School Supply Stress

School supply organization, recycling (as in using last year's supplies which are still usable) and shopping is getting more and more stressful each year.  I have three boys in school and the oldest is now in middle school.  For him we had 2 full backpacks, a crate and a bag's worth of supplies to cart in on the first day.  Also, everything needed to be labeled.  Insanity!!!

I actually made a spread sheet for shopping and detailed list for each child.  I purchased items at 3 different stores and returned the ones I found to be more expensive to Shopko. (Wal-Mart is the overall cheapest, but the grocery store is where I made out on the loss-leader sales.)

I spent around $80 this year on everything, including a 2GB flash drive and a TI calculator. That is actually pretty good.  I accredit this to my recycling, ad watching and all-around awesomeness.  In moments like that, my kids sometimes ask, "Do you feel like Supermom right now?"  Had they asked me, I would have firmly and resoundingly said, "Yes!"

Despite that feat, all the inventorying, labeling, sharpening, sorting, appropriating, distributing, packing, delivering, re-organizing and discovering what was missing was just a tad anxiety inducing for me.  So glad it's over.  Until next year...