Back To School debt...

I spent a whole lotta time last weekend shopping for back-to-school stuff for the kids. Except for a back-pack, Blake needed nothing supply-wise. Emily was the only one that actually needed school supplies. I learned the hard-way when Emily was in Kindergarten to buy extra supplies during this time of the year. During Emily's first year of school I would get notes home saying, "Emily needs a red crayon." Or, "Emily needs another orange marker." What I was once able to pick up at Wal-Mart at the end of summer for $0.15 a pack was now $2.37. Now when the supply list calls for one box of 24 crayons, I buy six. One pack of 8 crayola markers? Great, here ya go and there's seven more where that came from. Last year I even bought her two backpacks because the ones she liked happened to only be $5 and I thought for sure she'd put a big hole in the bottom of it before the year was up. Wouldn't you know it that bag lasted the whole year so this year I didn't have to buy a backpack!

I love back-to-school shopping. I always have. When I was little every year my mom and I would go to KMart and she would put a ton of clothes on layaway. I loved that week or two before school would start when we would go pick them up. You always forget exactly what it is you put on layaway so it's exciting to see those shirts, pants and dresses hanging in that clear plastic bag and go, "Oh yeah! I forgot I got that!"

I was really looking forward to this past Friday and going shopping with the kids. I knew we had the extra money to pick up what we needed so that was one less thing I had to worry about. I had to stop at Emily's school first because I had a fear I had forgotten to register her. I went in ready to sit for at least 30 minutes filling out paperwork. Turns out she was good to go. Sweet! Then we went to lunch at our usual Friday spot, Chick Fil-A. When we left the school and I asked the kids where they wanted to go (secretly hoping for a Chick Fil-A answer) Emily said, "How 'bout McDonalds?" Blake said, "No! Not McDonalds! Chick Fil-A is better!" Double Sweet!

From there we headed to Wal-Mart. The first thing I did was let Blake pick out a backpack. I thought maybe it would keep him occupied while Emily and I got her supplies. He is starting his final year of preschool this year and will be riding the bus and everything. He'll be gone Monday-Thursday from about 10:30 to 3:30 or 3:45. I'm going to miss him terribly and I know I will cry on the first day when I put him on that bus but dang, am I looking forward to Blake-free afternoons! I already have a just-me lunch planned at Olive Garden. Soup, salad and breadsticks here I come! The first backpack he saw was G.I. Joe. That was the one he wanted. Then, no. He wanted something else. Then it was Transformers. No, not that Transformers, the other one. Nope, I like this Spiderman one. Not that one it has the Hulk. The Hulk is scary. Eventually we settled on Transformers. I started going around putting Emily's supplies in the cart. Boxes of crayons...check. Number two pencils...check. White Vinyl erasers...check. As I'm going, Blake's putting his own made-up list of supplies in the cart. When I take them out he has a fit. I let him cry for a while when I finally can't take it anymore. His own $0.15 box of crayons shuts him up.

After that we were off to the shoes. I think Blake tried on about five pair before he settled on some skater shoes that he liked. I learned early on with Blake, if he doesn't like, he's not going to eat it, wear it or use it. It's better to let him pick out things on his own, that way you know they'll get used. Emily found some shoes she liked and we were off to the clothes. I got Blake a few pairs of pants and shirts. There has been talk for the last year or more that Blake may have some color blindness. Despite that he has always been very good at dressing himself in clothes that match. Emily, however could care less if she is wearing a flowered shirt and plaid shorts with Christmas socks in May. I made sure to show everything to Blake before I put it in the cart. At one point I asked him if he liked this certain green shirt. He said yes if he had those green pants to wear with it. Done and done.

Emily ended up with a couple pairs of pants, a shirt that came with a vest and scarf and a dress. I made it out $154.00 later, which I didn't think was awful. I also picked up our Gordman's layaway on the way home.

Saturday morning after work I had planned on going to the farmer's market but the rain had different plans. I called Adam and told him I was going to go get groceries instead. He wanted to come along so I had to go home first and wait for him and the kids to get ready. We ate breakfast and made a new itinerary that included paying the rent and going to JCPenney for their door buster deals. I've been having a hard time finding jeans for Emily because while she is average height for her age, she's got a booty and a belly and apparently short legs. After literally making her try on at least a dozen pairs of jeans this week at Goodwill, I found out women's size 0 capri jeans, or ones that come rolled up and can be un-rolled fit her perfect. I just knew I could find her some size 0 capri jeans at Penney's.

I found some on clearance and after trying on several more we walked away from that department with just one pair. We found two outfits for Blake and while we were in line I remembered I wanted to check out the shoes. Adam tried to protest but finally gave in. I scored in the shoe department getting Emily two pairs of leather mary janes, one brown and one blue for $3.55 each.

After that we decided it was time for me to get new tires on the front of my car because mine are very near bald. We went to Farm and Fleet and I started hitting up their clearance sales. First to the shoes. The kids found rain boots they liked and they were half off. My dad had said he wanted to get the kids rain boots so he ended up paying me back for those. Then I found a pair of boot-type shoes for Blake in his size. They were $20 then half-off. Adam and I decided they would be better than the skater shoes he picked out at Wal-Mart and after I let him run up and down the aisle in them a few times and telling him how much "faster" he'll be able to run in them than the ones he picked out at Wal-Mart, Blake was all for it too. They had a bunch of clothes that weren't just summer clothes on clearance for Emily and I grabbed a couple outfits and some shirts. Once I got to the register I found out Blake's shoes were actually $4.88. Sweet Lincoln's Mullet! So now I think we're finally done with school shopping. My wallet says so, anyway.