Back to School

School starts August 23rd and I think it's safe to say we are all ready. This summer has been great, don't get me wrong it's been bumpy as far as getting along goes.  But I like to think that is common amongst most households with more than 1 child. I look at the summer bucket list I had made at the end of the school year and while we haven't done 50 things we have done quite a bit. With having a pool and a dune/lake house to visit and attempting to make the most of both. 

We find out Friday the 18th who his teacher is and who all is in his class. I'm most anxious for the classlist. I'm hopeful he will have at least 1 out his 2 good friends as last year the 3 boys got separated and had to rely on recess time to maintain their friendship. That was hard for all of them as new friends were made for some from within their classroom and not for others. 

 Back to school shopping is complete. We are blessed to attend a school district in which school supplies are bundled in with our annual school fee we pay each year. So we just have to supply on our own a backpack, lunch box (if needed), and we'll of course clothes. Our needs like last year were very simply. A new water bootle and socks. 

His back pack from kindergarten is still in great condition as well as his lunch box. His clothes also still fit and are in great condition (benefit to owning enough shirts to not repeat one in the course of 5wks). I also already have his entire wardrobe for the next size he will be going into. His shoes still fit and when he grows out of them we will get him new at that time. I like to think we don't fall into what society says about back to school shopping or shopping in general. Our motto when it comes to buying items (non-consumable but don't get me wrong if you have a token for a free mini blizzard or whatever restaurant promo go on and use that token!) is "never pay full retail" 

My 3 tips for shopping to avoid a huge shopping trip or filling up that online cart:

-buy clearance; I'm not talking 30% off clearance, I'm talking 70-90% off now that's a sale. This means we are buying in September/October for the next summer or 2 and Feb/March for the next winter or 2. Here's my reasoning for the kids they grow out of it within a year or less and they can be hard on their clothes. For myself and Marcus: we don't like to spend much on ourselves and let's be honest sizes change too 🙄. I'm also not a fashion forward person. I'm good with a pair of jeans/shorts and good tee or a cardi over. But let's really be honest and it's leggings or running shorts and a tank. Marcus is in dress pants, shirt and tie 5 days a week and jeans/shorts and t-shirt/pullover whatever on the weekends. 

I look at the summer bucket list I had made at the end of the school year and while we haven't done 50 things we have done quite a bit. With having a pool and a dune/lake house to visit and attempting to make the most. -buy second hand: we have some great resale groups and because Ian is at that age where athletic pants are his preferred and other kids have the same preference jeans brand new (therefore not second hand) or gently worn can be purchased for $4 or less...

-buy at garage sales, yep I said it garage sales!  Majority have nice items and are priced very reasonably and 90% don't want to take the items back inside or load them up to donate. I have found some great items even items brand new with tags. Although this was new I did find the frame will out at garage sales and we made our own table with composite decking meaning the top will probably outlast the frame. 

So with that said go out and search those clearance racks, scroll through your Facebook resale groups, and stop at the next garage sale you see.