A Day at the Mall

[thebeachbumm33]

I've been sitting around most of the afternoon drinking that favorite concoction and checking my wife's spending on the debit card at the mall for school shopping, she's at a little more than $700 for the 9 year old. I was curious as to what you normally spend on yours being she still has to shop for our our 4 year old.

[thebeachbumm33]

I did have a "dude you just don't want to know" in the poll but it's not showing up

[pbans]

I don't go for the 'new school clothes' thing that much.....I buy my daughter what she needs when she needs it....I gave her $100 this year and sent her to the mall (she's 15).....she can start with a few new tops and her regular jeans......I can't imagine spending $700 on school clothes for a 9 year old, but that's just me..................

[phjrsaunt]

I did have a "dude you just don't want to know" in the poll but it's not showing up

phixed it phor ya!

[SharkOnLand]

We spent between 500-600 for the two kiddos (9 and 6). They need new jeans every year, between the growing and the holes in the knees

They had gotten a bunch of shirts new over the summer for birthdays and stuff, so they didn't need too many new shirts, but we hit some pretty decent sales and got them each 5 pairs of jeans, new shoes, and a handful of tops.

Clarification: that 500-600 was total for the two kiddos, not what we spent on each one.

[Dezdmona]

I'm going out on a limb here and guessing you have a daughter?
I would also guess that your wife bought herself some trinkets, too.

I've yet to total up my shopping for our (almost) 9 y/o son, for this school year,
I would guess I'd be in the $300 range; but this also included a new winter jacket.
This does NOT include the amount I spent on school supplies.

My husband spent more on himself during the same shopping spree.
(Tax-free weekend)

[buffettbride]

I chose between $300 and $500 but it's closer to the $300 range.

My daughter wears a uniform to school and luckily this year, most of last year's garb still fits. This is the breakdown:

$30 PE uniform
$60 school shoes and PE shoes
$60 school supplies (pens, pencils, etc)
$20 yearbook fee
$20 additional supplies fee (from school directly)
$70 school clothes (2 new uniform bottoms, 2 blouses, 2 sweaters)

I guess this year I fell under the $300 mark but last year I was at about $450 because she needed all new uniform stuff.

My son who is in preschool just got 2 new pairs of shoes and those cost $20 total. I'll just replace his stuff throughout the year plus he gets lots of hand-me-downs from cousins so I don't buy him a lot of new clothes.

[thebeachbumm33]

Well I find that her actual expense on our child is much less The wonderful woman that she is spent a little on both herself and me

[buffettbride]

That wonderful woman just played you like a fiddle.

[thebeachbumm33]

That wonderful woman just played you like a fiddle.

say what you will but she'll be looking spectacular in that bag from V.S.

[SharkOnLand]

That wonderful woman just played you like a fiddle.

say what you will but she'll be looking spectacular in that bag from V.S.

Well, there's $300 right there.

[Wino you know]

Since both of the kids have been living on their own for several years now, we don't have that problem. Most of what we spend is on ourselves.

That being said, a typical shopping outing for us is my wife going to the Coral Ridge Mall and spending $300-$500 on herself, while I go to Wal Mart and spend $35-$45 on ME.

BEFORE anyone calls me cheap, I've made it quite clear to both kids if they were living with us, the majority of our shopping would be done at Goodwill.

NOW you may call me cheap.

[IrishPirate]

Normally I would say around $300each, since my kids go to Catholic school. But this year, the HS changed the dress code, so we need all new uniforms. And the 18yr old is in college, no particular dress code, so new wardrobe, not to mention "BOOKS", ugh. Plus there is the grandson's first experience with Kindergarten, a smaller expence but worth every penny. So dude, you don't want to know!

[SharkOnLand]

My son who is in preschool just got 2 new pairs of shoes and those cost $20 total. I'll just replace his stuff throughout the year plus he gets lots of hand-me-downs from cousins so I don't buy him a lot of new clothes.

