I am totally mental. Or I have wayyyy too much time on my hands. How, you might ask, can a full time working mom of two and wife of one possibly have “too much time on my hands”? Upon perusing the kids’ back to school supply lists, I almost had a coronary. There were 56 items total that I needed to purchase for both kids combined. I took the two lists and made one list so my head didn’t have to ping pong back and forth between these two rambling pages. The Sunday ads from Walmart, Walgreens, Office Max and Staples were all laid out for a side by side comparison of all school supplies. I have no doubt turned into my stepdad who will drive 10 extra miles because tomatoes are on sale at that grocery store vs. the one I’m standing in right now.
At Walmart, there were 70 page spiral notebooks for .05, what a smokin’ deal! I searched high and low to no avail. NO 70 page, nickel spirals were in sight. Not one. Just as my eyes started to well up, I asked a clueless, unhelpful Walmart employee where they might be. No reply. Just then, turning the corner on two wheels, an evil, fleeing woman had her cart LOADED to the gills with FULL BOXES of 70 page spirals. Pig. She was running, escaping from anyone in DESPERATE NEED of spiral notebooks, witnessing her overzealous hoard, as she ignored my desperate cry, “WHERE DID YOU FIND THOSE?!?!”
Alone and downtrodden, I was about to give up hope, when a mysterious woman shopper overheard my plea, and with a dirty, cracked fingernail, she pointed in the direction that the coveted spiral notebooks were hidden. The golden treasure was innocently waiting on a hand cart, quietly resting in its cardboard box still, untouched. I took 3 in the colors specified on the list and hugged them to my chest. A successful shopping trip at 4 stores, purchasing 45 out of the 56 items listed for a mere $18.95 in less than 2 hours (kids not present). Go me, go me… I am waiting for the remaining 11 items to go on sale, in which I will probably visit 7 different locations. Think I need a life?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
12 comments:
holy cow, they specify notebook binding, color AND number of pages? i am so not prepared to deal with that. go you, indeed, for not even mentioning what a pain in the butt that they are so blessed specific. can't they just say "paper"??
You have learned from the Master shopper....NG has taught us well!!
We are sooooooooooo proud that something we taught you has paid off..really . NG is bursting his buttons..oh, that is just from weight gain,but he is very happy about your savings. How smart are you to leave my precious grandchildren at home..YOU are a Rockin MOM..you go girl
Sus~ Yes, they specify colors, preferred brands, etc. it's insane. For sure, annoying. I tried to cut and paste the lists, but it's in Adobe format and I am so remedial, I couldn't figure out how to shrink it and post it. Oh well, you get the gist of it though. :)
We must stop giving into the schools with the Crazy List. My mom took me to by a binder, a pack of pens, a packet of pencils, a sheaf of 500 pages of lined paper and a ruler. That was it.
Can anyone tell me the education is any better now that they require 54 items?
Fight the Power!
Oh lordy day...I need to go and buy supplies too. Why didn't you buy mine while you were out?
And I thought I was bad with my shopping spree to Office Depot in search of 1 cent rulers....
Great deal..! I too got huge discount offers on back to school shopping from WalMart.
Great job....at our schools we get the list the first day of school and it's all due to be purchased by the next day~!!! you should see our Wal-Mart that night...my husband had a nervous breakdown the year I asked him to do it. The smartest thing about school supply shopping you said though, was "without the kids"!!! Took me about 3 years to figure that out.
We get a list like this, too. I hate it. And there is always one totally random item that you just. can't. find. Our district also offers pre-packaged supplies. For the bargoon price of THIRTY DOLLARS.
You? Are my new hero. :)
Trooper Thorn~ yea, I don't really remember any list in our day.
Alice~ I shoulda bought yours while I was out, what was I thinking?
Karen~ went to 2 Office Max stores, they were all out of .01 rulers, I'm going again tomorrow
Melissa~ next year I will buy the deal from the district, that's a great price!
Melissa: What is the one random item? It it determined by the school district, or can you pick your own random item? I'd bring a catfish; that's pretty random.
Post a Comment