Back-to-school shopping like Christmas in August

It’s the most wonderful time of the year. After twelve months of saving, planning and anticipating this special day, it’s finally time to pay off those lay-a-ways and cash out those savings to bring big smiles to bright little faces.

In your family, this probably sounds a lot like Christmas, in mine, this is how we do back-to-school.

I’m sure it goes back to our childhoods -- my husband’s and mine. We didn’t have much growing up. Both from single-parent households, we made due with a lot of hand-me-downs and thrift-store items. Two pairs of shoes and a handful of pants had better get you through the year, because money was too tight for growth spurts and grass stains.

I remember joining the basketball team in high school just because everyone on the team got a new pair of sneakers and I always felt guilty asking my mom to buy me stuff -- she was working two jobs and going to grad school, it just didn’t feel right.

So I’m sure that because of our humble beginnings, our daughter’s appearance on the first day of school means a lot more to us than it does to her.

For my husband it’s all about the shoes: Three pairs of sneakers, two or three pairs of “girly girl” shoes and a true dress shoe. For me it’s more about the basics. Being able to dress in layers when it’s cold (this wasn’t always an option for me), having more than just two sets of uniforms, having hair accessories that match.

It’s important that she always has a fresh pair of socks, that her underwear isn’t worn and that if she gets a horrible stain on her uniform shirt, there are more to turn to.

After a lifetime of not having the little things that everyone else had, there’s a certain level of comfort in our daughter not having to sweat the small stuff.

She doesn’t have to worry about taking her shoes off for some crazy activity -- her socks are clean and hole free! She won’t cry when she spills paint all over her white tennis shoes. And she won’t feel the need to avoid eye contact when she accidentally loses her sweater on a field trip. These are just things, and while money is tight, Collette knows that we love her more than the money we have to spend on her.

For now, back-to-school shopping is the most meaningful shopping event of the year. Collette gets the latest fashions and we get to be the proud parents who can afford to get them for her.