The Inevitable War Over School Supplies

Ah its that time of year when the kids start ogling over the most expensive items on the store's shelves. What color? What size? Which one would be the best and all the kids would think that they were cool?

Then there are the parents. Standing in the middle of the aisle, gripping the shopping cart until their knuckles turn white, deciding. Deciding what is the cheapest item that they can buy for their precious child without that child thinking that their parents' choices are lame. Deciding if they can go just one month without making that car payment to afford the expense of this yearly tradition. Deciding if the way to go is either layaway or just a bank loan larger than the one they took out for their house.

Wintry good tidings or Santa does not bring on this once-a-year rush to the store's aisles. It's that inevitable time every August when parents have to divvy up for school supplies. An average child will cost about $100 minimum in school supplies and the older they are, the more expensive this shopping trip becomes. And if you have more than one child, the idea of layaway isn't such a bad idea. Schools come up with more and more items that the student "just has to have" such as clear backpacks, certain colored folders that you have to drive through three counties to find, duffel bags with the school's name on it (that you can only buy at the school for twice the price of course) and how about that controversial favorite, uniforms!

Oh, there are ways to help parents cut costs like Texas' 'Free Tax Weekend' that has been pushed back so that it is closer to when school begins. A large amount of districts, now, won't hand out school supply lists until the first day of school. That is not a good move especially when the majority of supplies, which hit the shelves in May, have already been sifted through and the remains are lying on the aisle's floors.