Tax-Free Weekend Just in Time for Back-to-School Shopping

Just the mention of back-to-school shopping elicits fond memories of going to Sears or JCPenney’s (pre-mall era), the two stores where my parents had credit cards, and choosing new clothes for the upcoming school year. My mom made most of my clothes, and the rest were hand-me-downs from my two older sisters. Back-to-school shopping for new clothes was an exciting occasion! When my daughter invited me to join her and her daughter to shop for Sylvia’s kindergarten clothes, I eagerly accepted. Unfortunately, because of work schedules, we couldn’t plan to take advantage of this year’s tax-free weekend, which runs from August 7th through 9th.

The tax-free weekend covers the state and local taxes on qualifying items. Most clothing and footwear are exempt if they are less than 100 dollars per item. Athletic shoes do not qualify for the tax exemption. A few other items that don’t qualify are sports uniforms, school supplies, jewelry, and purses. For a complete list of what does and does not qualify, click on this link. By participating in the tax-free weekend, you can save a few dollars, which I’m sure your kids can find other ways to spend.

Yes, I have another grandchild, and yes, we’re excluding him, but don’t worry, he wants to be left out. Cal turned nine in June and will soon be starting 4^th grade. He has no interest in buying new clothes for school and even less interest in going back to school. He’s a big fan of lazy summer days with few responsibilities. He has strongly requested we temporarily remove the word school from our vocabulary so he can remain in blissful ignorance as long as possible. Out of courtesy to him, we will refer to school as the “S” word for the next few weeks. I predict Cal will put no thought into what he wears the first day of school, just grabbing whatever is closest and reasonably clean.

Sylvia is the opposite. She is the typical eldest daughter and is beyond excited to begin Kindergarten. She has spent the summer practicing writing her name and working on math problems so she will be prepared. She attended Pre-Kindergarten last year and loved it. She likes setting goals, making new friends, and learning new skills. I predict she will carefully select her outfit for the first day and choose the best hairstyle.

If you have more than one child or grandchild, you’ll know that the battle between nature and nurture heavily favors nature. People are born with a temperament, and you may have some influence in shaping it, but you won’t completely alter their basic personalities. Why would you want to? The personality differences make life more interesting.

My daughters are a year apart, and because the youngest skipped a year, they went to college together. A few weeks in, I received a phone call from the younger daughter, and she complained that her sister looked homeless wearing the same hoodie all the time. Just minutes later, I got a call from the older daughter, and she was remarking how ridiculous it was that her sister and her friends wore dresses and heels around campus. That one example perfectly illustrates how radically different two people with the same genetics raised by the same parent can be. Differences are normal and good.

Both my daughters, my granddaughter, and I went on the shopping trip to Woodland Hills Mall. On the way, we asked Sylvia if she had an idea of how she wanted to dress for the first day. She replied she wants to dress “happy,” because that’s how she feels about school. The outfit she chose for her first day was all pink because that’s her idea of a happy color. Sylvia chose several new outfits, hair accessories, and a fun pair of light-up tennis shoes! We shopped until this grandmother was about to drop! Thank goodness for benches throughout the mall! I don’t understand why my daughters and granddaughter didn’t seem tired at all after four hours of shopping. Couldn’t be age-related, could it?!

Although we didn’t get to take advantage of the tax-free shopping weekend, we had a great time helping Sylvia prepare for her first day of Kindergarten. I’m confident this will become another cherished tradition in our family. Maybe one year, we’ll even get my grandson to join us!

Sylvia loves shopping with her cool Aunt Caroline!