Where do you find $10 shoes worth buying? We've tried "bargain" shoes in the past, and my kids will have them destroyed in a couple of weeks.

We get better "bang for the buck" out of the $30-$40 shoes, they seem to last a lot longer...

[RinglingRingling]

We spent between 500-600 for the two kiddos (9 and 6). They need new jeans every year, between the growing and the holes in the knees

They had gotten a bunch of shirts new over the summer for birthdays and stuff, so they didn't need too many new shirts, but we hit some pretty decent sales and got them each 5 pairs of jeans, new shoes, and a handful of tops.

Clarification: that 500-600 was total for the two kiddos, not what we spent on each one.

you can get kids for about $250-300? Wow. talk about things getting cheaper with new technology and innovations.

[buffettbride]

My son who is in preschool just got 2 new pairs of shoes and those cost $20 total. I'll just replace his stuff throughout the year plus he gets lots of hand-me-downs from cousins so I don't buy him a lot of new clothes.

Where do you find $10 shoes worth buying? We've tried "bargain" shoes in the past, and my kids will have them destroyed in a couple of weeks.

We get better "bang for the buck" out of the $30-$40 shoes, they seem to last a lot longer...

Well, for Tony our 3 year old, we pretty much do Payless or Target for shoes. He goes through those just as fast as if we go StrideRite or something like that. Plus he grows through them so quickly, I can't justify spending so much on shoes for him. Plus, I just got him new sandals which were already 50% on clearance. His sneakers were $12.99 at Target (Lightning McQueen light-up race car sneakers).

For Victoria who is 10, we do the better shoes because she can usually get about 2 years worth out of them. She picked 2 new pairs of Skechers, one for gym one for regular use, plus she has a few other pairs she can wear to school if she wants (she can't wear sandals or anything with an open toe or heel to school or boots or hightops). We spent $60 at the Skechers outlet during buy-one-get-one-half-off sale. Last year she wanted saddle shoes so we got some nice ones on shoebuy.com for $35 and some nice Colombia sneaker-style hiking shoes for PE for $19.99 at Famous Footwear. BONUS: They still fit at the end of the year and they made a great summer camp and camping shoe!

I should also add that I am an exceptional shopper and really have it down to an art form. It takes me a while to do the shopping but I almost always come in under budget and/or can get a few "extras."

I don't know what I'm gonna do next year if she goes to public school. Go broke, prolly!

[Dezdmona]

Normally I would say around $300each, since my kids go to Catholic school. But this year, the HS changed the dress code, so we need all new uniforms. And the 18yr old is in college, no particular dress code, so new wardrobe, not to mention "BOOKS", ugh. Plus there is the grandson's first experience with Kindergarten, a smaller expence but worth every penny. So dude, you don't want to know!

College books don't have much wiggle room, you HAVE to buy what the Prof assigns.
Though there are more options for buying used than there was when I was in school.

Speaking of grandkeets...I imagine we'll be supplementing for ours when she starts pre-school in a few years....

[buffettbride]

Speaking of grandkeets...I imagine we'll be supplementing for ours when she starts pre-school in a few years....

It's hard to imagine you with grandkeets since your son is the same age as my daughter!!!

[Dezdmona]

Speaking of grandkeets...I imagine we'll be supplementing for ours when she starts pre-school in a few years....

It's hard to imagine you with grandkeets since your son is the same age as my daughter!!!

I'm one AWEsome Grandma
(but yes, it's hard for me to imagine at times, too.)

[OceanCityGirl]

I"m a bargain shopper. If I watch the sales I'd spend 150. per kid, assuming they have some things in decent shape already.
But I'm giving each of my college kids 150. and they're matching it so they've got 300. to spend. They are not bargain shoppers. They'll come home with a hoody and two pairs of jeans and a t-shirt for that. I want them to go to Marshalls where they'll get more for their money but it's on them.