What's your school shopping grand total so far this year?

**Nishu** · 08-16-2009, 01:12 AM

Yard sale clothes were looked down upon in my school as well, so I know where you're coming from. I got teased a few times for shopping at Dollar General, and one of the few times a schoolmate stopped at our house, he went to school the next day and told everyone that we were poor. I don't want my child to have to face anything like that. I don't want my kids to ever feel like they're poor.

I shop enough thrift stores and yard sales though that I can get the absolute nicest looking things that are at rock bottom prices, and it helps that we have really good thrift stores here. You probably couldn't guess that we shop second hand just by looking because my kids always look nice. (Okay, I'm lying. My 5 year old dresses herself and about half the time she looks straight up ridiculous, but her clothes look nice even if she's wearing a red plaid skirt with a blue sparkly tank top and Hello Kitty snow boots.)

We talk about money a lot here and my kids know I don't like to spend a lot. The fact that we buy second hand isn't just a budgeting tool for me, it's part of an attitude and a lifestyle that I want to pass on to my children and it is as important to me as teaching them to brush their teeth or to respect their elders. I want to teach them to be environmentally responsible as well financially responsible, and part of that is buying used.

I can't imagine a time when it would ever bother them. My kids love thrift stores and yard sales as much as I do, and here in this area kids don't seem to care as much. A couple weeks ago the little girl next door told my 8 year old about all the super cool video games and toys she had all to herself, and apparently it affected her enough to come home and want to talk about it. I told her basically (this may or may not have been the right thing to do) that mommy and daddy choose to spend their money differently than other people, and that we could buy her lots of expensive toys as well if that's what we chose to do. At this point she interrupts my monologue and says "I know, I know. You and daddy choose to spend your money wisely."

My 5 year old really doesn't get it, but my 8 year old is starting to get the idea of choices and trade offs and planning for the future. As I told her once, one day she's going to come to me and ask for money, maybe for a car or college tuition or a deposit on an apartment... and I'm probably going to tell her no. But I'll tell her no because I want her to learn responsibility and sacrifice and hard work, and not because I'm unable to after years of buying new clothes and new toys or whatnot.

Sorry, that's probably more than anyone wanted to know about my parenting ideas.

I just wanted to explain my position a little because I know that other people sometimes get this idea that people who buy used clothing do so because they either have no choice or because they value money over their kids' self esteem. I don't just buy my kids used clothes and used toys because it saves me money. (That's just a nice bonus.) I do it mainly because it's an important statement to my children (and to anyone else) what I think of wastefulness, consumption and, most of all, conformity.

Disclaimer: I don't think people who buy new clothes for their kids are wasteful and I don't teach that too my kids, please don't yell at me.

**Palooka** · 08-17-2009, 07:44 PM

Spent 32 bucks on clothes for my step daughter. She got two pairs of jeans, two shirts, and a really cute outfit. All on sale.

**frugalwarrior** · 08-17-2009, 08:19 PM

Added $14. for NSS shoes for DS and $18. for DD Airwalk. So $32. for 2 teen shoes at Dunhams tent sale.

**nuisance26** · 08-17-2009, 08:38 PM

~Well I hope I'm done now. I've spent $322 on 3 curriculums, 1 of which is actually two years worth, learning manipulatives and visual aids, school supplies, teacher supplies and membership dues.
I really don't like spending all that money in a few week's time, makes me nervous. But at least I'll have a better idea of what to buy, where and when to buy and how much to budget for next year.~

**WV_mom_of2** · 08-19-2009, 01:32 PM

So far only about 15.00. That was just on notebooks, binders, pens, pencils, etc.

