Back To School Doesn’t Have To Break The Bank?!
In the last couple of decades, I imagine since social media took a massive leap into our lives, “back to school” has meant spending mega money making sure everything is “just so” for that first day of term. I wonder if it’s all about getting that all important picture standing outside the front door? I suspect partly, but also partly wanting to keep up with the Jones’ family next door. If they bought everything shining and new for their little darling then we need it too right?!
Wrong! I think, actually, you know!
Back when I was little photographs for school were reserved for the one day of the year when you had to remember your logo jumper, then sit nicely while pulling your best smile. If you, like me, grimmaced as the click went off for its one and only rodeo then that was that. I remember my Mum brushing my hair for it, I didn’t have new clothes.
I had new clothes as and when I needed them. My Mum was a single parent and money was tight but I don’t think anyone, regardless of pocket, had new clothes at the beginning of each new academic year just because! And, when I went to high school especially so, the uniform was bought very definitely with longevity in mind. My expensive (£100 which for 1992 was mega bucks) blazer is actually still rather too long in the arm for me, waiting for me to grow into it (whether it’s threadbare on the elbows or not)! At 44 I don’t think I’ve to worry about its battered appearance, that ship sailed!
And yet somehow, despite this thrifty upbringing where my Mum was carrying on from my Grandma in the “make, do and mend” mindset, I seem to have entered the arena with the rest of my peers when it comes to my own children. Since Florence, my eldest, started school in 2014 they have all had brand new uniforms and shoes for the beginning of each September’s back to school. Last year I remember putting my foot down when it came to bags, thinking what a land fill monstrosity it was that all these back packs either get discarded every year for no longer being fashionable or shoved to the back of the ever increasing cupboard of doom, but I joined the rat race for everything else.
This year, while money is pinching so tightly that I’m having to give up baby classes and minimise while juggling money pots, I started to think about how much September would cost me after the summer of fun? Our holiday period has been damped down drastically compared to other years when it comes to spending. We’ve had far fewer days out which cost money, there’s been camping over an abroad holiday (which woukd have been well out of the realms of possibility for this year financially) and I’ve had to simply say “no, we can’t afford it” on many occasions of asks for ice creams and treats. It’s made me feel rubbish. It’s made me feel mean. It’s made me panic and worried. And were not half as bad off as lots of others. If I’ve felt like I’m gasping for air as we keep our heads above the water, I dread to think how some have felt this summer and it makes me want to weep a little considering it. So for this September, with Christmas round the corner looming its expensive head (I’ve messaged our extended family suggesting we just don’t do presents at all this year), I’ve been worried.
But… In a moment of calm, in between the panic, I took a deep breath about it and decided that I was the one making my life this difficult. My children only need to have new what they need to have new. For Florence, who hasn’t grown in shoe size or anything else it’s been nothing but a new pair of (expensive) school trackies. They were falling apart so I had no choice but believe me, if they could have been life extended then they would have been. Jimmy is the most expensive one starting a new school and needing the lot. But like my Mum, I’ve bought for the future and let’s just say he looks a little bit little inside a lot of his clothes (not the blazer, my Mum in a Grandma state of mind bought him that saying she wanted him in one that fits) and he knows, like his sister, new kit is not going to be forthcoming so he has to look after it! Raff has had the bits replaced only that he absolutely needed and Posie, who isn’t going to school anyway of course, isn’t having anything new until the weather turns and I’ve had another month’s wear from her sandals and another month to save up for it.
So, the first day of term picture and they won’t be all shining and new on the doorstep. They will however, be loved and looked after and have what they need. We’d, of course, bend over backwards and go without ourselves to ensure that, but as for this treadmill of buying new for the start of term just because it’s the start of term… Well, I’m out. And I don’t think anyone will actually notice either. I’ve saved myself a fortune – if only that fortune was one we now had to just dispose on for fun. Sadly, it will get eaten up in the supermarket and on heating but at least we made it!
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