Back to School shopping | 8.7.17 pad patter

[keepscrappin]

It's back to school time and my girls are begging me to take them shopping. They want new clothes, backpacks and all the cool supplies. I've tried different things over the years, but think that taking them clothes shopping individually is the easiest for me. It does take more time, but it helps me not get so overwhelmed by being pulled in opposite directions to see what each of them wants to try on. Also, my teenager shops at a lot more stores than my tween and neither of them like waiting around for the other one in a store that doesn't have clothes for them. I'm even toying with the idea of just giving my teen some money with strict instructions on what she can buy so it's school appropriate and letting her do her own back to school shopping.

They have plenty of shorts to get through until the cooler days of Fall, so we'll 2-3 pairs of jeans, 3-4 shirts, a couple pairs of shoes and a new backpack to start the year.

We'll probably go supply shopping together because I really only want to do that one time. I do love picking out supplies, but I don't like the crowds and not being able to find the things that they need. It seems like the stores are stocking less and less school supplies each year. Probably because of people like me who like to wait for the clearance sales to really stock up on supplies when they go dirt cheap. I used to go buy cases of notebooks and glue sticks when they hit 90% off. I think Target has caught on, because the last few years they haven't had as much left over to make the clearance sales that good.

How about you? Do you like back to school shopping or are you dreading it? Do you have a game plan or do you wing it? Inquiring minds wanna know... hehe

 

[amien1]

Well my kiddos are much younger than yours- so I still get a say in most of my 9 yr old daughter's stuff & 100% of my 6 yr old son's stuff (he seriously has NO opinions on clothes or supplies! ) However, this year I did the supply shopping without them! It was awesome! I went early in the day & while they were at camp! I too stock up when things go super on sale, but agree that last year there wasn't much left over!

As far as clothes- we have given each of them a budget & they just need to get the basics- pants, shirts, underwear, & socks. We'll buy their new athletic shoes, but if my daughter wants any others- that comes out of her money. We're going to go clothes shopping soon- probably next week sometime. Our school doesn't start until Sept 6th so we still have some time!

Also- I buy the nice, expensive backpacks from pottery barn for the reason that they last so well! My daughter is on her 3rd year with the same backpack! That ends up saving $ in the long run!

 

[bbymks5]

Right now, if you go into OfficeMax/OfficeDepot you can get ONE cent glue stick, erasers, composition books and I think one other thing when you spend $5.00 pre tax...they do have a limit of how many you can grab for a penny but that's a great option, and you will not find those items for less than a penny even on clearance.

My only issue this year with school supply shopping was not knowing her teachers this year wouldn't be asking for specific items...in the past when I would buy all of the supplies on the "suggest" list, I would be buying things they didn't need, not enough of something, too much of something else and things weren't on the list that I would have to run out and get the the day before school started b/c of when Meet the Teacher night is. I could have picked up more supplies when they had better sales because all they wanted was the suggested items.

I like shopping at places that let me buy online and then pick up in the store...saves a lot of sanity of trying to find things, remembering to get things having to deal with the crowds.

We're cheap when it comes to clothes...we do a lot of shopping at Goodwill, Other Mothers, Kid to Kid, and Once Upon a Child for brick and mortar stores, and then for "garage" sale type shopping, the VarageSale app and local FB swap pages. With my girls being 10 and 5, they grow so quickly that it kills me to pay full price, even some of the sale prices aren't that great.

 

[Sunberry2]

I only have one school age kiddo so far (son is 10). I was dreading the back to school shopping this year but it didn't turn out to be so bad. I also went and bought his class supplies while he was in camp. After cleaning up his dresser drawers, we found that a lot of his clothes still fit. It means he'll probably got a growth spurt again and we'll need to check pant lengths when it starts getting colder.

Also- I buy the nice, expensive backpacks from pottery barn for the reason that they last so well! My daughter is on her 3rd year with the same backpack! That ends up saving $ in the long run!

I did this 2 years ago - bought a more expensive backpack from LL Bean and it's still in great condition! Plus I think it helps that he no longer drags the backpack on ground!

