No-Tax Weekend

Wow!  We have spent a ton of money this weekend - thank goodness for the Savings Account!  This weekend was 'no-tax' weekend in Missouri.  Which means that school supplies, computers, clothes, and diapers are all tax free!  Since moving to Kansas City (Sedalia/Pettis County doesn't participate in it) we have always taken advantage of the No -Tax Holiday.  It saves us quite a bundle in back to school shopping - especially when added to the 10% Walmart Employee Discount.  And Jerry and I save for months to afford no-tax shopping, but with 3 kids we really can't afford not to participate in the tax free holiday.  The following is how we spent 5 hours and just over $2,000!

Chloe's school supplies & Jacob's school supplies

Jerry used some of his school money to get a new laptop, now he isn't tied around home - he can take it with him if we go somewhere or visit family.  Which makes it super nice and convenient.  Now to keep the kids and dogs away from it. . . that's the hard part!  I'm so glad his schooling paid for the laptop, no way I would have saved enough for a laptop and school supplies/clothes!  {SO yeah, didn't really spend 2,000 of our own money since about half of it was the computer but it sounds good!  :o)}  On the computer alone we got a $79.70 Discount and saved $67.55 in taxes for a total savings of $147.25!  I consider that a score!  So this year we replaced both the desktop and laptop - we should be good for a couple years, hopefully!!

Mom's stash!

And I know I said it before but we took full advantage of this weekend. . . Normally, it's all about the kids and their needs but this year Jerry and I saved enough money to splurge on us too!  Jerry and I got new clothes, lunch boxes and work boots to go along with our normal socks and underwear splurge.  Jerry got about 11 $3.00 shirts and I got 8 $2.00 t shirts and 2 pairs of Blue Jeans.

Of course it was the kids that hit the jackpot. Many of their clothes were on clearance. I don't get my employee discount on clearance merchandise but I still get them tax free, so it was nice to get shirts at $2 and $3! Especially since they grow out of them so fast and will need more next year!

Chloe's school clothes

Besides all her 1st grade school supplies, Chloe hauled in a whooping 8 t-shirts, 3 outfits, 2 purple dresses, 4 blue jeans, 1 pair of khakis, a pajama, a ladybug raincoat, 3 Hello Kitty socks, a pair of Hello Kitty tights, 14 pairs of underwear, Hello Kitty sneakers, and Hello Kitty dress shoes!!  The theme was Hello Kitty this year. . . Everything was Hello Kitty!!  I had to eventually say no, because she would have gone on forever!!

Jacob's School clothes

Jacob had fun shopping with Daddy for his school supplies!!  {Jerry took Jacob and I took Chloe - it's so much easier if we both a tackle a list.  Because with two kids going in different directions I get flustered and end up forgetting something!}  Jacob ended up going with a theme - Mario!!  Definitely his Daddy's son!  Jacob didn't need as many school supplies but he definitely kept up with Chloe in the clothes department.  Jacob hauled in 12 t-shirts, 4 pairs of pants, 3 Blue Jeans, a raincoat, and 20 pairs of socks!

Jaxen's diaper stash

And don't think that Jaxen was just around for the ride!!  Diapers are tax-free this weekend also, so like every year, we take the opportunity to stock up on a diapers!!  Jaxen is currently in a size 3 diaper, but since we don't know how much longer he will be in that size, we bought one package of size 3's and two packages of size 4's plus a huge box of baby wipes!!  This household has never been without baby wipes in the 6 years Chloe's been alive!!  Baby Wipes are every parents 'Must Have'!!  Besides the diapers, Jaxen also got a pair of tennis shoes {he refuses to wear socks and shoes, this is going to be a problem come winter if we don't get him used to them now!}, 3 long sleeve rompers and 2 long sleeve / long pants outfits.  Jax needs winter clothes and not much is out there for warmth right now.  So I'm afraid I will have to shop for him another time.  He is also going to need a winter coat - the other two got new winter coats at the end of last year so they should be good.

So with that huge back to school shopping spree, I saved $64.52 with my discount and $51.42 in taxes.  I know that's nothing compared to the amount we had to spend ($688.83) but it helped a lot because it's stuff they would have needed anyways!!  I think it's time to start saving for next year!!  I'll take donations!!  LOL

It's a good thing we save up for months for this weekend because then on top of all that, I still had to shop for groceries. . . Price Chopper ($34.00), Walmart ($209.36) AND Sam's Club ($287.47)!   Major ouch on the pocket book, but I think we are going to be eating and dressing like rock stars for a while!!  :-)  Thank goodness for the 'No-Tax' Weekend!  My little family had a total savings of $263.19 - just by shopping this weekend!

Now back to penny pinching and saving for next year!!  :-)