DEBT

Back to School Spending: Tween Edition

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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?





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