$300 for back-to-school supplies and all I got was a lunchbox!

I took Amelia back-to-school shopping the other day and got an extreme case of sticker shock.  "Three hundred dollars," I said looking into the half-empty cart, "for what?"

Whatever happened to the good old days when all you needed to go back to school were two No. 2 pencils and a packet of loose-leaf paper that you used in last year's binder?  For sixth grade alone, Lilly needs 4 dozen No. 2 pencils and five separate notebooks.  "That's twice as much as I got throughout my entire school career" I tell her.

And whatever happened to dorm furniture constructed entirely out of milk crates, cinder blocks and 2x4s?  It was always kind of exciting at the beginning of the year to see who could build the most elaborate yet efficient structure out of materials mined from dumpsters and unattended loading docks.  These days, college-age kids coordinate their purchases from Target and Ikea so their room will look just like it does at home.  Where's the fun in that?

And whatever happened to the days when the teacher handed out textbooks at the beginning of the year?  The first thing you did was to check who had had the book before you.  When it turned out to be someone you knew--your friend's sister's best friend's brother--it was exciting.  Of course, with the exception of adding your name to the list, you were not, under any circumstances, to write in the book.  But everybody did anyway.  If you were lucky, your friend's sister's best friend's brother  wrote in all the answers for the problems that weren't listed in the answer key at the back of the book.  If not, the artwork was at least amusing..

These days, for a mere $18, you can own your own math book.  The beauty, I'm told, is that you can not only write your name in the beginning of the book, but every page thereafter if you'd like, which is just what I need: another math book with writing in it.

In amongst all the pencils and folders and plastic storage bins in my cart the other day, there was one item for me: a new lunch box.  In the good old days, I was not allowed to buy a lunchbox because, in my mother's opinion, a hot, nutritious meal for $.35 was too good a bargain to pass up.  So while my classmates lined up their new lunch boxes next to their two No. 2 pencils and last year's binder, I played with the money on my desk until, most days, I lost it.

Of course, having spent nearly three hundred dollars on school supplies, a new lunchbox seemed like an expense I could ill afford.  But, then again, I thought, how can I afford not to.