September 21

Okay, this is actually the 22nd, but you won't believe how much stuff came home in yesterday's backpack! And I just didn't have the time or energy to calculate it all (this is going to take a calculator) last night.

Book orders: these are one of the reasons I wanted to keep track of expenses. Last year I placed an order with the book order and the following week the school had its book FAIR. Well, my adorable little AD didn't think that the fact that we had just purchased three or four new books was any reason not to attend the book fair and get about 27 more. I understand that the onus is on me to teach the kiddo about money, but a little "fair" warning would have at least been nice! I'm on the lookout for the Fair this time. Plus my precious kiddo has sworn that if we order from the book order, he won't need anything from the book fair. HA! For the purposes of my spreadsheet, I am going to tally the costs of everything AD circles on the book order form. If we order anything, I will list that portion of the costs as Books - A, while the remainder of the total sum will be listed under Books - R. By the way, the neighbor kid came home this week with at least $20 of books from his book order.

It's time for the Tri-County YMCA fall basketball league. We will NOT be spending that $85! I feel like we are totally lucky in this category. One of AD's classmates is the son of a former college bball player. Last year, he offered a kindergarten basketball program for only $10 (which he spent on trophies and jerseys for the kids.) And it was fabulous. He was teaching them skills and techniques that my husband and I didn't even know. We will be doing that again when it starts in October.

Tuesday October 9, from 4 until 8 pm is McTeachers Night. This is the most chaotic night of the year at our local McDonald's, where you can wait in the drive-thru line for 30+ minutes or opt to go inside and hope that you know someone in there so that you can grab their table when they leave. It's a fundraiser. We will probably spend about $12 there that night. But I'll post the amount when the time comes.

The first Green Tree Movie Night of the year is on Friday, October 12. This is also a fundraiser. For $5 AD can go to the school for a little over two hours to watch a movie, eat popcorn and play a couple of games with his friends. Parents get to have a night out. It's a nice concept. I'll probably volunteer at one of the movies this year. We have a little sibling at home, so to get a night out we have to hire a sitter anyway. Starting next year, movie night will definitely be a cheap date night for us!

I think that's all for now. I'll have to break out my calculator to fill out the spreadsheet, though. Happy weekend to you.