I have been very busy the past week trying to get the kids ready to go back to school. They love this time of year and I really enjoy seeing them so excited for a new beginning and looking forward to new experiences. Life seems to be more open to possibilities this time of year.
They only thing I dislike about the whole back-to-school process is how expensive it is. I only have three kiddos, but it has cost me at least $400 to do so. Does that seem in line with what you spend??
Here is what is on my list:
1. School supplies (list sent home by teachers of "suggested" items--are they serious?)
2. Haircuts (Steve does Patch's, but the girls need to be taken to a cheap salon)
3. New tennis shoes
4. New back packs (I only do this every other year; this was one of those years)
5. 3 new outfits each
In addition to all of this we had to pay fees to the junior high, made a donation to the PTO, and will have to send in money for lunches (I let them buy once a week).
Whew! I might have to get a loan to pay for all of that. Maybe back-to-school time for kids means it is also back-to-work time for parents to earn enough to pay for it all.
Scripture of the Day: 2 Peter 2:1 and 22
I must say that I love, love buying school supplies. But it does get expensive, especially if you have a lot of kids. So I was both happy and sad that since we moved to Utah the schools here don't ask you to buy supplies. Happy to not have to fork over the money, sad to not get to stock up. I still buy a few things just for old times sake.
ReplyDeleteI think it is very expensive!! And it gets worse in high school. (Although we make them work during the summer to pay for their clothes etc). My daughter is driving this year and her parking pass went from 5 dollars that my oldest daughter paid to 75 dollars this year. Crazy. And then it seems each class has a participation fee requirement. As do sports.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, another daughter is teaching 3rd grade this year in Utah. They have a school policy that you can't ask the parents to supply anything. So my daughter has had to buy it all, only she is an intern and only gets half pay, with no supply budget. It seems like there could be a nice balance somewhere.
$75 for parking???? Yikes!! That is horrible
ReplyDeleteI am so dreading school supply costs with our move going on and all. This may be a no-new-school-clothes year for us.
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