I both look forward and loathe this time of year.
The monsters are back to school in two weeks. I needed to pick up three sets of different school supplies, plus restock clothes, tennis shoes, and underwear. I can’t shop at one clothing store any more, because Princess is in adult sizes (she’s taller than I am and wears my size or larger shoes).
First, we hit Sears and used That Man’s employee discount to save a fortune on tennis shoes and clothes for the two youngest monsters. Then we hit Kohls where I used $12 store credit + 15% coupon + existing sales to save MORE than I spent for Princess. She picked out some super cute shirts that I’m so envious of — I can’t wait until I can wear cute clothes again.
Then, the worst stop: Wal-Mart. I can’t believe how many supplies the kids need, everything from 4 sets of crayons to wet wipes to Expo markers to Ziplock bags. It’s crazy. I have at least 4 bags of supplies to sort through and bag for each kid.
I must admit that I always buy myself some supplies, like Sharpies and paper folders for story ideas. They never last long – because the monsters always raid my hidden stash. But I can’t resist the cheap folders and cool notebooks and brand-new pens.
Even better than the scent of fresh school supplies is knowing that very soon we won’t be running kids here and there to camps, Vacation Bible School, trips to grandma’s (tomorrow we’re taking Princess and her cousin over to the lake for the week)…but we’ll be getting them up early and taking them to the bus, forgetting which kid has spelling tests on which day, and freaking out because I forgot to help Middle study or Littlest can’t find her library books or…
P.S. I bought a dry-erase calendar to hopefully help keep track of all the library and PE days, events, clubs, etc.
Let the school days begin!
Check out the FlyLady calendar — it has huge squares for keeping track of everybody’s stuff as well as stickers to help for reminders or just for fun.
http://www.flylady.net/pages/FlyShop_calendar.asp
(I confess I don’t use this calendar since my realtor began giving us a calendar each year with equally huge squares for each day on it, but this is the next best calendar I’ve been able to find.)
I agree the FlyLady calendar is great but I don’t use it :snort: I take a tip out of her Control Journal though. Each month I print out a chore calendar for the wee beasties. I put this in a page protector. There’s enough room to write in doctor appointments, events and sports, school due dates and tests, etc. And with a dry erase marker I note things, cross off days (helps youngest keep track), score the wee beasties points (goes toward allowances), and wipe it clean when I put a new calendar in the protector. Works like a charm.
I do something similar for my to-do lists.
I hear you on the love-hate of this time of year. Kudos for getting so much of the shopping done! I haven’t started yet. 🙄 (Oh, and I do the same thing with the office *cough* school supplies.)