School Shopping

Well... how old are you now? My parents used to take us school shopping too, but I had four siblings. As a result, they sure as heck didn't spend $500 apiece on all of us lol. Clothing and other school things were also a lot cheaper back then than they are now, maybe not adjusted for inflation but when you compare a pair of jeans for $11 a good 20 years ago and the same jeans now and they are $19.97, it's the same piece of material and it serves the same purpose and it's the same size, so it shouldn't cost any more. I loved Mervyns... they are gone now. I used to buy a lot of my daughter's clothes there, not only were they an anchor store at my local mall but the normal prices were reasonable and the clothes were made well... infant clothes, toddler clothes, and little girl clothes. They went out of business here just recently, now that we are into 5T and 6 sizes... and one thing Mervyns had that I love were the slims. Not all stores carry these, and when you have a child who is small but not exceptionally short, it's necessary. Her pants used to fall OFF when she was no longer wearing diapers because I discovered it was the diaper that helped her 24m and 2Ts stay up. As far as clothes shopping, I did get my son some things before school started, some shirts, shoes, etc. I didn't buy him jeans or shorts because during the going out of business sale that some of the stores here have had, I bought like 5 pairs of jeans and some shorts, and he got those along with a few other pairs of things for his birthday back in June. All the stuff was new since the previous school year, so to me that counts lol. Also, his stuff costs a lot more, he likes brand names, we went to Pharmacy boardshop. I didn't need to buy a lot of stuff for my daughter, just some shoes and a couple things because she has a TON of clothes. I buy stuff for her throughout the year whenever I see cute things or excellent sales, but her clothing can still be found brand new for less than $4 for shirts, sometimes less than $7 for jeans or shorts, $5 for skirts etc. She also gets clothing as gifts. She always has tons of stuff because she grows so fast, so until she slows down, I don't think I will ever have an opportunity to STOP keeping an eye out for things for her regularly. She's five, so it's not like she's a fashionista or anything, but she does pick out some of the things she likes, and most of it is small versions of the stuff I like. She doesn't dress real 'cutesy', a typical summer outfit would be a little denim skirt or pair of shorts and a little tee shirt or tank top, in the winter maybe boot cut jeans and a short sleeve logo tee over a long sleeve. I think it really depends what a family normally does, and how much of a budget they allot to things like school shopping, how many kids they have, and what sort of taste the kids have. With my son, I have pretty much told him a dollar amount we are willing to spend on stuff, and he can either buy 3 outfits and one pair of shoes at an expensive outlet with that amount, or he can go buy 10 outfits and 4 pairs of shoes at somewhere like Target. That way the choice is up to him.

I think it's OK to start the school year off without new clothes. Not a huge deal. Up until I was like 12 or 13, my parents would take me "school shopping", too, although I was only alloted to spend around $100-$150 for new school clothes. I feel like I was fortunate to receive THAT much. As long as I had at least one new outfit (specifically for the first day of school or picture day - those were the 2 most important days). I used to get SO excited to go! But I don't think it's NECESSARY. It's just a nice thing your parents can do for you.

Well I used to get a new school blazer and shirts and shoes but that was about it. We had to wear uniform at school so it wasn't a big deal really. When I started college and we wore our own clothes I didn't get given any money to buy my own things. I don't think my mum thought I needed anything. My clothes get ruined alot though as I do fine art.

Yes, I think it is fair. Who cares what you look like? School is all about learning, getting the job done, and preparing for your future. School isn't about who has the latest styles. Some kids aren't as fortunate as you and go to school every year with the same cloths.

I do think it's fair; I didn't get new clothes every year. That said, I had a bit of an advantage because I have a September birthday so I would get a few new items just two or three weeks into the school year, but there is no way my parents had $500 dollars to spend on clothes every school year for one of us, let alone for both me *and* my brother. We kept most of our clothes nice and we were able to continue wearing them--I'll be 23 next month and I'm still wearing quite a bit of clothing from high school. Some of it is new, but not most of it.