Dd(17) is lucky enough to get TONS of hand me downs from my sister. My sister wears only name brands and only wears them a few times before she tires of them and buys more. So dd gets new clothes several times a year. My mom volunteers in a thrift store and she runs onto tons of teen girl clothes too. We give dd money for her birthday and that is the same weekend that she travels to the family reunion with my mom. There is a town up there that has a city wide yard sale that weekend and dd comes home with TONS of new stuff that my mom pays for. She also takes her to the mall and dd buys herself some things. She needs nothing but a couple of new bras and a pack of panties! I might splurge on a new pair of shoes for her if she sees a pair she likes. She is like me and finds a pair she loves and wear them until they fall apart!

Ds(13) has grown so much this summer that he needs clothes. He has four pairs of jeans that Mom found him at the thrift store and some shorts she got him this summer and he has alot of nice shirts. The shorts are ok for home use but he needs a couple of newer looking pairs for school. He also needs new tennis shoes.

We are planning to go school shopping tomorrow. I took the day off from work and we planned to go camping but we've had major storms/downpours all week so we trashed that idea LOL. We are going to make a day of it and travel to a town we rarely ever go to. This town has a mall and I'm hoping to hit Old Navy or Gap maybe and find some shorts on markdown. Or maybe even Target. My first plan however is to stop at the college town we drive through and hit Goodwill first. Maybe, just maybe we can find what we need there!! I've heard college towns are great places to hit the Goodwill. He will get new tennis shoes with a 40.00 limit.

I'm hoping to get everything we need for under 200.00!

**monkeywrangler71** · 08-19-2009, 01:53 PM

I've never heard of kids being made fun of for having second hand clothes. How do the other kids know where their clothes come from? I can understand if they're really ugly, ill-fitting, or really out-dated, otherwise, I don't understand how anyone would know the difference.

When I was little, the clothes in thrift stores were really old and ragged, but most of the stuff they sell now is only a few years old. How does someone know you bought a 2 year old shirt used rather than just think you bought it new and wore it yourself for two years?

**MomToTwoBoys** · 08-20-2009, 11:13 AM

Originally Posted by monkeywrangler71

I've never heard of kids being made fun of for having second hand clothes. How do the other kids know where their clothes come from? I can understand if they're really ugly, ill-fitting, or really out-dated, otherwise, I don't understand how anyone would know the difference.

When I was little, the clothes in thrift stores were really old and ragged, but most of the stuff they sell now is only a few years old. How does someone know you bought a 2 year old shirt used rather than just think you bought it new and wore it yourself for two years?

In my hometown, people knew if you were wearing secondhand clothes and they ridiculed you hardcore about it. That was part of my growing up. This was 1983-1995, so even back then the 80s/90s clothes were horrible.

Kids pick up on the little things. They really do pay attention to what you wear and how you dress. I always promised myself that my kids would wear things that made them look nice, but I can't find any thrift stores around Calgary that sell decent secondhand clothes.

**frugalwarrior** · 08-20-2009, 12:16 PM

Hope to hit Salvation A. 5/5.00 Friday and find dress shirts for DH towear w/ jeans this year. Still Waiting for the last professor to list the text book he want. ARGH.

**WV_mom_of2** · 08-21-2009, 11:29 AM

Well my total now is 216.00. And let me tell you......yesterday was a MISTAKE! I thought all the college kids were back on campus and back in class. Umm..........nope! They were moving in this week. OMG talk about a screaming madhouse! Trying to shop for back to school with a million teens/young people in every store along with half a million parents was hell! You couldn't even walk through Walmart or Target it was so bad. LONG lines everywhere, etc. The Goodwill down there sucks.....they had nothing but trashy looking clothes. Next year I will know to NOT go the week before our school starts LOL. I have never seen so many teens/young people in one place and so many small fridges, microwaves, floor lamps, etc. being bought at once!

I did find ds(13)......

