KaChing! Whoever said having kids was expensive ...

... was right on the money! I will now tell the tale of the last few weeks, where lots of money has been spent on the kids as well as on other things.

I have receipts here for back to school clothes shopping. Now I know I could have went second hand for A's clothes but I prefer hand-me-downs for my kids(hey they're free!) but we don't know any boys that are in the size up from A(who now takes a 10/12) that live locally. M got a huge bag of hand-me-downs from a good friend of mine(Thanks S and sorry for nagging!) as well as some from another pal of mine, T. So I bought him all new stuff and some new stuff for M as well(they both really needed underwear and socks).

The first $122 I spent got me:
2 pairs of heavy track pants
4 t-shirts
6 pairs of boxer shorts
6 pairs of boy socks
6 pairs of girl socks
6 pairs of panties
1 pair of indoor shoes for M

I knew that wasn't enough so I ventured out again(this time with my Mom who wanted to buy some new stuff for M). Not counting everything we bought(Mom had to return a pair of pants so I don't think her total is accurate). I spent another $136 and that got me:
6 pairs of girl socks
6 pairs of panties
6 pairs of boy socks
4 t-shirts
2 pairs of heavy track pants
1 hooded sweatshirt sweater
1 pair of new shoes for A
2 sets of headphones for home computers.

Mom dropped $75 on her return trip to the store to return a pair of pants that looked all wrong once we put them on M. Once I added the hand me downs to that both A & M are ready for school, all except school supplies which they will be sending a list home for after the kids start school /sigh/. M has a huge amount of clothes now, I could barely fit them all into her dresser! A has enough that I'll have to keep on top of the laundry but not be super concerned about it. Total for back to school shopping out of my wallet? $258. Not great but not horrid. It would be more again if I didn't have my Mom and hand-me-downs for M and K's grandparents buy all her clothes as well. Thank goodness for friends and family!! Now I have several bags of clothes that I can hand down and once I sort them and get some idea of how much and what sexes and sizes I'll be all set to share as well!

Now on with the show! I told this story to my dear sister-in-law in IM last night and she was amused by it so I figured I would share here as well since it is partially money related but mostly about going places with children and how ... interesting ... it can be.

Yesterday I decided to take the kids to the mall. Now anyone who knows me knows I highly dislike leaving the house, and I like leaving the house and taking the kids with me even more! Now, K is away until the weekend so it was just almost 7 year old A and 3 1/2 year old M and I. I had ulterior motives; I wanted to buy a book I had been waiting to buy. So I told the kids we were going to the mall for lunch, they've both been nagging to do "something" and were very excited about getting out the door. I looked over the bus routes that I wanted and wrote down times and the list of stuff I wanted to get while I was out. My third shopping trip of the month started badly with A complaining about how thirsty he was while we were waiting for the bus. For some reason my children seem to feel that they should guzzle water the entire time they are away from home or at least have water available at all times. Since we were traveling on the bus I decided to take the umbrella stroller and my backpack for kid and shopping transport so I had not brought our usual cargo of water. At one point his whining forced me to threaten to just go home and forget about the whole thing and with me that's not an empty threat. My kids know I would just go home, that, in fact, I would much rather be home.

So we got on the bus(running total: $5 for bus fare) and headed for the mall. Well actually we headed for another bus after that because you need to take two buses to get to the mall if you grab the bus closest to my house. The second bus I wanted to take was taking too long so I grabbed a different one and we ended up having to walk two very long blocks to my bank(stop #1) for money. The walk to the bank was interesting; A can't read but he sure knows his company logos from watching TV, which is kinda scary, he also knows the jingles and can quote parts of the commercials easily. He knew the Pizza Hut sign even though we have never eaten there. He also knew the Red Lobster sign. All he manged to dredge up out of his amazing head for the Wendy's sign was "Bacon!!" from their latest commercial. He went wild when he saw the Burger King sign and sang "Always fresh at Tim Horton's!" when I pointed the Timmie's sign out to him. It was very interesting to say the least.

