I was sitting down working on a budget for school supplies and flipping through ads figuring out the best prices for all of them. Most likely I will end up at Walmart price matching but I must be organized to get the right prices and prove that they are in fact sale items. Much easier than store hopping, although I am certain we may end up at each of the stores any way looking for the backpack w/the biggest coolness factor. @@ Middle schoolers are so funny about that :).
As I was going over the lists I realized that not only have the lists grown from last year but adding another child has about broke the bank. NO, not really since his list consists of about 7 items and three of those are gym shoes, tissues and a backpack. I found sales for the other items bringing his list to a grand total of $2.88 +tax. Not bad really since we already have the backpack and I plan to get all the kids' gym shoes at payless except for my oldest who must have name brand (dang coolness factor again grrr! lol). The rest of the kids outside of backpacks and gym shoes I came up with around $80 depending on the scientific calculators available and if my oldest can find her one from last year, if not that amount could go up at least another $25-50.
I am still trying to figure out when public schools started to require students to provide their own materials for learning. I remember cans of scissors, pencils, markers and a cabinet that contained paper, now we have to stock that cabinet and our kids carry boxes w/pens, markers, crayons and pencils. When I was in high school, my freshman year we had to pay for the books up front like you would in college and then received a partial refund at the end of the year provided the books were in semi-usable condition when returned. My sophomore year they did away with that and you only paid if you lost or destroyed a book, I don't recall having to purchase anything other than gym clothes, notebooks and folders. Of course I was a child and my mom took care of that stuff, so what would I know about it LOL!
I have started the countdown since school starts 8/13 for the older two and the 17th for the younger three. I also have to be ready for the surprise items that are given to us on the orientation night for my high schooler THE NIGHT BEFORE school starts. Don't ask, I have no idea why they would do this to parents.
We then of course have to add in the amount for school clothes, we hit old navy last weekend and didn't even make a dent in what is needed. A person could go broke!
4 comments:
Our son is in his 2nd year of undergrad, our younger daughter is in her 2nd year of dental school, and our older daughter is newly married in her 4th year of dental school...
We Praise the Lord that all had their undergrad tuition, room, board and books, was fully funded through the university scholarships and they also had residual from outside scholarships, and did not have to work while going to school (just did summer jobs). (It really was worth the time filling out and applying to what scholarships they were eligible for... at the time, it seemed never-ending to them. haha)
With that said, there were still extras we covered for them, ie car insurance, cell phone bills, etc. But so well worth it all!
(I just graduated, but also got some partial scholarships, while I was going through college. I often would tease our 3 to share theirs with me. (I was often asked if I was faculty! *That would have been nice to say, but no...I'm a student* & yes, I was the oldest in my program. :o)
I can only imagine the expense of 5 for each new school year.
Blessings for the upcoming school year!
I love meatloaf too. I'll have to give this a try!
It baffles me when I hear of these huge school supply lists that parents need to provide. It's not like that around here! The only things we really need to get are our own writing utensils, notebooks, folders, and things like that. Maybe a scientific calculator if needed. And sometimes a teacher (in H.S.) might require a certain type of notebook or binder. But we've never been given lists! And we never had to pay for books unless they were totally destroyed or lost. I feel for you (and everyone else that has to buy all this stuff)!
is is really back to school already? It feels like summer has just started...
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