 

[jenn mccabe]

mine are teens and very picky about clothes/shoes. i prefer going with them alone. my oldest can drive himself now - so we'll see if he just does his thing on his own this year - i probably do have to take him or it may never get it done though - he's a procrastinator.

even though they tend to shop in the same stores AE, hollister, etc - one always takes a lot longer than the other and becomes inpatient (like you mentioned Kayla) so it is easier for me to shop with them individually too. sometimes the girl and friends get dropped off at the mall and will do some shopping together and then i don't even have to be involved.

school supplies for HS - i'm hoping we don't need much more than a binder, pens, pencils and some paper/spiral notebooks.

 

[BevG]

Since the kids have stopped growing, the clothes shopping has slowed down. We also tend to shop for clothes year around.

DD did convince me she needed a new backpack this year, although she already owns like 4. Most are not big enough to hold many binders and books. We did buy some school supplies. But the biggest thing we bought was school supplies for our Operation Christmas Child boxes that we and the church do. Can't pass up a deal of crayons of 25 cents for each box. My hubby also likes to use the composition notebooks for landlord stuff - taking notes of what he needs to do, to buy, etc.

 

[Karen]

I may not even have to go back to school shopping this year. What!? My MIL called this weekend and said she wanted to take the boys shopping for school supplies. She came and got them this morning and grabbed the list and then bought them everything they needed! That was so nice! Then she said that she would get them some clothes too becuase they didn't need much for school supplies. My oldest picked out one pair of pants and my youngest said he didn't need anymore clothes (he's probably right). So. just like that, I think we are done!

 

[jesskab]

My mom bought each of the boys 7 new short sets when she was at Walmart shopping for her herself. I went to Walmart at 7am 2 weeks ago & got all the school supplies & underwear. MIL bought them each 1 pair of shoes last night. I ordered the little guy a new backpack/lunch box/thermos from Pottery Barn because they last & are monogrammed. 9yr old is using his from last year. I gave the lunch box a good scrub with a baking soda paste, looks wonderful! My mom wants me to order shoes/pants/hoodies online. I'll probably get more socks from Amazon. Then it's all done!

 

[MrsGaramer]

We wear uniforms and buy supplies through a company that just sends them in one box so we are done!! I don't miss having to buy clothes for each of them, I love uniforms.

 

[navaja77]

I almost always do the school supplies shopping on my own. I'll start at least 3 weeks in advance and get most of the stuff done. With my son, I kinda knew what he might need without finding out his teachers yet. Then I finish up after we got his schedule. As for clothes, both are still ok with me picking out their clothes. My mom took care of buying shoes for my son this year. They have lots of clothes so I just bought them a couple of new shirts and that's it.

 

[keepscrappin]

Well my kiddos are much younger than yours- so I still get a say in most of my 9 yr old daughter's stuff & 100% of my 6 yr old son's stuff (he seriously has NO opinions on clothes or supplies! ) However, this year I did the supply shopping without them! It was awesome! I went early in the day & while they were at camp! I too stock up when things go super on sale, but agree that last year there wasn't much left over!

As far as clothes- we have given each of them a budget & they just need to get the basics- pants, shirts, underwear, & socks. We'll buy their new athletic shoes, but if my daughter wants any others- that comes out of her money. We're going to go clothes shopping soon- probably next week sometime. Our school doesn't start until Sept 6th so we still have some time!

Also- I buy the nice, expensive backpacks from pottery barn for the reason that they last so well! My daughter is on her 3rd year with the same backpack! That ends up saving $ in the long run!

I agree on buying better backpacks. I usually make the kids use their backpacks for at least two years, but Megan (11) let hers rub on her bike tire as she rode to school last year. I made her use it the rest of the year, but it's pretty ratty now and has a big hole in the bottom, so she gets a new one. I haven't decided if I'll buy Aspen (17) a new one or not. She's a senior so this is her last year of high school.

Right now, if you go into OfficeMax/OfficeDepot you can get ONE cent glue stick, erasers, composition books and I think one other thing when you spend $5.00 pre tax...they do have a limit of how many you can grab for a penny but that's a great option, and you will not find those items for less than a penny even on clearance.

