Back to School...it's coming!

 

Ahhhhh....yes, back to school. I cannot believe the Summer is coming to an end. Yes, I absolutely adore Fall but I adore having all of my kids home with me more. The beginning of school is always very bittersweet for me. It takes a few weeks for the empty house to feel normal again during the school hours. As we get closer though the kids are getting really excited and cannot wait to find out who their teachers are. This is the first year in 3 years we won't be having anyone start kindergarten or at a new school so this Mama is looking forward to a nice, easy, fun first day for my four big kids! 

Let's talk about some money saving tips for back to school! Now, none of this is ground breaking but I had a couple people ask me if I had any tips so I figured this would be a great place to start with blogging more consistently. If you have any more tips please share below! I am absolutely NOT an expert, just a mom doing her best like the rest of you! :)

My first tip is to get into those bureaus and that closest BEFORE you start back to school shopping. Every year I am so surprised at how much we have that's still in good shape AND that fits! But at the same time I also LOVE a good purge and this is a great time to do just that. Out with the old, in with the new!! I truly do not think anything makes me happier than purging. Get rid of everything that looks dingy and doesn't fit and make room for back to school clothes. We always always start with what we have. See what the kids still like and then from there we see what we actually need.

From there I actually sit down with my kids and see what they like/want. You know, just in case someone wants a "new look" for the school year. 

Kensington and Tenley are still pretty easy. Being only 6 and 7, they don't care as much and they will do dresses and leggings pretty much every single day. I'm lucky that they are the same size so they can share! 

Kamryn and Logan are a little more a lot more picky. Logan told me he likes jogger style pants and plain shirts. Nothing graphic, nothing with stripes, nothing super colorful. He didn't want any jeans and wanted all athletic or khaki material joggers. So Old Navy it is for Logan. Kamryn wasn't sure. She's in middle school now so choosing the right clothes is slightly more of a big deal. Plus, I want to make sure what she wears is what I feel is appropriate for a 12, almost 13, year old. Moms of tween/teen girls I know you feel me on this.... We settled on Abercrombie for tops, Aeropostale for jeans and grabbed some more athletic leggings from Old Navy. The jeans were a very big deal for Kamryn. She's so tiny and still fits into little girls sizes so we had to get creative. Lucky for us we found a size and style that works at Aero.

Now, I don't know about your house but at my house this year, sneakers were the big topic! Kamryn and Logan were VERY specific on what they wanted and for both, the particular sneaker they wanted were a bit more pricey than what we usually spend. BUT! I've got an easy fix that almost always works. Simply find the sneakers online that they like, copy and paste the name of said sneaker into your browser and then compare prices. You are sure to find a good deal this way! I found the sneakers Kamryn wanted for $30 cheaper on another site than the one we initially found them!!

We also do not buy new backpacks or lunch boxes unless we absolutely need them. Last year both Kamryn and Logan's ripped so they got new ones but Kensington and Tenley's still look great and I've got them in the wash as I type this. So as long as they come out looking good, they are using last year's backpacks and lunch boxes again.

And yes, I do all my shopping online. For me personally, it's easier to budget and I don't need to remember coupons because 9 times out of 10 the promo code is right there on the site. Most of the time, if not all the time, I'm getting so much that shipping is free anyways. Either way though, if I need to pay for shipping it's worth it to save myself the headache of dragging 5 kids school shopping! 

What did I miss? These are just a few but I know there has to be so many more. Leave your tips in the comments!

Happy (almost) back to school to us!!

PS-how cute are these throwback back to school pics I posted here?!?