Reading · Mom v. Law School

Welcome back to my Discovery series, where I am using the next month and a half to get my house and mind ready to be a 42 yr old part time law student as a divorced mom of 4 with a full time job.

I cannot believe it is time to start thinking about back to school again.

Every year I try my best not to let that season sneak up on me, mainly because of it definitely has in the past and that is the worst feeling for someone who budgets everything. The kids are usually so excited about back to school shopping and I’ve had years where I didn’t plan ahead and there was basically no budget for “fun cool things” and just the basics that year.

Sometimes as a single parent you can get so caught up in the day to day things that you miss the life events that require pre-planning. For me, I can become so focused, almost like having tunnel vision, on making sure the bills are paid, the kids have what they need day to day or that I am in place for what they need daily, that I forget to look ahead. There are yearly life events that are outside of the day to day and for me, in the past, they have snuck up on me and not in a good way.

Being so focused on the day to day, I have had years when I forgot to or didn’t have time and resources to properly plan for Christmas, Birthdays and Back to School. At one point it was so overwhelming, I told myself something had to change. I was drowning in responsibilities essentially. So I went back to what worked for me before I had double and triple the amount of responsibilities.

A day planner.

Well not only did they not make them like I remembered, the ones available at that time just didn’t fully meet my needs. So I decided to make one!! Through convincing by my sister, I made a planner that fit every need I had as a mom as well as the needs of my head of household role. I took a year to designed, develop and have it manufactured and honestly it was awesome, I even sold a few for a while.

Figured if I needed this help, I am sure someone else did and I was right.

So as you can imagine, one of the pages I added was a back to school page. If I am being honest, I actually added a page for just about every yearly event a parent would need to remember. Probably a tad bit over board now looking back, but hey, it got the job done.

If you have read any of my articles, then you know how my type A brain works. For those that have not, here is everything I included in the planner so you know I am not joking:

· Back to School Prep Page
· School Orientation/Open House Page
· Black Friday Shopping Page
· Gift Shopping Page
· Holiday Menu Planning Page
· Dr Appointments Tracker Page
· Birthday Planning Page
· Vacation Planning Page
· Summer Camp Planning Page
· Spring Cleaning Page
· Monthly Budget Tracking Page
· Grocery Shopping List Page
· Monthly Meal Planner Page
· Monthly Calendar View
· Weekly Day by Day view of course

But you see my point, as both a mom and head of household, I needed to keep all of these moving parts organized and needless to say, no other planner did that.

None the less, here we are and it’s time to use the Back to School Page. And while it may seem like overkill, I am thankful I have a dedicated space to make sure I properly plan for this and get kids everything they need and even a few of their wants.

You know it use to be so easy when they were in elementary school and younger. All the decisions were mine and all the clothes were cheaper.

The multi pack of underwear and socks had more in them than they do now. And matter of fact, I only had to buy underwear for three. Now its underwear, undershirts, Bras and various socks lengths depending on the child. And if I am feeling fancy, even a few color options thrown in there ( although I should probably check with the kids first to see if they would even wear them now).

Then the audacity of high schools to remove uniforms… like what parent agreed to that? Uniform shopping was the best, made it so easy for us parents. No longer can I do a mass online order of uniforms for the kids. Nope. They have styles and opinions and things they won’t wear. Ugh! I also learned I get offended when I buy them something I think is cute or nice and it just sits in the closet. So this year, they are each getting a budget and doing their own shopping.

I’ll pick a day, give them their money and they will tell me where to drive. Now regardless of the stores they pick, I will still be taking them to a thrift store. While I am all for new trendy clothes, I think it’s important that they see how much more than can get for the same amount of money.

Also, I use it as a chance to teach them about quality, price and being responsible with their money. Like most kids, they want to get as much as possible and this is a great way to teach them what that really means. Thankfully, my kids are use to thrift store shopping and they love to find different things and lately even transform them into a new style.

So, like a rooster when the sun rises, my body and mind are letting me know it’s about that time. Time to start the fun season of back to school shopping. Literally, this past Thursday morning at 4am, I was up shopping and honestly pretty proud of myself.

I decided to start with the undergarments by child first then typically I would habe move onto book bags. But after last year, being kindly told they were too old for the book bags I would normally buy ( I’ll miss you Lands End), I guess after undergarments this year, it would just be their individual budget amounts.

I do try and grab some of the common school supplies before the year starts but this year might be a little different as I no longer have elementary school kids anymore. I’ve learned that in middle school every teacher is specific on what they need and oddly enough, its not the main supplies from elementary school. I’ll still buy in advance but be sure to leave room in the budget for the class specifics.

Plus, in high school, just about everything is done on their laptops so not much to get there either. Regardless, I always buy for the house by buying double of a few things on the list. One set for school and one set for the house. This way when the school runs out, I have extra and when the kids break, lose or destroy something we have it.

You’d be surprised, or maybe not if you have kids, how quickly they run through things. So to reduce my stress from the inevitable “Mom I need more..” and me knowing the prices are triple what they were in August, I just stock up. Instead of asking me, they just go straight to the supply drawer and grab what they need.

Since I will be starting Law School this fall and my oldest will be taking some courses at the local college, that supply drawer might need to turn into a supply closet this year, just to be sure we are all stocked up.

You know, now that I am typing this out, I think I will add that to the family meeting agenda, “what school supplies did you use last year that you liked and want to have again this year?” Same me some time!

Even though it’s crazy to think it’s time for back to school shopping, the time as come! And honestly, I feel like there is a hidden cost to waiting until August. No thank you to the crowded store isles and picking through what is left.

Yes it’s July and yes I am back to school shopping already! So tell me, am I alone?

-Traci

I Can't Afford to Wing it This School Year

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