Money, money, money

Fundraisers.
School pictures.
Spirit wear.
Scholastic book orders.
Lunch account.

MONEY! Everybody wants it!

I was a student once. I know I asked my parents for money. I know they remember it. I remember having to sell stuff. I didn't realize at the time how often we had to ask for money for this program, that extracurricular activity, or just to buy lunch. And I honestly believe, even though I went to school a long, long time ago (in a galaxy far, far away), that there weren't fundraisers in kindergarten.

Both Justin AND Tyler came home from school the very first week with these huge packets for the magazine sale fundraiser. Preschool?! Really? Anyway, I get that this is a profitable fundraiser for the school -- they receive 45% of the funds from every subscription. I just wonder how many subscriptions are sold by the kids in the lower grades. I was prepared to ignore it for my kids, but the first turn-in day for orders was last Friday, and darned if Justin didn't come home from school saying, "Mommy, I want to sell magazines. I get PRIZES!" They must really be pushing them to push the almighty subscriptions. Oy.

School pictures were today. The kids get their pictures taken regardless of whether or not you order them, and I wasn't sure I wanted to. As Forrest Gump pointed out, you're just never really sure what you're going to get. With school pictures, you pay upfront. You just have to count on the fact that your kid is going to cooperate and be cute and smile for the camera. But holy shit! (Sorry, I know this is a Catholic school blog but I couldn't help myself) School pictures are OUTRAGEOUSLY expensive. There are 8 different packages, ranging in price from a low (ha ha) $21.00 to $65.00. There are 13 additional "options" to nickel and dime you further, including calendars, magnets, keychains, etc., even teeth whitening! There are five more add-on packages to get additional pictures, or you can purchase a class photo for an extra fifteen dollars. I asked my husband if he thought we should buy the school pictures, and his answer was "Of course!" So we forked over $66.00 for two CDs, no prints. Yipes.

Then there's spirit wear, otherwise known as clothing with the school name or logo on it. Every other Friday is spirit wear day, and kids really look forward to it because it's one of those days they don't have to wear their uniform shirt. Justin was crushed last Friday when he didn't have a school shirt to wear and keeps asking me when he's going to get his. Orders were turned in last Friday and I guess he thought that he'd get his stuff the same day. I will say, the spirit wear is reasonably priced, but there isn't an opportunity to buy this stuff all year long, and you can't buy it in a store like you can with some of the public schools. Because they're not having another sale until the spring, I felt like it was necessary to buy him a couple of tee shirts and a sweatshirt to last him through the winter. I really wanted to get a couple shirts for me and my husband, but it was just going to be too much with all of the other money flowing out, so I restrained myself.

Next on my agenda is to tackle the Scholastic book order. That's due tomorrow. I can't decide whether to share it with Justin or not. He loves books, I mean really, really loves them. His trips to the library are huge highlights in his life. I just think if I show him the order form, his eyes are going to glaze over and he won't be able to limit his list of wants to what I consider reasonable.

It used to drive me nuts when my parents would say things like "I'm not made of money" or "Money doesn't grow on trees". I guess repeating the things your parents did and said once you have kids of your own is pretty much inevitable. I'm sure the day will come when Justin and Tyler get involved in scouting, or sports, or the performing arts, and there will be additional "opportunities" to spend and donate money. I just hope I can keep my "Money doesn't grow on trees" comments to a minimum.