RE: Back to school shopping !

[birol]

 Today after dropping my son to his high school for orientation, I took DD to WallMart for back to school shopping. Few days ago we had checked Lasenza Girl at the mall to see what they have, and thanks God, she did not like the stuff there, and the ones she liked were soo expensive, she had the sense to say, they are expensive daddy (Oh, how I love her []) A skirt for 49 bucks, and pants for 59 bucks, gimme a break !
 
 Anyways, today (at wallmart) she choose 4 pants, and four t-shirt like thinks  (Blouse ?) to go with them, and she was soo happy. I also got ther two Bum equipment blouse like thingies as extras because she was pretty sensible, and a binder and paid 100 whopping bucks for all [] Which was less than I had budgeted for. Since we came to Canada, this is the first time she got a full new wardrobe for a new school year. I was thinking that I would not enjoy the trip, but she was so excited, and happy, I actually enjoyed it A few ladies offered their help to see what goes with what and if it was small or big and stuff, thanks for their kindness.
 
 I was bad though, at Blockbusters we were renting a movie (DS has his best friend for sleep over) and the cashier lady was chatting up with her, and said, ohh it must have been fun for mommy and daddy to take you for shopping, and I said, nope, just daddy [][][] She couldn t believe it that a daddy would take a DD for back to school shopping ! [][][] I think we will do the same next year !
 
 And tomorrow it is DS s turn to get some stuff, he didn t get any clothes for two years ....... [&:] Thanks God there is wallmart []

[startx]

 birol
Birol, thanks to you too that you have raised your children with a sense of the value of a dollar, and not just me, me, me, more, more, more, brand name, has to be the best, so I look good for my friends.
 
 I m dealing with that right now, with the 18 year old.  We didn t raise him, and he developed some very expensive tastes, no sense for saving money, and a demand for flashy brand names.  He went without a job for a while, and in that timeframe gained more of an understanding of money, and what is and is not a ridiculous amount of money for an item.  A lot of it was based on how he has seen our money being spent in that time, as I m all for us looking nice and liking our clothing, but I m NOT spending major bucks just because the jeans are cut the same as the ones at Wal-Mart, but have a flashy brand name plastered to the butt.
 
 You should pat yourself on the back while you are busy celebrating Wal-Mart too.  []

[DiW]

 birol
Although my 16 yo likes wearing the " popular"  clothes, she only buys them at incredibly reduced sales prices. When we were on vacation in FL, she did back to school shopping & bought a bunch of stuff at Target. She knows I m willing to spend a certain amount and she ll get more items if it s inexpensive. She figures $10 per item is reasonable whereas her FL cousins were buying $35 tee shirts & $60 pants at Abercrombie and Fitch. She also found some great shoes at 70% off (at a FL dept store). Her cousins thought she was crazy to bring the stuff back to NJ (yes we drove) but we agreed it was worth the trouble.
 
 Funny, my DDs prior bf came from a wealthy family and spending was never questioned in his family. It wasn t just a question of buying name brand clothes, but where you bought them seemed important too (we usually buy name brand clothes at reduced prices at places like Burlington Coat Factory). I m sure my DD told him about the newest bargain she found intentionally just to drive him crazy. SHe always felt very uncomfortable with the expensive gifts he gave her (like jewelry from Tiffany s). Now, she s dating a poor kid and the 2 of them love to bargain shop. She s only upset that the guy clothes on sale are much cheaper than girl clothes. It s like a game to see who gets the bigger bargain and yet they both wear clothes that are " in" . Funny thing (and it s great she recognizes this now) is she really loves the gifts he gives her, which are usually inexpensive but have a handmade touch.
 Di
 

[kathybrj]

 birol
Old Navy- 2 kids- 6 pairs of jeans/pants, a skirt, 10 shirts, a notebook binder, pencil case, organizer, hoodie sweatshirt, belts- $167.00. Gotta love that clearance rack.
 
 They had a 20% off sale when you stuff a promotional bag (even clearance stuff). My absolute limit was $200 total between the two and we came in a nice amount under.
 
 My kids know I won t spend tons on clothes, so don t even ask.

[wiininkwe]

 birol
Birol, one year my DH said that he would take our then teenaged son shopping for school clothes.  (I think he was going to try to show me how cheaply he could do it.)    I was very surprised when they came screeching back into the driveway about 20 minutes later.  I asked, " Did you forget something?"   DH glowered at me and said, " He wants $100.00 tennis shoes, we argued and I brought him home."    I said, " He s a teenaged boy, he s suppose to try to get $100.00 tennis shoes,that s his job.  But you are the Dad, and it s your job to just say no, or offer him the money that you are prepared to spend and let him pay the difference."    DH said, " Is that how you do it?"   DUH!  Any tennager worth their salt would try to see how far they can get, but it s our duty to put the bakes on and set limits.   After that DH got very good at shopping with the kids.   Good job in bringing your daughter up to see how far a dollar goes.

[ShirleyT]

 birol
I hear ya birol, I have been blessed with a daughter that loves to get nice things cheap!
 
 My daughter is 11 yrs old, going on 23 I do believe. When she was a baby and toddler I was on public assistance while I finished my undergrad and my graduate degrees. She spent those years with me hanging out at Wal-Mart on Saturdays waiting for the red light specials so I could get the good bargains and that is when I learned to do Christmas shopping all through out the year.
 
 Now that she does have some sense of money she tends to go straight for the clearance racks. She especially watches for the ones that have so much percent off the already reduced price. Just two weeks ago we went on our annual lunch then shopping trip on her first day of school (the first day is always only a half a day) and she was able to find 5 new shirts for a total of $22!!

[tlhdoc]

 birol
We have a store here called Value City.  They get a lot of second quality and some first quality stuff.  The key to finding the good values are to check the tags.  They have a 1,2,3 or 4 on the tag that tells you how bad it is.  A 1 is a first quality and a 4 is a really poor quality second.  I only buy the 1s or 2s and most of the time I can not find anything wrong with the 2s.

[NCSunshine]

 tlhdoc

 

ORIGINAL:  tlhdoc
 
 We have a store here called Value City.  They get a lot of second quality and some first quality stuff.  The key to finding the good values are to check the tags.  They have a 1,2,3 or 4 on the tag that tells you how bad it is.  A 1 is a first quality and a 4 is a really poor quality second.  I only buy the 1s or 2s and most of the time I can not find anything wrong with the 2s.
 

Thanks on the clue to the numbering system for Value City.  We have one also but it is so crammed packed that is it really hard to look at the stuff.  Now I know what to look for.