Reebok tennis shoes for 40.00 (after hitting 8 shoe stores!)
2 pairs of Aeropostale shorts 30.00 (15.00 each on sale)
1 pair of Old Navy shorts 10.00
1 college zip up hooded sweatshirt 20.00
1 college t-shirt 6.00
1 Aeropostale tshirt 10.00
1 college tote bag thingy 15.00(we were in the town of his favorite college team LOL)
2 10 packs of socks 16.00 (8.00 each)
1 pack of underwear 4.50
1 college team hat 7.00

Dd(17) got....
2 shirts at TJ Maxx 12.00( one 10.00 and one 2.00)
1 college tshirt 6.00
1 large Aeropostale canvas tote 10.00
2 bras 7.00 each
1 tank top 1.00

I also bought 24 1 subject notebooks for 3.60
1 pack of copy paper for 2.50
2 packs of loose leaf paper .75 each
1 5 subject notebook for dd 4.87 (yeah I know.....but she works hard at school and I splurged)
1 large binder for ds 7.28! OMG We can NOT find the cloth covered ones that zip up anywhere so he had to get a huge hard one and I could NOT believe the price!

I'm done now except for a couple of pairs of jeans for ds but those can wait a month or so until the weather cools off. I really miss the days when they were little and I went shopping and bought what was cheapest and they wore it with no complaints. Now they are teens and although they don't ask for the most expensive stuff like some do they do have opinions and likes and dislikes and it makes it so hard to shop!

**MomToTwoBoys** · 08-21-2009, 11:34 AM

Originally Posted by WV_mom_of2

Well my total now is 216.00. And let me tell you......yesterday was a MISTAKE! I thought all the college kids were back on campus and back in class. Umm..........nope! They were moving in this week. OMG talk about a screaming madhouse! Trying to shop for back to school with a million teens/young people in every store along with half a million parents was hell! You couldn't even walk through Walmart or Target it was so bad. LONG lines everywhere, etc. The Goodwill down there sucks.....they had nothing but trashy looking clothes. Next year I will know to NOT go the week before our school starts LOL. I have never seen so many teens/young people in one place and so many small fridges, microwaves, floor lamps, etc. being bought at once!

I did find ds(13)......

Reebok tennis shoes for 40.00 (after hitting 8 shoe stores!)
2 pairs of Aeropostale shorts 30.00 (15.00 each on sale)
1 pair of Old Navy shorts 10.00
1 college zip up hooded sweatshirt 20.00
1 college t-shirt 6.00
1 Aeropostale tshirt 10.00
1 college tote bag thingy 15.00(we were in the town of his favorite college team LOL)
2 10 packs of socks 16.00 (8.00 each)
1 pack of underwear 4.50
1 college team hat 7.00

Dd(17) got....
2 shirts at TJ Maxx 12.00( one 10.00 and one 2.00)
1 college tshirt 6.00
1 large Aeropostale canvas tote 10.00
2 bras 7.00 each
1 tank top 1.00

I also bought 24 1 subject notebooks for 3.60
1 pack of copy paper for 2.50
2 packs of loose leaf paper .75 each
1 5 subject notebook for dd 4.87 (yeah I know.....but she works hard at school and I splurged)
1 large binder for ds 7.28! OMG We can NOT find the cloth covered ones that zip up anywhere so he had to get a huge hard one and I could NOT believe the price!

I'm done now except for a couple of pairs of jeans for ds but those can wait a month or so until the weather cools off. I really miss the days when they were little and I went shopping and bought what was cheapest and they wore it with no complaints. Now they are teens and although they don't ask for the most expensive stuff like some do they do have opinions and likes and dislikes and it makes it so hard to shop!

See, DH thought I was nuts when I went shopping three weeks before DS5 went back to school. I just can't handle large crowds in stores like that, so I can totally understand where you're coming from.

DS11 doesn't care much about what he wears, as long as it's wearable. I'm a little concerned with how DS5 will be when he gets to be a teen. Hopefully, I can convince him still that he has choice and he can choose not to go with things that are so expensive.

**WV_mom_of2** · 08-21-2009, 11:53 AM

Originally Posted by MomToTwoBoys

See, DH thought I was nuts when I went shopping three weeks before DS5 went back to school. I just can't handle large crowds in stores like that, so I can totally understand where you're coming from.

