This popped up on my Facebook memories a few days ago and I thought it was worth the share. Me hating the heat is not new. Me struggling with my lawnmowers is not new. Me hating to cut grass in the heat with lawnmowers that are so hard to start and maintain is not new.
Of course, the Hope powered lawnmower while great in theory, did not last long either. Well, mechanically it did, but ugh, it was so hard to cut with it.
I am loving the new electric lawnmower. One charge cuts the entire yard. It is self-propelled so easier to push. And starts with a button push versus me wrestling with and ultimately breaking the pull strings on my old gas mowers.
Don’t get me wrong, I still despise cutting the grass especially with how hot it’s been. But I love a fresh cut yard. Makes me so proud.
But I am definitely ready for the weather to cool off. And then for the grass to stop growing for the season…just a few more months.
Thankfully my new lawnmower is really, really quiet. So mowing in the wee hours of the morning before the crazy hit ticks up has been possible without disturbing my neighbors.
I am so glad I bit the bullet and purchase an electric, self-propelled lawn mower. If you have to do something you don’t really want to do, buying the right and best tools for it makes a huge difference.
And when grass cutting season is over, it will hang neatly, out of the way in my utility closet.
Just thought I’d give you an update on that money spend from a couple of months ago.
Hope is a creative, solutions-focused business manager helping clients grow their business and work more efficiently by leveraging expertise in project management, digital marketing, & tech solutions. She’s recently become an empty nester as her 5 foster/adoptive kids have spread their wings. She lives with her 3 dogs in a small town in NE Georgia and prefers the mountains to the beaches any day. She struggles with the travel bug and is doing her best to help each of her kids as their finish schooling and become independent (but it’s hard!) She has run her own consulting company for almost twenty years! Hope began sharing her journey with the BAD community in the Spring of 2015 and feels like she has finally in a place to really focus on making wise financial decisions.
My kids, twin girls going into 7th grade, will be heading back to school soon. And with that first day back looming large on the horizon, I took them this past weekend to get all our back-to-school needs met. The girls are now 12-years-old, and are maturing physically, socially, emotionally, etc. This means a slightly more “grown up” taste and also aging up into the adult section for clothes and more.
Clothes & Shoes
My girls have been at an in-between/tween size for about a year now, but I think we’ve officially tipped over into the “women’s” size range. There are still some “kid” clothes they select and wear a L/XL. But things fit better in the women’s XS/S range. Boy oh boy, was my pocket book in for a surprise with this shift in sizing!
I took the kids to Old Navy at our local outlet mall – a retailer I consider to be relatively inexpensive. Imagine my shock when a simple dress, that would’ve cost likely $20 or below in kids sizes, now suddenly has a price tag of $40+! I noticed the same thing at the Nike outlet when I was looking at running shoes (both girls are on their school’s cross-country team and need decent running shoes). Thankfully, their feet are still on the smaller side, so they can fit into the biggest kids’ sizes. But I was eyeing the pricetags and noticed a HUGE jump in price for a kids’ version of a shoe versus an adults. For example, the shoes I ended up buying cost only $33 in the kids’ version! But an equivalent adult-sized version was closer to $90+! Ooof!
Hair Cuts
After our trip to the outlet mall, we also made a trip to get back-to-school haircuts. At 12-years old, the girls no longer qualify for the “kids cut” (available for age 11 and under). And adult haircut prices start at least $5-10 more than the kids’ equivalent. Even at the cheaper hair cut places (not some high end salon), I ended up paying $50 + tip for two relatively simple cuts. Ouch!
School Supplies
One area where I saved a little bit of money on back-to-school was with school supplies. Now that the girls are middle schoolers, they no longer need many of the art supplies that used to be required (e.g., construction paper, markers, paints, glues, etc.). Where I know I used to spend well over $100+ on back-to-school supplies, this year our costs were minimal. We needed pencils, lined paper, some composition books and binders, and that was it! I spent less than $50 for all the supplies for both girls! At least this part of back-to-school was a win!
Price Comparisons
I was musing things over with my husband after our big shopping day. I was feeling pained in the pocket-book, especially after realizing the big price jump in clothing when the girls transitioned into the adults’ section sizing. Objectively speaking, the older the girls have gotten, the less things have cost. When they were very young, I remember paying $1200/month in childcare. At the time our rent was under $1,000, so our childcare cost more than our housing!
Now, even with adult size clothing and back-to-school sports fees (not even mentioned above), hair cuts, school supplies, etc., I’m coming out way cheaper than $1200/month! But for some reason it psychologically feels different. When I paid $1200/month in childcare, it was a single fee paid at the beginning of the month. It was “set” and expected and that was it! Now, every single need/want/desire is a separate transaction. It feels like death by a thousand cuts and I’m noticing the jump in price at every register.
Obviously, I will take care of all my kids’ basic needs. And I am fortunate to have a job that provides an income where this is feasible and the jump in price is just an annoyance and not a matter of emergency or having to make decisions about what we can and cannot go without. But wow! This month was really a shock and I think a preview of what’s to come. I suppose at some point, the girls will stop growing in height and can hopefully re-wear some of their clothes for longer periods of time. At this point, they’re still growing and we basically need a whole new wardrobe every year since last season’s clothes are too short or too tight.
Let’s not even talk about other expenses that could be on the horizon…..like braces (maybe needed sometime this year!), technology, etc. In the blink of an eye they’ll be driving and that’s a whole other thing with vehicle cost, maintenance, insurance, etc. Oof! On second thought, I better just enjoy these tween years because this is probably the cheapest years there will be!
Do you have school aged kids? What are your back-to-school costs?
Hi, I’m Ashley! Arizonan on paper, Texan at heart. Lover of running, blogging, and all things cheeeeese. Freshly 40, married mother of two, working in academia. Trying to finally (finally!) pay off that ridiculous 6-digit student loan debt!
