One of my favorite memories growing up was going back to school shopping.  I loved getting all new clothes and school supplies. I remember shopping at the mall for hours and trying on new clothes and shoes and then heading over to Target to get the latest and greatest Trapper Keeper, and plastic lunch box.

 I am sure my mom will tell you that my memories are a little distorted and it was probably not as fun as I remember.  I looked forward to the days of doing this with my own children. Then I gave birth to two boys who have no desire to go anywhere near the mall.   The feeling is mutual because every time I get near the mall with my children, another patch of grey hair shows up. (Which I am sure it is due to living in a house with all boys, and not my age.)  For the past few years I have been doing all the shopping on my own. I usually buy a few things online and make a few trips to some big box stores on my lunch break.  Not the way I want to spend my lunch, and I am sure I am not getting the best deals because my enthusiasm to be done is what usually gets me through the store, and to the checkout line as quickly as possible. 

To avoid this tedious task I decided to do something completely different this year.  I decided to teach my 9 year old about budgets and also give him the freedom to pick his own clothes. And to be perfectly honest, I just wanted to pass this responsibility on to someone else.  I decided to let my son do his own back to school shopping.

I sat my son down and told him how we were going to school shop this year.  Once he was finished running around the house screaming “I get to buy my own clothes”. I had him write down his “must buy” list and let him know that he had a $200 budget.  I also let him know that if he budgeted his money properly he would be able to buy some other clothes for school outside of the list that I gave him. 

Must Buy List 

• 5 Tee Shirts 
• 1 pair of shoes 
• 1st Day of School outfit (must include a top & bottom)
  

I told him he could shop online at Old Navy or The Children’s Place.  I gave him specific stores because I wanted to make sure that we were shopping with stores that I trusted , had great deals on kids graphic tees, free returns, and free shipping. (Old Navy you must spend $50 and The Children’s Place has no minimum)

Within minutes he was at his computer shopping away and number crunching.  Trying to decide his 4th grade look; and feeling so grown up and independent with this new responsibility.   At first I felt a little guilty passing along what I thought was a chore, but he really embraced the task.

He ended up shopping at both Old Navy and The Children’s Place and spent just under $150.00.  He had selected all the required item and a few extras. I am not going to lie and say that we didn’t make a few tweaks to the items in his basket before I completed the sale.  He was present and aware of all the changes and I tried to leave most of it intact since he had worked so hard on budgeting and scrolling through both sites to find what he likes.  I even let him keep the Ninja Poop Emoji shirt from Children’s Place. Let’s just say this is usually something I would not let my child wear, but it is definitely a conversation starter in the 4th grade.

My son had also been pining over a leather jacket with a hoodie that he saw his favorite Youtuber wearing.  He asked me since he still had money to spend if we could use it towards getting him that. Its July in Southern California so jackets are definitely not a priority until November, but I Googled what he was looking for and found it on H&M’s website for on $39.99.   H & M has free shipping on anything over $40 so I also bought my other son a pair of shoes and still came in under the $200 budget. WHOOT WHOOT!

The Damage
Old Navy $134.38 (including tax) 

• 4 tee shirts ($37.55)
• 2 hoodies ($43.18)
• 1 pair jeans ($19.99)
• 1 pair shoes ($23.99)
  

The Children’s Place $13.64 (including tax) 

• 2 tee shirts ($8.40)
• 1 long sleeve tee shirts ($4.20)
  

H & M $49.54 (including tax)

• Leather Jacket ($39.99)
• 1 pair of shoes ($5.99)
  

All in all this was a pretty great experience. He now has an understanding of how much things cost and an appreciation for his new clothes since he feels like he bought them himself online. We were able to have rational conversation about the clothes in his cart because we were not running around the mall for hours hangry and tired. I will definitely do this next year and hopefully implement this with my younger son once he gets a few years older.