...or how to turn a financial lemon into a Margarita (or even a tequila shot)
Oh dear - another School Year about to start. One goes out shopping or to a cafe & all you hear are the wailing laments of parents bemoaning the outlay & cost of School Uniforms & the dreaded School Stationary lists.
Ok - well maybe I over dramatized that bit. But you do see a fair share of eye rolling & hear gasps of shock at the prices of things. This is even worse when they get to Intermediate or High School.
You mention School Uniforms & Stationary shopping to a friend casually & you are greeted with "I know - such & such just spent $500.00 on the summer unform & then blah blah blah on the stationary....it's DISSSgusting". In the past I must admit to having at least thought the same more than once.
But that was when I worked outside of the family home.....&, well I guess I kind of analysed how many hours at work it was costing me to pay for a school uniform & stationary. I have even been known to stand there in a queue with everything crossed hoping that I have enough money in my account to pay the total at the checkout....without the hideous embarrassment of having to put something back ;o)
Well let me tell you - this last lot of l-o-n-g school holidays has been enlightening! Completely. Aside from a severe case of yo-yo butt (now an official entry in the Dictionary of Deb), where upon every time my butt would hit a chair to type or torch, I would promptly be interrupted with "Mum...can you/can I/can we", I have felt a sharp shift in my outlook.
So, earlier this week, with a spring in my step, I gleefully went shopping for Gabriela's Intermediate Uniform.....$100.00 for a skirt?....who cares. $80.00 for the jersey .....how wonderful. "$30.00 for the polo with the school logo? - hey I'll have TWO of those thanks." "Oh yes we definitely want the sports uniform as well" & so on.
Thursday it was Stationary time - so instead of the usual manic round of scouring the latest circulars to see who was supplying all the products needed for the cheapest price & then tiki touring around the city to buy them , I went with the notoriously more expensive idea of buying them direct from the school instead.
Down to the School Office, we swanned & I asked for the complete Stationary pack. "Are you sure you wouldn't like to check the list & see if there is anything she might have at home?" I was asked. "No - it's fine" I replied "it, doesn't hurt to have doubles to fall back on".
So why the shift in attitude? I'll tell you - because I am the worst Mother one could possibly imagine.... I need some 'me' time without yo-yo-butt syndrome....I need to be able to focus on all that I want to achieve this year without constant interruptions & drama's. I need to be 'Deb Uninterrupted' instead of 'Mum' a few hours a day! Slowly it had dawned on me that when they went back to school I'd be getting that 6 hours per day of freedom.
I then started pondering that perhaps the cost of uniforms & stationary (& later school supplies costs & school fee's) was worth that 6 hours a day freedom. I even got carried away enough to do the Math!!! Now anyone that knows me will know that I absolutely hate math - it's a foreign language to me. So for me to willingly engage in some multiplication & then the dreaded division was nothing short of astounding. Oh yes - freedom is certainly a good motivator!
I have just discovered that to keep Miss Gabriela at School for a year - a total of 1158 hours of freedom is costing me....
a grand total of......
are you ready?
$1.92 per day - or 32 cents an hour! That is New Zealand dollars & cents people - so at the current exchange rate against the US dollar you can approximately halve it!!
Oh I might have just paid $115.00 for the School kilt made of what is possibly the ugliest tartan in existence - but hey I'm happy ;o) Actually I'm almost bouncing ....
Disclaimer: I really do love my kids, but seriously 6 weeks & two days continuously at home over Summer??? And these holidays have been particularly stressful - just believe me on that!
Oh dear - another School Year about to start. One goes out shopping or to a cafe & all you hear are the wailing laments of parents bemoaning the outlay & cost of School Uniforms & the dreaded School Stationary lists.
Ok - well maybe I over dramatized that bit. But you do see a fair share of eye rolling & hear gasps of shock at the prices of things. This is even worse when they get to Intermediate or High School.
You mention School Uniforms & Stationary shopping to a friend casually & you are greeted with "I know - such & such just spent $500.00 on the summer unform & then blah blah blah on the stationary....it's DISSSgusting". In the past I must admit to having at least thought the same more than once.
But that was when I worked outside of the family home.....&, well I guess I kind of analysed how many hours at work it was costing me to pay for a school uniform & stationary. I have even been known to stand there in a queue with everything crossed hoping that I have enough money in my account to pay the total at the checkout....without the hideous embarrassment of having to put something back ;o)
Well let me tell you - this last lot of l-o-n-g school holidays has been enlightening! Completely. Aside from a severe case of yo-yo butt (now an official entry in the Dictionary of Deb), where upon every time my butt would hit a chair to type or torch, I would promptly be interrupted with "Mum...can you/can I/can we", I have felt a sharp shift in my outlook.
So, earlier this week, with a spring in my step, I gleefully went shopping for Gabriela's Intermediate Uniform.....$100.00 for a skirt?....who cares. $80.00 for the jersey .....how wonderful. "$30.00 for the polo with the school logo? - hey I'll have TWO of those thanks." "Oh yes we definitely want the sports uniform as well" & so on.
Thursday it was Stationary time - so instead of the usual manic round of scouring the latest circulars to see who was supplying all the products needed for the cheapest price & then tiki touring around the city to buy them , I went with the notoriously more expensive idea of buying them direct from the school instead.
Down to the School Office, we swanned & I asked for the complete Stationary pack. "Are you sure you wouldn't like to check the list & see if there is anything she might have at home?" I was asked. "No - it's fine" I replied "it, doesn't hurt to have doubles to fall back on".
So why the shift in attitude? I'll tell you - because I am the worst Mother one could possibly imagine.... I need some 'me' time without yo-yo-butt syndrome....I need to be able to focus on all that I want to achieve this year without constant interruptions & drama's. I need to be 'Deb Uninterrupted' instead of 'Mum' a few hours a day! Slowly it had dawned on me that when they went back to school I'd be getting that 6 hours per day of freedom.
I then started pondering that perhaps the cost of uniforms & stationary (& later school supplies costs & school fee's) was worth that 6 hours a day freedom. I even got carried away enough to do the Math!!! Now anyone that knows me will know that I absolutely hate math - it's a foreign language to me. So for me to willingly engage in some multiplication & then the dreaded division was nothing short of astounding. Oh yes - freedom is certainly a good motivator!
I have just discovered that to keep Miss Gabriela at School for a year - a total of 1158 hours of freedom is costing me....
a grand total of......
are you ready?
$1.92 per day - or 32 cents an hour! That is New Zealand dollars & cents people - so at the current exchange rate against the US dollar you can approximately halve it!!
Oh I might have just paid $115.00 for the School kilt made of what is possibly the ugliest tartan in existence - but hey I'm happy ;o) Actually I'm almost bouncing ....
Disclaimer: I really do love my kids, but seriously 6 weeks & two days continuously at home over Summer??? And these holidays have been particularly stressful - just believe me on that!