My only issue this year with school supply shopping was not knowing her teachers this year wouldn't be asking for specific items...in the past when I would buy all of the supplies on the "suggest" list, I would be buying things they didn't need, not enough of something, too much of something else and things weren't on the list that I would have to run out and get the the day before school started b/c of when Meet the Teacher night is. I could have picked up more supplies when they had better sales because all they wanted was the suggested items.

I like shopping at places that let me buy online and then pick up in the store...saves a lot of sanity of trying to find things, remembering to get things having to deal with the crowds.

We're cheap when it comes to clothes...we do a lot of shopping at Goodwill, Other Mothers, Kid to Kid, and Once Upon a Child for brick and mortar stores, and then for "garage" sale type shopping, the VarageSale app and local FB swap pages. With my girls being 10 and 5, they grow so quickly that it kills me to pay full price, even some of the sale prices aren't that great.

I really should just go buy the supplies myself, but then they would complain because I didn't get their favorite color or the certain type of pen etc. We just got a supply list for the 6th grader, which I think is a joke because we are supposed to have free public school for elementary in Utah. But the supplies they supply are so cheap and junky that we always end up buying stuff, so I might as well take advantage of some of the sales. I was going to go over to Office Max/Depot this week. I wish the high school would get schedules and supply lists out sooner. I'm sure I'll have to make several trips to pick up things the first week of school for Aspen.

I only have one school age kiddo so far (son is 10). I was dreading the back to school shopping this year but it didn't turn out to be so bad. I also went and bought his class supplies while he was in camp. After cleaning up his dresser drawers, we found that a lot of his clothes still fit. It means he'll probably got a growth spurt again and we'll need to check pant lengths when it starts getting colder.

I did this 2 years ago - bought a more expensive backpack from LL Bean and it's still in great condition! Plus I think it helps that he no longer drags the backpack on ground!

I so miss shopping with my son. He was so easy. He doesn't like shopping so he'd just grab 3 or 4 pairs of jeans all the same style just different washes, a few tshirts, some sneakers and he was set. He didn't care about what color his supplies were and used his backpack until it couldn't be used anymore.

mine are teens and very picky about clothes/shoes. i prefer going with them alone. my oldest can drive himself now - so we'll see if he just does his thing on his own this year - i probably do have to take him or it may never get it done though - he's a procrastinator.

even though they tend to shop in the same stores AE, hollister, etc - one always takes a lot longer than the other and becomes inpatient (like you mentioned Kayla) so it is easier for me to shop with them individually too. sometimes the girl and friends get dropped off at the mall and will do some shopping together and then i don't even have to be involved.

school supplies for HS - i'm hoping we don't need much more than a binder, pens, pencils and some paper/spiral notebooks.

Sounds like your son is like my son... doesn't like to shop at all... hehe My Aspen on the other hand, is a senior this year and loves shopping. She went shopping with her friends over the weekend and came home with another pair of shorts. She wanted me to pay for them as part of her school clothes, but I told her no way. She has plenty of shorts already and the budget I'm giving her is for long pants and shirts with sleeves. She doesn't need anymore summer clothes.

I'm also with ya on the high school supplies. I hope it's simple this year. I've already spent $100 just to register her for school and I haven't even paid for all of the concurrent enrollment classes, textbooks, and student government fees.... yikes!

 

[jenn mccabe]

Sounds like your son is like my son... doesn't like to shop at all... hehe My Aspen on the other hand, is a senior this year and loves shopping. She went shopping with her friends over the weekend and came home with another pair of shorts. She wanted me to pay for them as part of her school clothes, but I told her no way. She has plenty of shorts already and the budget I'm giving her is for long pants and shirts with sleeves. She doesn't need anymore summer clothes.

I'm also with ya on the high school supplies. I hope it's simple this year. I've already spent $100 just to register her for school and I haven't even paid for all of the concurrent enrollment classes, textbooks, and student government fees.... yikes!

Yikes is right! Holy heck!

