Anyone have any back-to-school tips and tricks?! I am COMPLETELY new to this with my oldest going into Kindergarten but I believe we have some good ideas/tips for other Mom’s out there and back to school worries.
1. Tying your shoes – We are headed into Kinder so tying our shoes is a very controversial topic, but we decided she needs to know before she starts school. It all started with my husband about 3 weeks before school started telling my 5 year old that she would not be allowed to watch TV until she put her shoes on and tied them.
Day 1 was a frustrating crying mess, in which we had to remind her that she would not be Great at everything the 1st time she tried it. By day 3 it was only taking her 3 tries each shoe to get them tied and by day 5 she was a pro. Still some snags here and there but she can tie her own shoes!
2. Back to School Clothes – this is HUGE! I used to not shop sales at all. Was always paying full price, which as a penny pincher is heart breaking to me. There ALWAYS has to be a coupon!! This year I watched for it.
Old Navy put their dresses on $5 sale – which i snagged 3, along with a pair of jeans, a romper and 2 shirts (bottom left of the pic) and online they had an additional 20% off coupon (typical that online is cheaper than in store). Spent about $50! and got $20 in a coupon that I can spend later 🙂
Target put their leggings on $5! I went and bought all the cute leggings we could – I rummaged through the clearance instead of buying the “on sale” shirts and snagged up 3 shirts for $2 each, a skirt that was normally $20 for $5 and a dress that was normally $20 for $8 – They had a coupon for $10 off $40 – so we spent about $40 after our $10 off! AMAZING! if I would have used my red card I could have gotten another 5% but I only have the credit card and I’m not using that right now 🙂 lol
Children’s Place – they CONSTANTLY put their shirts on $2.50-$3.50 sale, I went through and picked all shirts to do with rainbows, unicorns and hearts (my 5 year olds 3 favorite things) and snagged up 7 shirts and 2 pants AND A UNICORN HEADBAND ($2) for about $38 when it was all said and done.
New school shopping can be a beating but watch the sales and be aware of your coupons! These places do try to gain your business so they will run sales 🙂
Ok take count- I have 5 jeans, 4 dresses, 1 skirt, 1 romper, 16 shirts (2 were missing), and 5 leggings!
3. WAKE UP!! The 3rd tip I have for you is about the beat down of getting your kid to wake up and get ready on time to get out the door. We HATE yelling in the morning, brush your teeth, get dressed, hurry up!! So again my husband started to wake up the 5 yr old at the time she needed to get up about 3 weeks before school.
Week 2 we started laying out her clothes at night so she would get up (with an alarm I bought off amazon for about $10) get dressed and come out ready to eat breakfast, then eat breakfast, brush teeth and hair and get shoes on and tied. we are still about a week out from school so we have not perfected the timing but we are VERY CLOSE! we were within 10 mins today 🙂 so I have faith. We didn’t set her alarm today and she got up all by herself 10 mins later than the alarm, so she’s getting the routine down!
4. School Supplies – we shopped in store at Walmart (1st year of school kinder and all) but had to buy some items online too. Prep ahead and know where has the best deals! Target was running a 15% off add for school supplies but there were some items that were way more expensive than Walmart. They both do pickup now, so shop between the 2 online and get the best prices!! I will go pickup my items from target today that I bought while shopping in Walmart 🤣 I just can’t pay full price for stuff!
5. That’s all I got! Lol- no number 5 but try to enjoy those babies for the last few weeks. I know you are tired, they are testy and you are ready for a break…. but just remember one day they will move out and be gone 😭 so enjoy them. And trust me with a super sassy 5 year old I know how hard this is sometimes!!
Steph's Lifestyle 