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Back to $chool
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George W. Bush must love the rising fuel costs as an oil barron himself. But as the cash crunch keeps on coming, I can still look forward to Utahns voting status quo and keep on sending the rich Republicans back to Washington.
"This budget crunch really is putting a damper on back-to-school. Who did we vote for last time? Oh yeah, they did a good job, check that box."
Wake up, this recession (yes RECESSION) was brought to you by 6 years of Republican controlled Congress, 8 Years of Republican White House, and 2 years of Democrats getting vetoed and stonewalled by those same Repubicans. So what will we do as Utahns? Vote in the same old party, with the same old people?
When we moved, there were no more school uniforms and our clothing budget increased, even though I still make some clothing, it's expensive and I really wish for those uniform days!
Having uniforms are a positive in many ways, children dress alike, no one has better clothes than anyone else, which socially I think is helpful. We lived in an area where there were gangs, and the uniforms in schools helped with children dressing to identify with gangs. Why don't we incorporate school uniforms? There are so many positive aspects involved, it is something that might help!
I did most of my back to school shopping at DI. (Fortunately my kids are still too young to care that their clothes are second hand.) It takes a little effort to sort through the junk to find the good stuff but you can find it.
My kids are going back to school in name brand clothes and it cost me $50.
Sometimes more inexpensive clothing is really not a bargain because they don't hold up well. Some fabrics shrink too much and don't hold the shape.
Nice clothes at a great price.
However, even if you buy the cheap stuff it only has to last one year before they outgrow it anyway!
It isn't hard if you just look around for sales.
Even better, just tell the whining kids no!
$500 for 5 kids equal $100 per kid. Let's just say that each kid needs 2 pair of jeans and a pair of dress slacks or a skirt ($30). Then they need 8 shirts or blouses($40), underwear ($10), socks ($10), shoes ($30), and a coat ($20). For whatever reason, girls cloths cost more, so I hope the poor woman didn't have 5 girls. Anyway I come up with $140 per kid being minimal for buying new. I used to feel like a real tight wad setting a limit of $100 per kid six years ago and my wife would then fill in the gaps from thrift stores. There is no way you can cloth 5 school-aged kids for $500 buying new in 2008. Clothing one kindergartener for $100, maybe, but their cloths get more expensive as they get bigger. Our society also embraces the notion that kids with less than a $300 wardrode are social pariahs. That is where the uniforms really result in savings.
1 Elmers Glue
1 Box of Kleenex
1 School pencil box
5" fiskar scissors
50 ct 5oz paper cups
24 #2 pencils pre-sharpened
16ct box Crayola Crayons
2 70pg Spiral comp book wide rule
2 Pocket folders
20ct box ziploc quart size freezer bags
20ct box ziploc gallon size freezer bags
Pink Eraser
Now....this is just for ONE child, who is in FIRST GRADE!!! And we have a "lottery for education" here as well. I'm sure not seeing it help my child or his school. After buying these items, WITH WHAT MONEY am I supposed to buy him a pair of jeans and a pair of shoes???? I'm just praying his long sleeved shirts I got him last year for Kindergarten fit him again this year. It really hacks me off that schools REQUIRE these items to stock the classrooms. REDICULOUS!
As far as the REQUIRED school supplies that some are complaining about, if your child is in a public school, those supplies are not required. Your child has a right to a free and appropriate public education according to law, and although the teacher can ASK for supplies, the school cannot require them. This year I decided to boycott the ziploc bags and hand sanitizer requests, because my daughter's kindergarten teacher last year had a ton left over at the end of the year. Guess what? I didn't send them, and nothing happened to me. No ziploc police showed up at my house! :-) If you don't have the money, don't buy them.
Have you ever thought you might organize a "back to School" yard sale? Everyone could mend, wash/iron their kid's old school clothes - the ones that are good, but have been outgrown by their kids, and bring them to one place, sort them according to sizes, and then everyone could look thru and pick up things they could use for their kids at prices that everyone could afford. There are lots of ways you could organize it, and it would be fun to all work together on something like this - especially if you can pick up a bargain or two yourself. Just a thought.
Calculators are the big expense and clothes. They can run $25 for middle school to over a hundred in high school. You usually get only a few years out of them as the school wants everyone on the same calculator so you can't pass them down to younger children.
As for the clothes: 3 bottoms, 5 tops to include a sweater/hoody for cooler climates, socks and undergarments, shoes. Uniform or no that should do it until Christmas and birthdays to stretch out the wardrobe. Old Navy may last a few handme downs more than Walmart or at least provide a good resale at a garage sale. Sounds like a good deal on the jeans.
I like the Eyres philosophy. Give the kids the money at the appropriate age and let make the decision on clothes: where the money should go and for what. Kids learn real fast what's necessary and what's excess.
The reason for the long list of supplies is because the schools can't afford the school supplies as long as the disrict is funding school sports. What's really important? Education for all the students or games for big guys?
If you're very well off, then fine... have 5 or 8 kids if you want. But if you both have low paying jobs, barely earning above minimum wage then you must decide to either not have kids or limit it to 1 or 2.
My older children have all gotten jobs and prefer to buy their own things, plus if they ask I tell them to work for it. They have gained a strong sense of work ethics.
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I used to go to Walmart for clothes. They were cheap, then I found out the clothes were made as cheap as they cost.
I now go to Shopko because they actually have long shirts which I need. Shop online for everything else, I'm a big supporter of EBay. The answer is give money BACK to the people and stop feeding the Price Gougers!! I go back to Shopko because not only do they have my 'longs' but they are not Walmart. They are not the big and BIG and getting BIGGER companies that are taking over and monopolizing the public.
As America gets FARTHER ever day from what we wanted to be I say the smartest and the only people actually HELPING a cause in our economy aren't the ones who say WE NEED TO SPEND(middle class crap) but those who say.... We need to spend money BACK into the people. Help the poor or die with the rich.