Back to school sales! Crayons and pencils and notebooks and highlighters! Backpacks and lunchboxes! New clothes! New shoes!
September and January are the fresh start months for me. I've written about this before (always implemented with varying degrees of success), but these are the months where I replenish our supplies and make plans to revamp and start fresh with routines and schedules and systems.
New planner! New workspace! New calendar!
What always cracks me up is my refusal to put any of these things in places as I get them. The new school supplies are still shiny and new in their packaging. The clothes still have their tags. The systems are planned, but not yet in use. You can't use your school supplies until school starts! You can't wear your new clothes until September! We won't put this system into place until we're back!
Not only that, but with the promise of new right around the corner, I don't put a ton of effort into maintaining the old anymore. Why bother? New is just around the corner! (Yes, I realize this makes absolutely no sense and makes me sound totally shallow. I'm not. I promise. But there are only so many times I can stain treat ice cream stains on shirts before just shrugging and looking toward the pristine new ones waiting for stains of their own).
Every year this feels ridiculous to me, yet every year I do it. Watch those shopping bags pile up, arrange the stacks of clothes and notebooks, but don't integrate them yet! Not yet! Not yet!
Sidenote: new haircuts are allowed. That would be pretty hard to wait on until the first morning.
I love it. I love starting the year off with a brand new notebook. I love having a first day outfit that's brand new. I love having the containers in the lunchbox be pristine. It helps the excitement and anticipation. Both girls have been eager to put their new school things to the test, but I've been teaching them the art of holding off and really starting the school year off new.
This year, I'm going to be tested.
My test this year isn't for something for the girls. It's for me. After weeks and weeks of frustration, Adam found a great deal on a new laptop for me to write on. Yay! New! It's been backordered, but we finally got the news that it shipped and I'll have it in my eager little hands by tomorrow night. I cannot wait to tear this box open and finally have a functional computer again!!! YES!!!
But wait! Does this count as a back to school purchase?
It was in a back to school sale.
It'll be used for our homeschooling curriculum.
My writing time will be factored into our new schedule.
Uh oh.
After spending far too much time agonizing over this, I'm going with no. It's not a back to school purchase, which is evidenced by the fact that this particular post has been delayed twice because my old laptop keeps shutting off, and I've been whining about the state of that particular machine for months. It's totally a business purchase.
Just don't tell my kids why Mommy gets to use her new stuff and they don't.