And my girl tries that too. She's got a ton of shorts but still tries to sneak them in. I'm like NO, enough already (most of them time they are not even on sale or clearance - AE stuff is expensive!!) ... she always seems to want to buy the opposite of what she needs (well at least she tries) every time. It drives me crazy!!!

 

[keepscrappin]

Since the kids have stopped growing, the clothes shopping has slowed down. We also tend to shop for clothes year around.

DD did convince me she needed a new backpack this year, although she already owns like 4. Most are not big enough to hold many binders and books. We did buy some school supplies. But the biggest thing we bought was school supplies for our Operation Christmas Child boxes that we and the church do. Can't pass up a deal of crayons of 25 cents for each box. My hubby also likes to use the composition notebooks for landlord stuff - taking notes of what he needs to do, to buy, etc.

I too use the school supply sales for charity work. I put pattern paper and flowers on notebooks to make cute books for the Primary Children's Hospital festival of trees fundraiser. I'm running low on my blank notebook supply, so I hope the clearance sales are really good this year.

I may not even have to go back to school shopping this year. What!? My MIL called this weekend and said she wanted to take the boys shopping for school supplies. She came and got them this morning and grabbed the list and then bought them everything they needed! That was so nice! Then she said that she would get them some clothes too becuase they didn't need much for school supplies. My oldest picked out one pair of pants and my youngest said he didn't need anymore clothes (he's probably right). So. just like that, I think we are done!

you are one lucky lady! My MIL used to take my two older kids back to school shopping. She was never able to take little Megan shopping. Her cancer came back when Megan started kindergarten and she passed away the week before first grade. We sure do miss her.

My mom bought each of the boys 7 new short sets when she was at Walmart shopping for her herself. I went to Walmart at 7am 2 weeks ago & got all the school supplies & underwear. MIL bought them each 1 pair of shoes last night. I ordered the little guy a new backpack/lunch box/thermos from Pottery Barn because they last & are monogrammed. 9yr old is using his from last year. I gave the lunch box a good scrub with a baking soda paste, looks wonderful! My mom wants me to order shoes/pants/hoodies online. I'll probably get more socks from Amazon. Then it's all done!

Sounds like you've got a wonderful mom. Makes me miss my Mom and MIL. They both were taken away from us when the kids were little. I hope that I'm still around and going strong for my grandkids.

We wear uniforms and buy supplies through a company that just sends them in one box so we are done!! I don't miss having to buy clothes for each of them, I love uniforms.

I so miss the days of uniforms. I loved it when my two older kids went to the charter school and had to wear uniforms. It made school shopping so easy. You just have to try on a couple to get the right size and then get the colors for your school. I'm guessing having to wear uniforms is why Aspen is so crazy about clothes now. She thinks she needs 30 new outfits for school. She doesn't want to wear the same thing twice in one month. I told her that she was dreaming cuz that was NEVER gonna happen.... even if we won the lottery... hehe!

I almost always do the school supplies shopping on my own. I'll start at least 3 weeks in advance and get most of the stuff done. With my son, I kinda knew what he might need without finding out his teachers yet. Then I finish up after we got his schedule. As for clothes, both are still ok with me picking out their clothes. My mom took care of buying shoes for my son this year. They have lots of clothes so I just bought them a couple of new shirts and that's it.

I hope we don't have to make too many trips back to the store for supplies after school starts, but it's pretty much a given with high school classes. I wish they would post their supply needs online so we could take advantage of the b2s sales.

 

[keepscrappin]

Yikes is right! Holy heck!

And my girl tries that too. She's got a ton of shorts but still tries to sneak them in. I'm like NO, enough already (most of them time they are not even on sale or clearance - AE stuff is expensive!!) ... she always seems to want to buy the opposite of what she needs (well at least she tries) every time. It drives me crazy!!!

Yep - they were shorts from AE... hehe! If I'm buying them, Aspen doesn't even look at the price. If she's buying them, she'll look, but still buys them at regular price if she just can't wait. I tell her everything goes on sale sooner or later and to just wait. I don't know how many times she's taken stuff back because we won't give her the money to pay for it because she didn't need it and she didn't want to spend her money on it. She's still learning and hopefully it'll sink in, but in the meantime it drives me crazy.

