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Its time for the annual "kids are freaking expensive" thread

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Originally posted by: Xanis
Originally posted by: loki8481
Originally posted by: Farang
How often are you buying backpacks.. one should last through each leg of school (grade,middle,high) if not longer.
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I was burning through like 1 backpack/marking period in high school just due to the sheer amount of crap I had to carry in it (no locker breaks between classes except during lunch and the lockers were completely out of the way from everything else on the school campus).

I did have the same BP all throughout college, though. I learned pretty quickly that for 99% of my classes, I didn't actually need to have the textbooks in class with me, so I'd toss a binder into my bag and have everything I needed for the day when I was living off-campus.
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Shit, a backpack per marking period? That's nuts. You should have invested in a really good backpack right off the bat. 😛
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I started off with a nice one, but after I burned through it so quickly, my parents were just like fuck it, we'll just buy a bunch of cheap ones if they're going to break anyways.

I bought a nice backpack the summer after I graduated and took it to Europe with me that summer... held up pretty well and it's lasted 10+ years now, through europe, college, and many many vacations (though one of the pouches has been held together by safety pins for the past 5 years)
 
Originally posted by: loki8481
Originally posted by: Farang
How often are you buying backpacks.. one should last through each leg of school (grade,middle,high) if not longer.
Click to expand...

I was burning through like 1 backpack/marking period in high school just due to the sheer amount of crap I had to carry in it (no locker breaks between classes except during lunch and the lockers were completely out of the way from everything else on the school campus).

I did have the same BP all throughout college, though. I learned pretty quickly that for 99% of my classes, I didn't actually need to have the textbooks in class with me, so I'd toss a binder into my bag and have everything I needed for the day when I was living off-campus.
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I had a cheap ass backpack and it lasted me all through Jr and Sr High.
I've got one now I purchased back in 2002 and its cheap too.

WTF are you doing to those poor backpacks man?

As for the OP: Steal paper and pens and shit from work.
Fuck them if they dont like it. The bastards.
 
Originally posted by: Sumguy
Buy the kid an Eastpak/Jansport and that thing should last a long time. My brother used his through highschool and middle school.

Just stay away from the rolling bookbags (if they still make those). I remember kicking them once or twice, but the high-level of ass hattery was to kick the telescoping handle in so it broke. Then the kid walked around with a pretty stupid looking rectangular bookbag.
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Yeah Jansport lasts forever. Mine lasted from jr year high school to college graduation.

And wtf - kids use those rolling bookbags ( like a little suitcase ) in highschool? They have lockers for a goddamn reason. They better be selling drugs out of it or something.
 
Originally posted by: PottedMeat
Originally posted by: Sumguy
Buy the kid an Eastpak/Jansport and that thing should last a long time. My brother used his through highschool and middle school.

Just stay away from the rolling bookbags (if they still make those). I remember kicking them once or twice, but the high-level of ass hattery was to kick the telescoping handle in so it broke. Then the kid walked around with a pretty stupid looking rectangular bookbag.
Click to expand...

Yeah Jansport lasts forever. Mine lasted from jr year high school to college graduation.

And wtf - kids use those rolling bookbags ( like a little suitcase ) in highschool? They have lockers for a goddamn reason. They better be selling drugs out of it or something.
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Yeah, they're there to shove the kids with the rolling backpacks inside.
 
uhh I have 2 and didn't spend nearly that much.
Granted I don't get the over obsession with needed new EVERYTHING ever school year. New undies? What have they been wearing all summer?
 
Originally posted by: Homerboy
uhh I have 2 and didn't spend nearly that much.
Granted I don't get the over obsession with needed new EVERYTHING ever school year. New undies? What have they been wearing all summer?
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My kids lived in swimsuits all summer. Saved a lot on undies, and on laundry - hey junior, just run thru the sprinkler another time, will ya?
 
Originally posted by: Homerboy
uhh I have 2 and didn't spend nearly that much.
Granted I don't get the over obsession with needed new EVERYTHING ever school year. New undies? What have they been wearing all summer?
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He usually goes commando. That's not acceptable at school.

