Scrimping and Splurging: Back-To-School Shopping

Where did the last 5 months go? Can you believe we are already in the middle of 2013? For kids, June means the end of summer and the start of the school year. For parents, June is the month of paying for tuition fee, of wrapping books (which does not excite me at all), and of course, shopping for school supplies.

Fortunately, Aki’s school kept the art materials and other supplies that we bought last year. Because of that, my shopping list was slashed significantly. After comparing prices, I found out that the school supplies shopping place-to-be is ….. drum rolls please…. Booksale! Yup, another reason to visit Booksale. School supplies there are cheaper compared to the ones sold in the more known bookstores. If last year’s shopping trip in Cash and Carry was not stressful, shopping in Booksale this year is even better. No lines at all.  I got these for Aki

And because I doubt like cramming and I hate last minute birthday invitations, I stocked on gift-able books for Aki’s classmates.

Booksale is known to be a bookstore of second-hand books but they also have a lot of brand new ones. You just have to inspect books carefully. Although this is not true for all books, I noticed that one way to spot a brand new book is to check if it has a mark on the pages. I think Booksale does this so the discounted books sold at their stores will not be sold elsewhere for the original price.

From books, let’s move on to socks. Last year, I was surprised to find out how expensive socks sold in malls are. I can’t remember exactly but I think we bought a set of three for 150 or 200 bucks.Yes, that is already expensive based on my standards.  I am a commuter who regularly checks out bangketas or sidewalk vendors. I know I can get 3 pairs for as low as 50 bucks. That’s exactly what I did this year.

We scrimped on socks. We scrimped on school supplies. We scrimped on gifts for classmates.  School shoes was a different story.

As I have shared here and here, we hardly buy Aki new things. Having 3 kuyas, or older boy cousins, means he is the heir of their clothes, shoes and toys. About 60% of his clothes are second hand. The rest are gifts. Last year, I was half hearted when I bought him shoes. Looking back, he wore that pair everyday to school. So the 700 something we spent on that pair was well spent since the shoes served him well. Getting him a pair one size bigger was the right move.

His school shoes this year cost more than twice what we spent for last year. Since the pair will be worn everyday and will definitely bring so much joy to our boy, we did not mind spending that much.

This is now our favorite shoe brand

Dinosoles, the choice of all   Dino-obsessed kids.

Looks simple upfront

But check out the sides

Pretty cool, huh?

The eyes have blinking lights. (Mental note: ask how to clean)

We saved several hundreds because Dinosoles has an ongoing 20% off promo if you buy directly from their Facebook page.  We used those savings to buy Aki a matching dino cap!

So excited to see Aki on his first day in school next week!

Are you done with your back-to-school shopping?