School Clothes Shopping Check List Saves the Day

I love shopping for school supplies. I love it so much, I like to do it without my kids. It's pretty sad, but I want to be the one to pick out all the cute things for my kids. I don't tend to appreciate their tastes. I know I should be encouraging their individuality and all that, but in case you didn't read my blog banner, I'm a control freak. My poor kids are doomed.

So the school supply shopping is done, the clothes shopping is not. I allow myself quite a bit more time to accomplish this task, as they typically start out the year wearing their summer clothes, or at least some of them, and we can still get away with wearing some of last year's clothes.

I also like to spread the shopping out for other reasons. Such as:

1) I prefer to shop without my kids (see above)

2) I can be more selective and get good deals when I don't have a firm deadline

3) I can't afford to buy an entire wardrobe for each kid all at once

4) Idaho never seems to sell long-sleeved shirts until October. What's up with that?

The problem with shopping at this leisurely pace, is that I tend to overbuy some things while under buying, or completely forgetting about, others. That's going to change though, because I now have this handy dandy little checklist to keep me on track.

The list above is the one I'm using for my kids, I'll just print out one for each kid and go to town. The first step is to assess what they already have and fill in as needed. This means that I have to get the girls to try on all their clothes (which they hate), to see what goes and what stays. Not only does this help me with my list, but it gets the closets cleaned and sorted at the same time. Win, win! Next comes the fun part . . . shopping!

I'll keep the girls' lists with me, in my purse, until I know that I've found everything I need. That way if I come across a good sale, I won't buy stuff I don't need. I hate that.

Here's a blank list for you to print out and fill out for your own little monsters. Just be sure to click on the image for the best resolution before you save it to your hard drive. Enjoy!

This list has been updated, and I've added a School Supply Shopping Checklist as well. To see the new lists, click here.