Funny, but to me back to school shopping means eraser and notebooks, not clothes. My kids wear the same thing to school that they wear out of school.

My kids won’t go without for school. I may not bowl in a league this fall or be able to play golf as often as I wish, but my kids will have everything they need, that much I know.

I equate back-to-school shopping with the many lists the schools send, not with clothes. They have plenty of clothes. My favorite back to school items are the specific brand-name products that are three times as expensive as generic equivalents, or hard to find things, such as “two boxes of left threaded lightbulbs; one monogrammed hankie; three yellow erasers.” This time each year leads us on a wild goose chase for these things. This year it’s cheaper to buy all of these things at one slightly more expensive place that is known to have everything rather than drive around to try and find another version for $0.03 less.

In order to let Big Oil pay their dividend, we’re giving up unnecessary upgrades in durable goods at my household!

Since I don’t have any kids, back to school buying does not affect me. To those who do, don’t worry about the clothing. The latest fashions are not enablers of learing.

The economy has not hit bottom yet. Wait until the parents credit card’s are maxed out! Then we will have problems.

Since I have no children to shop for, I can’t comment as to how this affects me personally. But I will be interested to see what other posters have to say. I’ve never really thought of “back to school” shopping as involving clothes so much as books and supplies. But then I went to Catholic schools growing up and we wore uniforms so I guess the whole “school clothes” thing is beyond me. I do know that some kids need specific school clothes–if they wore what they normally wear on the streets, they’d get kicked out of school for indecent exposure. But even buying school supplies…I’m sure some parents are going to be hurting and maybe they’ll have to make the choice between educational materials and “frivilous” school expenses like sports or band equipment.

“frivilous”? Pardon the spelling. It’s early and I’m either mispelling or making up words as I go along.

My budget isn’t that tight, at least not for school supplies. School is important and so is being prepared for it, so if another area has to get pinched, so be it.

Back to School shopping has two parts for us, clothes and the scavenger hunt. Buying new clothes isn’t about fashion, it’s about growing children. You have to get them new clothes at some point, and the start of school seems like as good a time as any. The scavenger hunt though, that’s entertainment. I’m with the earlier poster – it’s never “2 glue sticks”, it’s “2 Elmer’s 1oz. Glue sticks”. Truthfully though, our local stores (Walmart/Target) get the lists, then stocks the items – it makes for pretty quick one stop shopping.

My kids will have everything they need, however, it will not be the latest fashion name brand, that’s for sure. They will be happy to have clothes on their back and shoes on their feet. We have never ever looked at name brand items, and we definately can’t do that now. As it is, sometimes the cheaper items end up lasting a lot longer anyway.

Having young children, buying clothes seems to be a ongoing process regardless of the occasion. I think most parents that are frugal with there money, probably spent time this summer shopping garage sales, and resale shops to keep quality clothes on their children. It isn’t the cost of oil, or anything else that has exausted our economy. It is us, Americans seem to have a constant need to consume, regardless of the true need. There are many ways to acquire quality items without having to buy them at full or inflated prices.

My family has all we need, and are able to save over half our income, not use credit cards, and be free of debt. Not because we are wealthy by any means, but because we don’t enterain impulse buying, shop wisely, and leave the credit cards where they belong, in the wallet. Hopefully, the pain of high prices, will force many Americans living on credit and on someone elses money, to reset their thinking and get back to the basics of spending what you have, and only buying what you really need.

Because we have only one school age child, our budget is the same as last year. Next year is going to be a different story. The state DOR website has a list of cities, counties, and districts that are opting out of the state tax holiday next week.

I guess a lot of people shop for shoes, clothes, and things like that this time of the year. We’ve always bought those items throughout the year. It helps to have a big family where clothes can be reused and relatives give clothes as gifts. One thing neither my wife or I go for though are the stores with ridiculously expensive name brands when the exact same thing can be found for a lot less. We look hard for bargains regardless of the price of gasoline.

I don’t have kids. So I haven’t established that intimate relationship with them that all you parents have. So I really have no business commenting here. But I have established a professional relationship with hundreds of kids, and I’ve found that designer clothing and the shopping frenzy are partially responsible for the hostile takeover of childhood. If you as a parent sense that clothing plays a disproportionate role in defining you child’s identity, then you may want to work through some important issues with your child…to help him feel worthy and capable for reasons other than his clothing. The results can be dramatic: more optimism and better success in school. A healthy sense of identity will develop into more openness to others, which will develop into a sense of group identity, which will foster a child’s sense of belonging.

Recent studies indicate that kids unfortunately do revere those they perceive to have the best clothes. Having access to designer clothing affords some kids the opportunity to become popular—-which protects them and gives them social power and leverage over their peers.

What happens to the child (or young adult) when the designer clothes disappear? The answer is obvious.