Nearer the bank we had to walk by a machine boring a hole into the sidewalk that was very loud ... my kids covered their ears. A especially hates loud noises. The mutters of thirstiness were still coming from A but he wasn't being too loud about it. After the bank I walked a 1/2 a block only to have to turn around and go back up to the lights I had crossed at before I went to the bank because the next set of lights were too far down the mall from where I wanted to be.

We had left the house at 10:10am and it was now 11:15am so I had to change my plans and took the kids to the McDonald's for lunch(stop #2) before we did any other shopping.Running total about $27 - for bus and McDonald's. Of course the kids didn't finish their food, well A did but M and I didn't so the leftovers went into my backpack.

Our next stop(#3) was Sears where I spent $14(running total $41 - bus, McDonald's, Sears) on two waterproof vinyl mattress covers that are like a giant pillow case cover that zipper shut at one end. A has one on his bed but it's starting to get holes in it and I wanted to grab a second one because it's always a good idea to have a backup. While we were at the Sears A was sad because the escalators were shut down for servicing and M was sad because she doesn't like the elevator(it scares her and you have to hold her when you're on one to keep her calm). I really can't win with these two.

We made it thru the Sears stop just fine and moved on to Pharma Plus where I got myself a hair removal kit and bought two bottles of water for A & M because "I'm thirsty Mommy!"& "I'm thirsty too Mommy!". Total at stop #4 $14, running total $55 bus, lunch, Sears, and PharmaPlus.

Our next stop was Office Depot(Stop #5) for some index cards, an index card box and dividers for inside the index card box. This purchase was for my Sim note taking and other stuff. The small index card box is easier to keep on my desk than the big binder I have been using in the past. Silly I know and they came to a total of $15, running total $70 - bus, McDonald's, Sears, PharmaPlus, and Office Depot.

After Office Depot I bought the kids ice cream at Laura Secord(Stop #6) to the tune of about $4, running total $74 - bus, McDonald's, Sears, PharmaPlus, Office Depot and ice cream. At this point my wallet was getting very slim and I counted my money and change. After setting aside another $5 for bus fare I had about $27 ... I wasn't sure that would be enough for the book I wanted to buy at Chapters but we went there anyway.

On the way to Chapters we got to go on an escalator ... I thought A would be happy but once we got there he locked up and refused to get on. By the time I realized he wasn't going to be able to do it M and I were already on and on our way down. I kept encouraging him to get on but he was too scared to do it. So there we were; M and I at the bottom and A at the top in tears. I was going to have to go back up(the up escalator was right there) and get him when a nice lady helped him on and brought him to me. Poor A was almost in a panic from the whole deal. I must remember in future that A doesn't do escalators well at all ... better to go on the elevator and hug M the whole time!

Our final stop before heading home, #7, was Chapters where, thanks to my iRewards card, my book only cost me $21 so I got to get it after all! :) Running total $95 - bus, McDonald's, Sears, PharmaPlus, Office Depot, Laura Secord, and Chapters. Almost out of money we needed to head home ... so we went to the bus area at our mall. Now the mall is a large one so there is a large area set aside for the city buses, it's all landscaped and everything. The bus we wanted pulled out as we were headed to the stops but I figured we would just snag another on and transfer again like we did on the way in. So while we were waiting for a bus I figured would get there anytime M says "Mommy, I have to pee!" of course I should have thought of this before we had come outside because she had sucked back a bunch of water. I didn't want to dash back into the mall because I didn't know when the bus was coming and I really wanted to go home. So instead I sent her behind some bushes to go ... good thing too; our bus pulled up just as she was pulling up her panties and we got on. Add another $5 to my running total and that brings us right up to $100, which was exactly the amount of money I took out of the bank.

Of course the story isn't over until we get home ... while we were waiting for our second bus I got "Mommy I have to pee!" & "I have to pee too Mommy!" luckily there was a little donut shop right there so I just took them to their bathrooms(hoping that someone would give me a song and dance about customers only so I could yell at someone - no such luck) and went back out to wait for the bus. We got home fine, broke, but fine. I have $6.50 in my wallet in change and a coffee date with a girlfriend tomorrow night.

Whew! That trip wore me out ... I slept very well last night :)

Cass :)