An American Victory Going Back to School

I'm sure most of you that had to took advantage of the tax free holiday this weekend. My daughter is headed to school this fall and I am on the hook for clothes and school supplies. The school has particular requests for the supplies and even more specific guidelines for the uniforms. I set out to get as many American-made things as I could. Here are the results. I was very successful with school supplies. Crayons, pencils, markers, folders were all on my list. Let me say that I do not endorse any particular brand. However, when there is only one American-made product on the shelf, I am going to go ahead and tell you the brand. Crayola. Crayola crayons and markers are made in the good old USA. Consumers United 1, Foreign, out-sourcing devil-dogs 0. Next on my list was dry erase markers. Whammo! Expo makes dry erase markers in the United States. Then I had, white, three-ring, clear pocket front with inside pockets binder. Pretty darn specific, eh? Well, I found a brand called Simply. Now Simply does use foreign components but they were the only brand I could find that at the very least assembled their product in this country. Glue. Now this was a tricky one because some Elmer's glue is made in China. You have to look on the back of the individual bottle but I was able to find one made in America. Hoo-rah! Consumers United 3.5, Out-sourcing Devil-dogs 0. Erasers. Gotcha again, PaperMate makes erasers in the US with foreign and domestic components. Regular, old, #2 pencils. This was a tricky one. I went to Staples, Publix and then at Target I found a brand called The Write Dudes. It is a Canadian company but the wood is from a sustained yield forest in the US and the pencils are made here. I had a coupon and everything. Wham! Bam! Thank you Uncle Sam! Consumers United 5, Out-sourcing Devil-dogs 0. Now I have to concede a minor defeat in uniforms. After searching, Macy's, Dillard's, JC Penny, Sears, Target, TJ Maxx, and Ross, I landed at Bealls Outlet. The prices were all competitive, ranging between $10 and $12 for either a top or a bottom. My "made in" choices were, of course China, Pakistan, Indonesia, Vietnam, and Bangladesh. Well, Bealls Outlet was my last stop and the uniforms were not Chinese. I went with the Bangladesh-made uniforms. I hope you all will forgive me and please if anyone knows where I can find American-made school uniforms, I still have my receipt. Final score Consumers United 5.25, Out-sourcing Devil-dogs 0.5 Anyone else have similar experiences during back-to-school shopping? Ideas? Suggestions?