If you’re like most teachers, you only get paid once a month. And given it’s a teacher’s salary, we know that you probably don’t have much leftover at the end of the month. That’s why we want to give you these 6 easy tips to help you save money on TPT!
First of all, if you don’t know what Teachers Pay Teachers are, it is the MOST popular online marketplace for teacher-created resources. Millions – yes, millions – of resources for teaching students in the classroom and at home!
Let’s get started with these 6 easy tips for saving money on Teachers Pay Teachers!
Tip #1 Click the Star
Clicking the star to follow your favorite sellers (like Simply STEAM) is super important because many sellers offer discounts on new resources. By clicking the star, Teachers Pay Teachers will send you emails to notify you when your favorite seller has added a new resource.
Some sellers offer flash freebies. This means that the resource is free for a limited amount of time. Some sellers may also offer discounts on new resources for the first 24 hours.
If you follow Simply STEAM, you’ll be notified when I post my new resources, which are always 50% off for the first 24 hours. It’s a nice perk I like to give to my followers, but not all sellers offer this (that’s okay). We all run our businesses differently.
What are you waiting on? Go click that star!
Tip #2 Check Your Inbox
This tip is important because many teacher-authors send out monthly newsletters to give you discounts on resources or inform you about sales.
To check your inbox, you must first click the star to follow your favorite teacher-authors. Then, hover over your name (top right) until the drop-down menu pops down. You should see a hyperlink that says “Inbox.” Click that to check your inbox.
Don’t forget to check your inbox every Sunday morning. Teachers Pay Teachers sends out weekly emails and 10 FREE resources each week. Isn’t that amazing? They may also send blogs and discounted bundles in the email too.
Make sure you sign up for their weekly newsletters HERE!
Tip #3 Review Your Paid Purchases
You can earn TpT Credits by leaving ratings and reviews on your purchases.
For every $1 you spend on TpT, you can earn 1 credit. Every 20 credits earned equals $1 you can apply to future TpT purchases. We’ll round up from 50¢ for you! If you provide a review on a resource priced at $4.75, you’ll earn 5 credits.
TpT credits are only earned for reviews left on active, paid resources. Credits are not earned on gift card purchases, inactive resources, or free downloads.
Teacher-authors appreciate honest reviews because it helps us refine our work, and we love that it helps teachers save even more money!
Tip #4 Apply for Teachers Pay Teachers ClassFund
We are so excited about this new ClassFund feature on Teachers Pay Teachers because we believe that teachers work hard for their money. That’s why we think that money shouldn’t be an issue when it comes to getting the resources you need for your classroom.
Teachers Pay Teachers ClassFund is a crowdfunding platform that helps you raise funds for the resources you need. We love that it’s super easy to set up because TpT offers suggestions and guidance when you’re filling out the information. It’s a synch and takes little time to create a campaign!
We suggest keeping your campaign under $200 so that you get more donors. Smaller goals are more obtainable and donors are generally more apt to give to a goal that’s close to being funded.
Tip #5 Use TpT School Access to Save Money on TPT
Teachers Pay Teachers School Access is an incredible subscription for any school! This alleviates teachers from paying out of pocket for resources in their classrooms.
If you’ve never heard of Teachers Pay Teachers School Access – it’s amazing! You will save money on TPT with this because you won’t spend any of your own.
This is subscription-based content, so some sellers have chosen to opt out. All resources that are $15 and below are accessible to all educators.
Ask your administrator about signing up for Teachers Pay Teachers School Access today. Oh, and here’s another tip… administrators love standards-aligned resources. It’s like their love language. Be sure to mention that TpT has translated standards to resources to the standards appropriate to your state.
Tip #6 Start a Donors Choose to Save Money on TPT
Donors Choose an incredible crowdfunding website. Educators can set up campaigns to raise funds for hard goods and now TPT gift cards! So, if you’re looking to get that Photo Organizer Container + Math Games, now you can do it with the help of others!
If you have no clue what I’m talking about, then you’ve got to read this blog of 7 Best Practices for Teaching Mathematics in Elementary.
Another great idea for a campaign is to ask for $10 gift cards for each student. This will help parents find individualized resources for their child for home learning.
One more thing, remember Tip #4 when we said to set small goals? The same rule applies to Donors Choose. Keep the campaigns small so that you can easily meet your goal.
What is your favorite way to save money on Teachers Pay Teachers? Let us know in the comments below.
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