DS11 doesn't care much about what he wears, as long as it's wearable. I'm a little concerned with how DS5 will be when he gets to be a teen. Hopefully, I can convince him still that he has choice and he can choose not to go with things that are so expensive.

My kids love second hand stuff. They've always had it and if we could have found good stuff at Goodwill ds would have been happy with that. We shopped at all the discount stores for shorts and could find NOTHING he liked. Maybe it was because we were in a preppy college town and he's just a country kid? He kept picking up stuff and saying "these are for GUYS????" lol. He wanted the longer cargo type shorts and even the ones we found at the discount stores were 20.00. Most stores had the plaid shorts too and he is NO way wearing those LOL.

It's not so much the money I spend on the kids it's the HOURS it takes ds to find what he likes. I spend maybe a total of 200.00 a year on clothes and shoes for two teenagers. I just miss those days when I could leave them home with dh and go buy and they didn't care LOL. But at 13 and 17 they do have their likes and dislikes and I allow them that. I hate anyone else buying clothes for me too!

**monkeywrangler71** · 08-21-2009, 12:20 PM

Is anyone else seeing absolutely insanely low prices on school supplies this year. I keep seeing all these ridiculous ads in the walmart flyers, but haven't the time or energy to go get anything. Packs of paper, scribblers, folders, etc advertised for between 9 and 20 cents a pack. I really wanted to stock up but with my husband working late every night I just can't get out.

**Jessesbride** · 09-03-2009, 11:10 AM

all total I have spent about $150 for my son's school & clothing, as well as for a teacher that we bought school supplies for thru our church... not to mention all of the XTRA school supplies that we stocked up on. My bff has been needing to go school shopping but is in the process of trying to buy a new house & she refuses to go shopping for school supplies TWICE, esp. with 4 kids!!! So told her she can come to house to shop for school supplies! Unbelievable how great a lot of the sales were this year (Home Depot is like CVS & you actually get $$$ back for certain things bought at Staples ~with their rewards program!! Also got quite a few things like notebooks, folders, & glue for $.05 each!!! & GOT A FREE BACKPACK with the staples rewards program... & they paid me back for it w/a check in the mail!!). I'm already planning for next year's loot! LOL

Kim

**frugalwarrior** · 09-03-2009, 12:50 PM

Gotta add $15. for 1/2 price wheeled back pack x2=$29.99 tx.
Last college textbook $119.00 Business communications
=$149.00 more.

**Jessesbride** · 09-03-2009, 02:41 PM

Originally Posted by Jessesbride

all total I have spent about $150 for my son's school & clothing, as well as for a teacher that we bought school supplies for thru our church... not to mention all of the XTRA school supplies that we stocked up on. My bff has been needing to go school shopping but is in the process of trying to buy a new house & she refuses to go shopping for school supplies TWICE, esp. with 4 kids!!! So told her she can come to house to shop for school supplies! Unbelievable how great a lot of the sales were this year (Home Depot is like CVS & you actually get $$$ back for certain things bought at Staples ~with their rewards program!! Also got quite a few things like notebooks, folders, & glue for $.05 each!!! & GOT A FREE BACKPACK with the staples rewards program... & they paid me back for it w/a check in the mail!!). I'm already planning for next year's loot! LOL

Kim

Also... have a *FREE* box of copy paper... lol... I'll never have to buy copy paper again!!! LOL

Seriously, I actually got into "trouble" w/dh b/c there was such an abundance of school supplies etc; ds had outgrown ALL of his jeans, most of his tshirts & sneakers (he went from a size 12 to 13 ~mens shoes~ in just a couple of weeks). I didn't buy any of it from the thrift stores, just waited to JCP's had good sales (& some walmart).

I NEVER buy ds anything from thrift stores, b/c around here... good luck finding decent clothes in his sizes!