Erika Shupe *leer smirk* Large Families on Purpose Part 6

[refugee]

23 hours ago, mango_fandango said:

This. I get buying used clothing, but some things are worth saving for, and shoes are one of them. Erika mentioned once that her girls (aka Karen and Melanie) were "shocked" that new shoes cost $30-$40. Really, I'd think that was relatively cheap for shoes. $40 is about £27-ish, so yeah, cheap for shoes. Man, if the idea of shoes costing $40 is too much, the Shupes must be pretty hard up. 

Heck, the idea of $40 shoes is too much for *me*.

We buy our shoes at discount shops and when stores have sales like "buy one get one half off". Not used, though. If I find a pair of comfortable shoes, I'll wear them to pieces. I hate shoe shopping.

[Iamhispurity]

I have got to confess: most of my shoes cost way upward of 40€. Shoes and Jackets are the one thing I invest in, simply because those are the things that I need to be really good quality and I want them to last. Most of my cheap shoes are sandals or ballet flats for summer and none of them lasted more than a few months, because I walk and bike at least 5-10 miles a day. My good shoes are 5+ years old and still look like new. To me, this makes them worth the price.

[refugee]

12 hours ago, Desertrose said:

She makes me angry by being such a control freak. I see on her blog she reposted a previous post on how  kids on summer break need structure/schedule. Does she schedule when the kids shit as well? I love summer because there isn't one! She would never last a week in my chaos.

 

We found a happy medium between scheduling (which I could never implement for more than a day and a half, anyway) and chaos in the summertime, a few years ago. I hated the feeling of getting to the end of the summer and feeling like it had whooshed past and we hadn't *done* anything and here was the school year, with its schedules and constraints. (By "schedules" here, I'm talking about those imposed by outside forces -- we outsourced a lot of our schooling in the form of art lessons, music lessons, math, a homeschool soccer league one year, AWANA (not so much for the bible memorization, but for the group games in the gym), swim lessons and swim team, not all at once, but just to give an idea. I tried to do "outside" things that involved more than one kid at a time, a kind of multitasking.)

So several years ago we brainstormed a summer bucket list. Wrote down all the suggestions in bright colors on a poster and crossed them off as we did them. By the end of that summer, we'd been camping, ocean beach trip, mountain hike, family summer pool pass, public library summer reading program (prizes!) and I don't remember what all. At the end of the summer, we could see all the fun things we'd done and it felt like we hadn't just let the summer days go by in a blur.

But most summer days, when not at the pool or the park by the river, kids were up various trees with a book, or playing in the Snapset pool or sandbox (when they were younger), or something like that. We needed the break.

We did some "school" in the summer, but it was mainly reading aloud together, on a blanket on the grass.

ETA: I used to feel inferior to all those scheduled moms. But maybe ADD can be a good thing after all.

[JillyO]

1 hour ago, nastyhobbitses said:

Also, on the subject of clearance sales, I had no idea that TJ Maxx had expanded outside of the States, so you can imagine my joy when I caught sight of TK Maxx in central London.

It's called TK Maxx here in germany as well. Someone once explained to me why they changed the name, but I forgot. At first I thought it was some kind of a knock-off or something, but it's the real deal. Weird!

[slickcat79]

Erika could probably do very well by putting her mind to discount shopping, beyond just going to Value Village. Buying shoes and clothes "off season" or even during holiday super sales can net some screaming deals. I lucked out at old navy a few weeks ago and found a rack of online returns that they had marked down to 90% off, just because they don't carry them in-store. When we had a Macy's downtown, a $10/$25 coupon could mean some great bargains. I know lots of people who can do amazingly well with Kohl's clearance/coupons/reward certificates. And Erika wouldn't even have to pay that much attention to sizes and whatnot, because she'll have a kid in most sizes for years to come. Just because you have a small budget for things like shoes doesn't mean you have to resort to secondhand.

[19 cats and counting]

It is probably too Nike for Erika, but I do well with H&M.  They also give you coupons for bringing in your old clothes (even those too ratty to donate as they recycle them) which is 15+% off your entire purchase depending on the promotion (at least 15).  So I've given them holey or mismatched socks, old (clean) underwear), ratty t-shirts, ripped pants, etc.  They break down the fibers so it really doesn't matter what it originally is (I know they make jeans with some of them or stuffing for puffy coats).  I'm sure the Shupe household has a grocery sized bag full of ratty clothes.

