Back-to-School 10 | Mom Blog | From Dates to Diapers™

Looking for Affordable Back-to-School Clothing?

by Christine - From Dates to Diapers on September 3, 2010

TJMaxx BTS

Just before our vacation we took a trip to our nearest T.J.Maxx and boy, did we find a bunch of great deals! Parents can definitely find everything on their shopping lists, without breaking the bank.

We purchased educational puzzles, games and school supply sets, but I happened to notice that many clothing items, including layering pieces – which are hot this season – backpacks and lunchbags were available for amazing prices.

I got the inside scoop on how T.J.Maxx and Marshalls provide shoppers with such incredible savings…

With more than 900 stores across the country, there is a great deal of buying power behind both chains that allows a lot of flexibility in negotiating prices. T.J.Maxx and Marshalls buyers also buy merchandise closer to the time it is needed in stores, which opens up opportunities to score great deals on current season styles. These are just some of the ways T.J.Maxx and Marshalls are able to offer amazing fashions from department and mall store brands at excellent value.

Visit T.J.Maxx on Facebook to post a tote to your wall and help T.J.Maxx reach their goal!

For every tote posted, T.J.Maxx will donate $1, up to $50,000, to Save the Children’s U.S. Programs, which provide early education, nutrition, physical fitness and literacy programs to children in need.

Benefited review

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Oh, Brother

by Christine - From Dates to Diapers on September 2, 2010

Brother Inkjet All-in-One Printer

I just replaced the ink cartridges in my new(er) printer. You see, that’s really quite remarkable, since I use my Brother All-in-One Inkjet for every thing from printing documents to copying most of my kiddos’ worksheets for the beginning of the school year.

Aside from the Ink Save Mode, there are many features that make this printer a good fit for our family. It’s an affordable machine, it’s easy to use and multi-functional. Not only can I use it for our school needs, but I use it for scanning and printing pictures and other images, faxing documents to my clients, and best of all – it’s flexible wireless network interface enables sharing with all of our networked computers.

The Brother All-in-One Inkjet is definitely a great little machine to add to your home office of school room… It’s got everything you need, and more.

Benefited review

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Back-to-School With Lunchables

by Christine - From Dates to Diapers on August 30, 2010

We’re all looking for healthy lunch options this back-to-school season, right? Well, the Lunchables team is committed to feeding kids’ potential by providing food that parents can feel good about and kids will enjoy, so they’re expanding their most wholesome product line with two new additions: Chicken Strips and Chicken + American Sub Sandwich. In addition, more fruit can now be found in Lunchables lunch combos with the addition of DOLE Mandarin Oranges to a couple of their varieties. I don’t know about you, but my kiddos LOVE mandarin oranges!

What else is the Lunchables team up to?

Back for its second year, the Lunch Note Promise campaign aims to help parents provide their kids with words of encouragement to help them realize their potential. Parents can go to lunchnotepromise.com to promise to include a lunch note in their kid’s lunch box. For every parent who makes the promise, Lunchables will donate $1 – up to $100,000 – to creative learning programs at the local Boys & Girls Clubs of America. Parents can even download cool stationery templates with kid-approved designs.

Lunchables also wants to help kids realize their creative dreams, and I’m excited that they are partnering with me to sponsor a fun and hands-on art party in just a couple of weeks! My talented and über-creative Aunt Theresa will be coming to help the kiddos in attendance create artistic masterpieces! (Let me know if you’re local and would like to come… I’ll send you an invite!)

Speaking of creativity, Lunchables is asking kids 6 to 13 years of age to tell them their big idea for a movie, song or video game for a chance to work with a professional mentor in their category, like Kevin Jonas of the Jonas Brothers band, to bring it to life. What’s more, the winners will also see their idea come to life as either a movie, song or video game in 2011. Your kids can enter the Created by You contest, by visiting Lunchables.com and clicking the “Created By You” icon.

Oh, I almost forgot — We went on our Lunchables-sponsored field trip to the Exploratorium, with the Reed family, just before our vacation.. I can’t wait to tell you all about it. Stay tuned!

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Back-to-School Supplies For Less

by Christine - From Dates to Diapers on August 20, 2010

School officially begins for us just after Labor Day, but you may have noticed that I’ve been doing some back-to-school shopping this week. My main goal has been purchasing supplies, so Walmart sent me on a little assignment…

The Assignment

My mission was to make a list of school supplies, purchase the same list of supplies at Walmart and a second store of my choice, and see who has the better prices overall.

Our List

I modified the itemized Grades 1st-3rd and 4th & 5th Back to School Supply Lists, available at Walmart, to fit our homeschool needs, taking into consideration the fact that I have four kiddos in these grades, as well as two preschool age, and teacher needs supplies, too.

This was our list for each store::

Ball Point Pens
#2 Pencils
8-Pack Sharpies
Erasers
2 Handheld Pencil Sharpener
5 Spiral Notebooks
2 Composition Books
Filler Paper
5 Pocket Folders
3 3-Ring Binders
3 Pkgs Dividers
Index Cards
2 12″ Rulers
Scissors
Glue Sticks
4 24-Pack Crayola Crayons
2 10-Count Crayola Markers
Highlighters
2 Bottles of Elmers Glue
Pushpins
Clip Board
Compass/Protractor Set

The Competition

In addition to Walmart, I chose to shop at Staples. Not only do they boast “Low prices. Every item. Every day.” but I am also a member of the Teacher Rewards program and earn 10% cash back on most items on my list.

Our Results

We purchased a total of 49 items at each store. Of course, I purchased some store/generic brand items at each, but I am very particular about certain items and will always purchase my favorite brands regardless of price.

School Supplies From Walmart School Supplies From Staples

Here’s the breakdown::

Walmart total — $71.67
Staples total — $160.17

The difference — $88.50

Even with my 10% cash back reward from Staples, I saved $72.50 at Walmart!! WOW! I was already pretty sure that Walmart would beat other places, but I was shocked to discover that it was possible to spend over twice as much at Staples!

Where do you shop for school supplies?

As you probably already know, I am a participant in the Walmart Moms program. Walmart has compensated me to perform the above shopping comparison. Participation in this program is voluntary. All opinions are my own… always have been, always will be.

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Back-to-School Shopping at Walmart

August 19, 2010

Tweet I chatted with KTXL FOX 40, this morning, as I did some back-to-school shopping at Walmart. Here are some of the ideas I shared :: 1. Shop with a list to eliminate stress while shopping and also to cut down on those forgotten items. 2. The store brand items, which most often can be [...]

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Scholastic Children’s Dictionary BACK-TO-SCHOOL BLOG TOUR: Organizing Your School Year

August 11, 2010

Tweet Welcome to the 10th stop on the Scholastic Children’s Dictionary BACK-TO-SCHOOL BLOG TOUR! I have the privilege of talking about staying organized through the new school year, but truth be told I am so not an organized person! So, how do I plan to organize my school year? Well, I’ll get to that, but [...]

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