something I can drop ifI am a cheap substitute teacher.
Now the other subscription is,of course, subalert.
Why should I have to buy that?
That's just more money out ofmy pocket.
(08:38):
I should be able to go straightto Frontline, use their
notification system to find thesubstitute teaching jobs that I
want, and it's much better thanit used to, and, as far as I
know, it's still free.
I haven't checked lately, sothat's the other place as a
substitute teacher.
Why should I have to buy that?
(08:59):
I want to be cheaper than that.
What about a whiteboard?
I like to have a whiteboard aportable one is what I'm talking
about now because I can carryit around to different classes.
I might write something on itthat I can use for the next
class or that I'm using inmultiple classrooms.
But why should I have to buythat?
(09:21):
Shouldn't I just be able to goto the office and get a
whiteboard from them?
Why should I have to do that?
Why should I have to log on tomy own Netflix subscription.
If there's a movie that needsto be shown but I can't log into
the teacher's computer to getto her Netflix, why should I
have to buy all that?
(09:42):
So all those are ideas abouthow to be the cheap substitute
teacher.
Let me finish with this.
I won't call this episodetongue-in-cheek, but I did bring
those all to light to let youknow I do all of those.
I don't want to be a cheapsubstitute teacher.
(10:06):
I want to have as many tools bymy side that helps the class
flow more smoothly, make yourlife easier.
I mean, we'll go to aconvenience store and spend
twice as much on a bag of chipsor a carton of milk because it's
convenient.
I pay for convenience.
(10:27):
When I went to Epic Universe,it took me a while to decide to
do it, but when the pricedropped $100, I said, all right,
I'm buying the Express Passbecause I like the convenience
of walking past the line andwalking pretty close to the
front, the most significant onewe did.
(10:47):
The wait time was two and ahalf hours and it took us 15
minutes.
So I pay for convenience.
There are ways, just like Imentioned, that you can be a
cheap substitute teacher.
I'm not even saying it's wrong.
It's probably correct.
Why should you have to spendall that to teach when you get
(11:07):
paid a lot less than regularteachers?
In my opinion, I don't become acheap substitute teacher
because I want my substituteteaching life to be easier, but
it's up to you to decide foryourself, and it will only cost
you maybe half of a day'ssubstitute teacher pay to get
(11:30):
all of that done.
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