We went school shopping the other day and boy was it fun! Back to school is bittersweet. I LOVE having the kids home for summer because we do all kinds of things and have so much fun but they thrive so much at school and are so happy to be there! There are certain holidays that make me giddy to shop for...Halloween, Easter, Christmas....to me school shopping is almost like another holiday!! The kids are so excited to get their cool new things and I love seeing them so happy but like most holidays, it gets expensive. I have found a few great ways to save on school supplies over the years. This is our 7th year of buying supplies and I've been pretty good at spending minimal money putting them in school. On supplies for 3 kids (my preschooler just needed a bag) we spent about $30 after I compared flyers and used coupons. I bought our shoes on clearance earlier in the year so 3 pairs of shoes for $37. I used $70 in reward dollars from Old Navy for their new clothes so they didn't cost anything. :) The biggest expense was paying for their tuition which was $50 per child. Here are some of the strategies I use here to save on one of the most expensive times of the year.
- First always compare sales flyers so you can price match at one location for instance. You are going to see some great things to bring customers in the door on sale like .10 rulers but something else like Crayola crayons or glue might be more expensive at that store.
- Buy off brand supplies. You can buy off brand crayons, glue, fiskars, plastic baggies can be store brand.
- Don't forget about Amazon! I found several great deals this year on Amazon and supplies but I had already bought.
- Buy now...buy a few extra if you think your kids are going to need it! Most of the time school supplies after the BTS sales end are almost twice what you paid for them. So I usually will buy just a few extra things to keep around the house hidden in a box just in case my kiddo comes home saying they used all their glue sticks.
- Buy items in bulk. Several places this time of year will have kleenex or Puffs on sale in bulk. Not only does it knock some cents off the price, if you pair it with a coupon out of the paper you can make the deal even greater.
- Check Sunday coupons for anything school related or coupons.com. There were several coupons out this year in which free pens were easy to acquire.
- Reuse things you can get away with reusing again. We reuse bookbags for a few years, lunch bags, scissors, and school boxes. This year Mia got a new bag at Walmart for $4.88! She liked it because of the monkey and I liked it because of the price!
- If you have rewards, use them. They have a great earning program we use through Old Navy with their credit card. Basically you earn bucks and I had $70 to spend. I was able to use the rewards to buy new clothes for the kids in which they had an awesome sale where their shirts were $5 and jeans were $10! Love Old Navy!!
- Shop for next years supplies.....in September. If you do like to buy new backpacks and lunch bags alot of places such as Kroger, Walmart, and Target will reduce the prices extremely low rather than to send it back for credit. This is normally how my kids get new bags. I take them with me and we shop when it's about 75% off and I can get a backpack for $3.75. One year I discovered some very expensive Thermos bowls for $3 a piece so I bought 3 so the kids can have HOT food in their sack lunches.
- Buy ahead! Buy Winter clothes, in the spring/summer! I am one that I never buy in season. Call me crazy but if I can buy my kids jeans on a clearance rack for $3 vs. $10+, I'm gonna do it. I have a special love for Kohls and Burlington Coat Factory with their ginormous out of season racks of clothes. LOVE LOVE LOVE it. Pair that up with a percentage off sale and you've got some major cheap clothes.
One thing I would mention, if you have a few extra bucks, pick up some school supplies for the teachers. :) It's sooooo cheap and a bunch of glue stick you bought for next to nothing could really help a teacher out. These teachers with their limited budget are spending some of their own money to educate our kids. One of our favorite things to do at our school is pulling off a post it note on the Wish Tree. It's basically a tree on the wall with branches containing post it notes on things the teacher could really use. It makes a teacher's day and is also one of those things that makes you feel good that you were able to help out.
Happy Shopping! :D
Our summer ends next week. Like most mommies with little ones in school I am ready to get back to the routine. Seriously, I never thought that we would EVER sleep past 6:30 am in this house. This summer EVERYONE has been sleeping daily till about 8 or some days it was even near 9 am!! It's been nice for me because G and her colicky fits last till almost midnight sometimes. I've told my dh the past few weeks we have GOT to get ourselves back to 10:30 nights because he's having to get up by 6 am and I don't see how he does it let alone I HAVE to start getting up at 6 to get these kiddos ready for school. This year I have 3 FT and 1 PT afternoons in school. She will leave here at 11 because they feed her at school and she will come home at almost 4 on the bus with her siblings.
Along with getting back into the routine, I'm hoping to start doing some things I love again. With kids your passions are put on the backburner and I hate it! Everyone says you should always have kid free date nights with your hubby, well I think you should always have kid free time with your hobbies. I am still very much into couponing however this summer it's been really hard dealing with the day to day craze of having 7 kids. I could be doing "more" but it's very hard to get away to concentrate and work on organizing, filing and throwing out expireds. I'm still out there getting deals, this stuff below cost $8.00 the other day, I could just do alot more if I had more time. During the school year I am so organized and prepared, summer, not so much. lol
Same with sewing. I had to do these from 10 pm-2 am TWO different nights. I could barely keep my eyes open. lol My goal now that the kids are going back is to have at least 1-2 hours a day ( their naptime during the week) to do my things. That's usually what I have done in the past and it is usually naptime which I consider MY TIME. :)
1-2 hours a day, I think I could make 1 dress a week, a little purse, organize lots of coupon trips. ;)
Or make more frilly little headbands and girl things. ;) Anyone else try to have their own Mommy Time?
In 6 months we've went from this little perfect little 34 week preemie.....
To this perfect little 6 month old! She is growing up so fast! She doesn't even appear to be the same baby. :)
I always say how perfect she is and the reason being that with everything we were told with her having a Single Artery or double vessel cord, she had a 60-65% chance of having some sort of abnormality. Usually it's the heart but alot of the times it's their kidneys and sometimes they can have a form of Trisomy. Alot of the time they have IUGR when born. I always tell people that she got away from IUGR coming out at 6 lbs 2 oz at 34 weeks because I eat very badly!! She absorbed some of that fat for me! lol! When she was born they came over to my head and asked if i was aware of the SUA in which we said yes. They told us she appeared "perfect" but she of course would have to spend the day in testing. That day blew for me because I didn't see her for nearly 12 hours while they had her hooked up to machines. But finally the next day she was released to us and again we were told she looked perfect.
She is still behind quite a bit for being early but I have to keep reminding myself that her adjusted age is 1 1/2 months behind when she was born. So far she's able to roll front and back but she doesn't roll over and over and move far. She can hold her tummy up with her arms. She has discovered her hands and toes as of lately and can pinch and hold things. She sits well in the Bumbo and an exersaucer. We just sold her swing last week. She knows everyone's faces, always smiles. We're still having some colic issues but it's getting a bit better. Still cries but not as much. We just hold her alot until we go to bed. lol Still breastfeeding like a champ. :) She's perfect! ;)