 

[AnneofAlamo]

homeschool clueless momma here.
I did our bills, had extra money, looked at boys feet (toes poppin out of shoes that they use for brakes on their bikes)
"Hon, wanna come with me to get boys shoes?"
turned into a family outing of hilarity.
Boys are so fun with shoes.
They go, oh I like those, try on, they fit, Dad sees prices, and says, "YOU are the best son in the world! $24.95 I love you"
We walked out with 3 pair of sneakers and 2 pair of church (dress shoes) for under $110! Clerk says good deal with no tax weekend? I was like what? bhahhah
Total time 18 minutes!

 

[keepscrappin]

homeschool clueless momma here.
I did our bills, had extra money, looked at boys feet (toes poppin out of shoes that they use for brakes on their bikes)
"Hon, wanna come with me to get boys shoes?"
turned into a family outing of hilarity.
Boys are so fun with shoes.
They go, oh I like those, try on, they fit, Dad sees prices, and says, "YOU are the best son in the world! $24.95 I love you"
We walked out with 3 pair of sneakers and 2 pair of church (dress shoes) for under $110! Clerk says good deal with no tax weekend? I was like what? bhahhah
Total time 18 minutes!

This makes me wish I home schooled and had all boys! Although I don't think I ever got a pair of shoes for my son that cheap. He always wore them out so fast and needed the expensive ones with lots of support for his soccer and track.

 

[IntenseMagic]

We haven't shopped for supplies yet, that will probably come next week when the mad rush has slowed down. Schools where we live start back this week but since I teach in another county, we still have a couple of weeks. As far as clothes and such, DS doesn't really care if he has anything new or not and we usually pick up things here and there all the time. I do need to get some of the essentials like underwear and socks, but other than that he's pretty well set to start. He doesn't like jeans at all, he prefers joggers and shorts. He actually wore shorts most all of last winter. Old Navy is my best friend. I keep an eye out for their sales and stock up on stuff for him! I'm enjoying these days until the teen/gotta have the trendy stuff time sets in. My DD was a nightmare to shop with...we ended up in arguments every.single.time.

 

[bbymks5]

It drives me absolutely BANANAS that we aren't given an accurate list of supplies to buy more than a day before school starts. For most teachers, this isn't their first rodeo, so they should have a pretty good idea what they require their students to have...

 

[tkradtke]

My daughter doesn't want anything :-/ She wears a uniform to school and turned down my offer for a fresh polo or two and new shoes. She says everything is fine. I thought she would want some new stuff to look good on the first day of school... but I'm finding out that older uniforms at the beginning of school is what differentiates them from the freshmen! lol! We will buy some new cool weather items though in a month or so.

So, shopping for back to school stuff for her today consisted of being some cool stickers for her binder and some fun socks (the only article of clothing that isn't regulated as part of her uniform). Oh.. and some inexpensive jewelry/accessories since there are few limits on those as well.

 

[Tree City]

Maybe I'm a mean mom but I don't buy the kids back to school outfits. The problem is two-fold: one, I let my kids pick out their own clothes, and I KNOW they'll change their minds up to 10 min before we head out to the bus that first day, even if I spend gobs of money on a "so special, I'll never change my mind!" outfit. The other (first world) problem is that they have a ton of clothes already and they're happy with what they have. My mom loves to shop--like, loooooooooves--so she buys clothes for the kids all. the. time. And I have access to a store credit card of hers, so I buy stuff to fill in any gaps she may miss (with her permission of course). So the kids each have a full closet of clothes to choose from. I don't feel like buying them clothes will really add to the BTS experience. I did buy them new undies last week but I didn't call it "back to school clothing." I know that wouldn't have gone over well! But no one wants droopy drawers the first day of school!

Having said that, I do like doing the BTS school supply stuff. Waiting until there's a nice sale after school's already started is great too; and this year I'll be able to go without the kids (YEA for both being in FT public school!) so I can buy and squirrel away my finds for myself! *insert maniacal laugh*