Muscatine

Regarding the story in the Journal this morning.....I suppose I should never be amazed at the lack of sense shown by our local paper, but this one takes the cake.

I have some suggestions for the woman and her "partner" who are spending 1000$ sending their two kids back to school.

1.  The supply list for the second grader adds up to 24.33$.  I have not included "gym shoes" since the schools do not require separate shoes for gym and most kids already have "gym shoes" or they'd be walking around barefoot.   If the backpacks are costing 25$, you need to check around.....they can be had a lot cheaper, unless of course you're after the "designer" version that the boy likes.  Figure for the two around 50-60$ takes care of it all. 

2.  If you buy a lunch for both kids every day for 180 school days, I'm getting 522$ as a total.  Assuming that they are going to eat whether you buy a school lunch or pack one yourself (which is sadly too time-consuming for many parents today), I challenge you to find a cheaper way to feed two kids for 360 meals. 

3.  You're the parent.  If the boy is "aware" of name brands, and you can't afford name brands, maybe it's time to say no to name brands.  Just a thought. Hard to figure the savings there, but maybe cut that cost in half just by being an adult.  Again, I'm assuming that he'd have to have clothes whether there was school or not.

4.  I find it hard to believe that clothes for a tall slim girl can't be found in this town.  I don't recall ever having to leave town to find clothes for my tall slim daughter.  Again, maybe fashion has to take a back seat to practicality if this causes an economic hardship.

5.  Those 300 dollar glasses.....transition lenses, flexible frames, lightweight plastic.  I only wish I could have afforded something like that the last time I bought glasses, but I settled for some plain old bifocals with inexpensive frames because that's what I could afford at the time.

Shame on the Journal for making it sound like these costs are all the fault of the schools.  I would suggest that if these costs sound like a hardship, it is because most of them are self-inflicted. 

I would have to agree with you on this. I have a boy in the 3rd grade. I went out and got all his supplies at wal-mart, I even got extras since they had such good deals on things like the notebooks at 5 cents each, crayons for 22 cents a box. As I sit here and look at the receipt that I got back it shows that I only spend about $30 on everything.

He didn't want a new backpack, he thought the one he had was still good enough, but I insisted that he get a new one because his zipper was looking a little worn. He has used the same one since kindergarten. If you keep them clean and in good working order there is no need to buy a new one each year. My son picked one up at Hy-vee for $6.99 and loves it.

His shoes for school, cost me a whole $29.99 and guess what they are Nike. I got them on sale at Jcpenney. And they even had a buy one get one for a $1 you can't beat that.

Clothes, well he needs new clothes all the time, I shop at Wal-mart and Jcpenney. I get some really great deals there. I don't go over board and buy a ton of new clothes just for school. If your children take care of the clothes they have then there shouldn't be a need to rush out and get them a whole new wardrobe just for school. Come on people use common sense and remember your the parent and it is your money not theirs. My parents always told me if I wanted more than what they could afford I had to get a job and pay for it myself.

It would be nice if the Journal could interview somebody like you and get a more realistic picture.  I just walked through Menards and found some really nice backpacks....a 5.00$ rebate which means the item ends up costing 99 cents, a bit less than that 25 dollar model. 

Your parents were right. 

Brown paper Sun Mart sacks worked perfect for me as a kid. Never needed a "backpack". When that tore or got wet, there was another one under the sink. Cut, folded and layered worked good to seal that hole in my shoe too.

We sure have come a long way!