Unplanned Blogging LOA

Looking at my blog for the past month, it kind of looks like I abandoned ship doesn't it?  What started out as a road trip to Canada for a family reunion (where I did actually manage to write my last post), turned into an unintended, month long leave of absence from Miss Mom Speak.  For those of you that have liked my page on Facebook, I did manage to share some great fellow bloggers post that I felt were worth the read.  Upon returning from our 2300 mile long road trip, I found us busy getting caught up.  While I had managed to buy almost all of our back to school supplies before we left, upon returning we had back to school eye appointments, well-checks, my oldest got braces, middle school registration, elementary school open house, and getting 4-H projects ready for/and our local fair.  It was a busy month to say the least!  Actually, I think it was our busiest summer yet and seemed like it flew by!

However, I am happy to say that we have 2 weeks of the new school year under our belts and I think it is going to be a great school year.  My oldest has started middle school and thinks it is great.  His maturity is amazing me and he has taken on many new experiences.  He has mastered the lock on his first locker, has learned busing to and from school (something we didn't/don't have available to us for our elementary school), is working serving lunches at school, has learned how to text and is doing great on communicating with me as needed, is currently trying out for and hoping to make it into the robotics club at school, and attended his first youth group at our church last night.  I am amazed and so proud of the young man he is growing into!

My middle son has taken on the big brother role of helping my youngest adapt to his first year at elementary school in the first grade.  My youngest moved from the daycare/school he had gone to since 12 weeks old where there was maybe 150 kids, to the school my older 2 have been at that has around 650 kids!  My middle son is showing him the ropes of eating breakfast at school, finding his way around, and taking the bus after school to Boys & Girls Club a couple days a week.  My youngest is done with day care!  He loves his new school and both boys love their new teachers!  My youngest even talks about all of the new friends he has made.

My role in all of this has simply been talking to them about their new experiences, preparing them, showing them around and walking them through the anticipated changes ahead of time.  The other thing that I always try to be conscious of, is if there is something new that I am nervous about, I do not share or discuss that with them.  I feel that really helps prevent them from becoming nervous about something new that they don't need the added worry about.

So while I was absent from blogging over the past month, I can happily say that we are well into a new school year that I think is going to be great!  Hopefully over the next few weeks, I will get caught up on some great new posts.

Why It Is Not Too Soon To Get Ready For "Back To School"

Last night I ran into a friend at a local store where they were showcasing their "Back To School" section.  Her question to me was: "Don't you think it is crazy they are already pushing shopping for back to school?".  I told her not at all and went on to explain why.  

Each year I inevitably hear a couple of complaints from parents in the week before school goes back.  One is how they are scrambling to get everything.  They have waited until the last minute and now are trying to get a household of anywhere from 2-6 kids ready to go back in a week. This often means finding stores out of items and also tends to be very overwhelming.   

The other big complaint I hear is how much it costs to get their kids ready to go back.  While you have the school supplies, you often hear about new clothes, shoes, and backpacks to add on as well.  I have had parents tell me that just for each child's school supplies they have spent a couple of hundred dollars.  I will be honest in telling you that this blows me away!  Before my kids started school I was totally freaked out by people telling me about their kids school supplies.  Now I know different and would love to help others. 

While I coupon and their are coupons that come out to help with school supplies, you don't have to even be a couponer to buy school supplies on a tight budget.  If all you do is get the Sunday paper, look at the weekly flyers and stop at 2 stores a week, you will be amazed at how well you can do.  Each week starting from a couple of weeks ago, store flyers start coming out with weekly deals just to get you into the store.  Office Max is one example as they come out with deals like what you see in the picture below.

Last Sunday, their flyer came out with deals where the pencil erasers, index cards, and pocket folders were 1 cent each with a minimum $5 purchase.  This meant that I bought the package of glue sticks, package of blue pens, and package of red pens (items on my oldest son's school list), as the items to give me the minimum of $5 and then was able to get 30 pocket folders, 9 packages of pencil erasers, and 9 packs of index cards for $7.78.  This week they have the scissors for 25 cents each, sharpies 25 cents each, and packs of 4 glue sticks for 25 cents each, which made my total $3.18.  I then went over to Fred Meyer's where the binders are on sale as well as buy one get one free, filler paper 79 cents each, bottles of Elmer's glue 59 cents each, Ticonderoga 24 packs of pencils $2.99 (half price), Crayola crayons 59 cents each, Crayola crayons 59 cents each, package of highlighters $1.00, and a package of 2 erasers for 49 cents.  All of the extra items that won't be needed for the boys this year, will be stored away in my plastic totes for when they run out or for next year.

Each year I stock up on these items when they are at their cheapest price point so that we are prepared.  Last year I had very few items that HAD to be bought.

If you start doing this, it can make it very easy and less stressful to be prepared as well as much easier on the pocket book.  I would tell you that with 3 boys in school, our school supplies come to maybe $60 a year if that.

What if I also told you that I have their pants and shoes for school next year?  This was done a few months ago when there was a sale on jeans on for $8.88 a pair as well as a clearance on shoes.  Believe me, with 3 boys, we wear through jeans and shoes so it would be insane to pay top dollar for these items!