He goes to a really preppy school and the teachers have been known to call CPS if they feel that kids don't have enough/the right kind of clothes.

I grabbed him this backpack. It was only $38 AC but his shoes were only $30 AC.

I don't mind spending the money to make sure that he doesn't get picked on at school. This is his first year of middle school, so its even more important.
 
Originally posted by: NSFW
Originally posted by: Homerboy
uhh I have 2 and didn't spend nearly that much.
Granted I don't get the over obsession with needed new EVERYTHING ever school year. New undies? What have they been wearing all summer?
Click to expand...

He usually goes commando. That's not acceptable at school.

He goes to a really preppy school and the teachers have been known to call CPS if they feel that kids don't have enough/the right kind of clothes.

I grabbed him this backpack. It was only $38 AC but his shoes were only $30 AC.

I don't mind spending the money to make sure that he doesn't get picked on at school. This is his first year of middle school, so its even more important.
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Those Swiss Gear backpacks are practically indestructible. Friend of mine carried every book all day, never used his locker, and the bag went with him all through high school still in mint condition.
 
back to school shopping for myself (mid-life career change)

6 pairs of scrubs
2 white coats
bunch of textbooks
dissection lab software

total: ~$1300
 
Originally posted by: Skoorb
We just got a lands end backpack new for $30 and wife bought kids' clothes for about $125 combined for the school year. You must be shopping in hollywood 😉
It costs the average family $170,000 to raise a child to the age of 18.
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CNBC last week said about $291k, more if you're richer.
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Weird, i read less.

Did they say the average family? Or the average middle-class family?
Those are not the same thing anymore 😉
 
Originally posted by: PottedMeat


Yeah Jansport lasts forever. Mine lasted from jr year high school to college graduation.

And wtf - kids use those rolling bookbags ( like a little suitcase ) in highschool? They have lockers for a goddamn reason. They better be selling drugs out of it or something.
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they just had a good news program on back to school. They were talking about books and how kids are getting back problems because they have to carry so many damn books.

Schools are makeing locker far to small to hold all teh books, coats, whatever else they need. They showed one new school in chicago suberbs where the locker was 6inches wide and just over 3ft tall (one above it. They were so small they couldnt get all the books assigned to the student. let alone all the folders, notebooks and hell a coat.

So the students were stuffing everything else in a backpack. they were carrying around a full bag all day.

So this was leading to smaller framed kids having back problems.
 
I feel bad for my parents. I'm 17. My parents spend so much cuz I grow like an inch every few months (currently 6'3). My shoe size is 14. And I am really picky when it comes to clothing brands.
 
Originally posted by: AVAFREAK182
I feel bad for my parents. I'm 17. My parents spend so much cuz I grow like an inch every few months (currently 6'3). My shoe size is 14. And I am really picky when it comes to clothing brands.
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I feel bad for them too, but not for the same reason as you.
 
Originally posted by: AVAFREAK182
I feel bad for my parents. I'm 17. My parents spend so much cuz I grow like an inch every few months (currently 6'3). My shoe size is 14. And I am really picky when it comes to clothing brands.
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let me guess, diesel jeans?
 
Originally posted by: chorb
Originally posted by: AVAFREAK182
I feel bad for my parents. I'm 17. My parents spend so much cuz I grow like an inch every few months (currently 6'3). My shoe size is 14. And I am really picky when it comes to clothing brands.
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let me guess, diesel jeans?
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lol, not quite. I wear like Famous, volcom, etc.
 
Originally posted by: AVAFREAK182
I feel bad for my parents. I'm 17. My parents spend so much cuz I grow like an inch every few months (currently 6'3). My shoe size is 14. And I am really picky when it comes to clothing brands.
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You have no reason to be picky. If you don't like reasonable clothes from JC Penney or Old Navy, buy your own.
 
No back-to-school buying yet for me. I still have another month and a half of summer.

I'll probably only need to buy one or two textbooks anyway as I have everything else that I need.
 
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