And they have some bargains for kids.  I buy my nieces dresses there (my rule of thumb is if it has cats on it, I buy it for them) and there's a good little girls dress (sized up to about a 10 yo) that runs for $5.  My sister says they hold up well enough to be handed down to younger niece (who hasn't grown into them yet).

And if the prices at my local Goodwill are any judgment of used clothes prices, you can get new on clearance racks for cheaper than used.

(Note-- the SPCA thrift store gets my good condition clothes and H&M gets my ratty clothes).  

[refugee]

2 minutes ago, 19 cats and counting said:

It is probably too Nike for Erika, but I do well with H&M.  They also give you coupons for bringing in your old clothes (even those too ratty to donate as they recycle them) which is 15+% off your entire purchase depending on the promotion (at least 15).  So I've given them holey or mismatched socks, old (clean) underwear), ratty t-shirts, ripped pants, etc.  They break down the fibers so it really doesn't matter what it originally is (I know they make jeans with some of them or stuffing for puffy coats).  I'm sure the Shupe household has a grocery sized bag full of ratty clothes.

And they have some bargains for kids.  I buy my nieces dresses there (my rule of thumb is if it has cats on it, I buy it for them) and there's a good little girls dress (sized up to about a 10 yo) that runs for $5.  My sister says they hold up well enough to be handed down to younger niece (who hasn't grown into them yet).

And if the prices at my local Goodwill are any judgment of used clothes prices, you can get new on clearance racks for cheaper than used.

(Note-- the SPCA thrift store gets my good condition clothes and H&M gets my ratty clothes).  

We *love* H & M. One summer we'd traveled to a tournament in a distant city and there was a heat wave. We come from a cool climate and don't do well with heat. We hit the local H & M and outfitted ourselves for the week we had left in that place, with $5 (or less -- we hit a great sale the day we were there) cute tees and $1 camis.

Hearing that an H & M is due to open nearby was heartening news.

[19 cats and counting]

Just now, refugee said:

We *love* H & M. One summer we'd traveled to a tournament in a distant city and there was a heat wave. We come from a cool climate and don't do well with heat. We hit the local H & M and outfitted ourselves for the week we had left in that place, with $5 (or less -- we hit a great sale the day we were there) cute tees and $1 camis.

Hearing that an H & M is due to open nearby was heartening news.

Hint-- gather your old ratty clothes.  For every (grocery sized) bag you donate, you get a 15% coupon.  

[Eternalbluepearl]

I guess public school isn't so bad after all. According to Erika's facebook, public schools are fantastic places for the holy home-schooled Shupe kids to play. Wow. Thank goodness for public schools or your kids might have to play at the public park. 

[19 cats and counting]

6 minutes ago, Eternalbluepearl said:

I guess public school isn't so bad after all. According to Erika's facebook, public schools are fantastic places for the holy home-schooled Shupe kids to play. Wow. Thank goodness for public schools or your kids might have to play at the public park. 

Wait-- Erika's kids actually PLAY?  Isn't that for sinners?

[elliha]

As a Swede, everyone has a sweater from H&M and a piece of furniture from IKEA (more or less). Not very cool of course and some can really go to great lengths to explain why they have that IKEA book case or H&M top. Of course they didn't buy them because they were cheap, they have some elaborate explanation about how this was their only choice because of xyz. I find it funny, come on, everyone buys stuff just because they are cheap or convenient and you are not a bad person for doing so. I think the basic clothes from H&M are great and pretty good quality but often their seasonal clothes are too much "teen" for me to be comfortable with them. I love IKEA, I would not be ashamed to have 90% IKEA furniture and I owe up to that. 

[refugee]

51 minutes ago, elliha said:

As a Swede, everyone has a sweater from H&M and a piece of furniture from IKEA (more or less). Not very cool of course and some can really go to great lengths to explain why they have that IKEA book case or H&M top. Of course they didn't buy them because they were cheap, they have some elaborate explanation about how this was their only choice because of xyz. I find it funny, come on, everyone buys stuff just because they are cheap or convenient and you are not a bad person for doing so. I think the basic clothes from H&M are great and pretty good quality but often their seasonal clothes are too much "teen" for me to be comfortable with them. I love IKEA, I would not be ashamed to have 90% IKEA furniture and I owe up to that. 

Um. We have 90% IKEA furniture. After living with hand-me-downs for the last 30 years, we splurged. IKEA let us furnish the whole house, pretty much, for what we could afford -- and even manage solid wood (rather than particleboard), which was important to us with our asthma issues.

[SpoonfulOSugar]

Moving on to Part 7: