Making the Most of Back-to-School Purchases
by Evelyn
I noticed several stories dealing with back-to-school shopping, but not how to ensure that the money you spent is not wasted over the first couple of weeks of school.
Pre-Patch Clothing
This is especially important for grade-school age boys. After washing the new jeans and pants, add iron-on patches to the inside of the knees. You may need to compare to an old pair to see where the holes and wear spots form. Usually one patch can be cut in half to patch two knees. Colour doesn’t matter.
Get Out the Sharpie
Write your child’s name on anything that he can remove at school; include your phone number if you don’t have security concerns (I use my cell number). Do this now before you forget. The transitional seasons are terrible for losing jackets; it’s chilly in the morning, but warm at lunch and the jacket gets left on the soccer field.
Beat Up Summer Shoes – Fine for Indoors?
The runners your children have been wearing all summer may be too beat up for the first day of school, but okay for strictly indoor wear when they start wearing snow boots. A run through the washer, some hot glue and new laces may give them a new lease on life. Of course, if they are too small or too ratty, into the bin they go.
Be Frugal with School Supplies
Even if you bought the giant pack of coloured pencils or markers, do they really need 64 colours? Dole out about 12; keep the rest for later in the school year (maybe 4 new ones per month). Otherwise, the caps get left off or they get broken or "borrowed." There you are on October 1 buying new markers.
Similarly, with regular pencils or pens, put 2 or 3 into a pencil case for the first day of school. 10 pencils last as long as 3 when all given at the same time. 100 sheets of loose-leaf paper on the first day of school is just a temptation to have a paper-airplane contest at recess.
Outgrown Sweats – Fine for PJs or Long Johns
Sweats that are too short in the arms or legs may work just fine if kept under cover. Why spend again for winter layers that no one sees? And sweats are warmer than most of the PJs you can buy.
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