How much have you spent on BTS schopping
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| Sat, 08-29-2009 - 8:39am |
School starts for us on Tuesday and I've done a lot of work this year to try and avoid school shopping. I went through every piece of clothing in my entire house...even the ones in boxes that were put away. I made my kids stand there and try on things in different sizes that I threw at them just to see if they fit. And wonderfully I found out that my only child that needed clothes was my oldest. I also had a 20% off coupon at gymboree so I went through their clearance and bought him 2 t-shirts and some shorts, 2 long-sleeved shirts and a pair of pants for 60 dollars. Not the greatest prices I ever payed, but gymboree's clothes tend to last me through all three kids which is rare! My son needs a few more items, some jeans and a new pair of shoes and a sweatshirt, but I'm waiting on those sales to come. Plus, his birthday is in a few weeks.
Then I was all set to tackle school supplies when my mom gives me a call and says she wants to take the kids school shopping. WHOO! She bought them new backpacks and lunchboxes and all their school supplies, which cost her $115 dollars! I was so relieved that I didn't have to spend that!
I have some big spending coming up...my DH's 30th Surprise birthday party is next weekend. I'm responsible for the cake, decorations and a few other things. I'm anticipating that I'll be spending at least $50 dollars. Then my DS is having a birthday and we're going to take a few of his good friends to a lazer tag place. Then 3 weeks later I have my other 2 DS's birthdays and we're doing a big birthday for them together. DS's parents will split the cost with us, and our half will be about $200 dollars.
How have you made out with school shopping?

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I have a son who is 13 and a daughter who is almost 16.
What kills me (and our budget) are the fees and supplies. My oldest started high school this year and the fees alone were $200. That is on top of school supplies which included a mandatory graphing calculator. The price of the one suggeted by his teacher was $140! I found last year's model in the clearance aisle at Target which has the exact functions marked down to $66. The other two kids had $120 and $100 grade school fees plus about $70 a piece in supplies. The lists are ridiculous.
The irritating thing is at the end of school last year they emptied their desks and I was stunned at how much was unused or barely used. There must have been six or seven spiral notebooks between them that had maybe one or two pages written on them. My fifth grader's required flash drive had never been taken out of the plastic. I kept a box of those left over supplies and we went "shopping" in that first but still had a ton of stuff to buy which probably also won't get used.
I suck it up every year but I wonder how people who are really hurting manage especially in this economy. At back to school night they were begging for donations at my son's high school to buy those expensive calculators for people who can't afford them. Apparently once upon a time the schools supplied them. I hate the idea that a kid really interested in math can't take the high school classes that might lead to a college scholarship and/or a good paying engineering career because they can't afford the supplies.
Jenny
Connor is a high school Junior this year.
I went through what was returned last year, a big bucket of stuff my bf had left over, and compared with their current lists. One kid needs a new back pack and one kid needs new pants and few shirts. I have spent 100 on supplies so far and have $20 put away for fees. I'm sure there will be more expenses and I haven't gotten the back pack or clothing yet. I need them to come with me for that to try things on etc. It will probably be ridiculous. Urrgh, I am feeling depressed today about not being able to get ahead. Maybe I will feel better tomorrow???
We're lucky this year--I often bought a size up last year so the kids don't need clothes, just update socks (try to get DD to say yes to a training bra or lined undershirt that she needs--god I feel old <:o0 )
As for Pens/pencils we have tons left over, same with cloth book covers from the dollar store that held up perfectly. Both insulated lunch boxes are gorgeous (thanks Lands End for the quality of these for the 3rd year and still going strong)
So its just 9 bucks spent so far for DS's backpack.
*****Its the first day, when the teachers give the big list for the kids to have to bring the next day that hits the wallet...THE NEXT DAY!!! So right after you pick them up you have to speed to the mandatory scavenger hunt at Walmart to scramble for whats needed amongst other families. Like the "Black Friday" of school shopping....
Here's my CURE for the first day list!!!
I have been shopping the sales all summer and stocking up in big Supply box.
I did all the penny sales at Staples so have lots of notebooks, pencils, folders, and whatever else was a REALLY good sale.
My high schooler's fees were $50.00, plus $25 for a parking pass.
LOL!!
I forgot about the 10pm "bring in the money for the field trip tomorrow." And sign the permission slip please.
All of which was in your kid's possession for like 4 weeks before he/she remembered (or decided?) to give to you.
ODD is in high school now so I couldn't take advantage of the sales on supplies like I would normally since they didn't get their supply lists until a few days before school started. But I did go buy her some of the basics on sale like pencils, pens, and paper. In total for supplies I spent around $100, and resisted on the newer graphing calculator she wanted for $100. She can wait til next year for it, she really doesn't need it this year for geometry.
So far for clothes, I have bought her a few things, but not a lot because she hasn't stopped growing yet this summer. She's grown about 4 inches since the end of the school year. We did pick her up a few pairs of pants on clearance at Delia's and a few shirts. She still needs one more pair of shoes, but other than that, we aren't clothes shopping til late fall, when she has hopefully stopped growing for a bit.
I think our biggest expense was cheerleading, the uniforms and everything else. Not including her $800 booster club payment, we have spent at least $100 on other things for it.
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