*pout*
Every penny counts. All in I think so far for supplies we spent about $120 (total for all four kids) and that includes a few extras for at home too, for example since crayons were only 20 cents a box I bought a dozen boxes of those because they’ll use them up by the end of the school year. I tried to stick the basic necessities like pencils, folders, notebooks, and the important items on their supply lists like headphones for the computers.

I have to really stretch our back to school budget this year. The supply lists are longer than ever for the boys, I swear everything except toilet paper!

We took advantage of the tax free weekend and shopped for supplies. I admit there were a few things I did not buy, because I know they were on the list last year and they just never really used them. I didn’t buy hand sanitizer or soap because in all my boys classrooms last year they had way too much of the stuff and didn’t even come close to using it all.

Add to that uniform shopping, new shoes, and new backpacks to meet the guidelines for the kids new schools and my bank account is feeling the drain. I actually started uniform shopping a few months ago so I could spread it out and not have to buy everything all at one time. Little Grandma offered to help with the new backpacks since three out of four boys need new ones this year.

And of course everyone needs new shoes that meet the uniform requirements. How fun. Uniforms are nice in some ways, but a royal pain in the butt in other ways. I would have started shoe shopping early too, but they grow out of their shoes so darn fast I figured it best to wait until a few weeks before school starts to go for the shoes. Darn these boys and their ginormous feet!

Even after buying a cart full of stuff at Target I can’t believe how much stuff we still need to get before school starts in September. I don’t think I’ve ever felt so unprepared for back to school … why does this year feel so crazy? I hope it’s just because we’re changing schools and there’s a lot going on elsewhere. I can’t stand much more insanity.