http://theshoppingnazi.com Fri, 18 May 2012 12:00:00 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 http://theshoppingnazi.com/homework-and-study-areas/ http://theshoppingnazi.com/homework-and-study-areas/#comments Tue, 23 Aug 2011 12:00:18 +0000 The Shopping Nazi http://theshoppingnazi.com/?p=6115 For many school children Summer is ending this week. Malls were packed this weekend with the last minutes back to school. Along with going back to school it means there will be homework. The quality of homework will depend on the environment the homework is done. Doing homework or any kind of studying on ones bed or in front of the television on the coffee table will only lead to low quality homework. I look the quality of study are will promote the same quality of homework. If we want our students to do the best, we need to have the best possible area. I found some great recommendation for the ideal study area at About.com. What impressed me the most it does not take a lot of money to create the ideal study area. Have a space that is devoted to studying: I have see some families who did not have space for their student to have their own personal desk set. Instead they cleared off the kitchen table and devoted it for X time for studying only. In fact the area around the kitchen table was to be a quite zone. Remove potential distractions: Some people can study well with music playing in [...]]]> http://theshoppingnazi.com/homework-and-study-areas/feed/ 0 http://theshoppingnazi.com/2011-back-2-school-shopping-pt2/ http://theshoppingnazi.com/2011-back-2-school-shopping-pt2/#comments Tue, 09 Aug 2011 12:00:07 +0000 The Shopping Nazi http://theshoppingnazi.com/?p=6020 It is just a couple weeks before Boise School District will start their 2011 – 2012 school year. Ms T finished her shopping for her back to school supplies and clothes. Last year and this year we has Ms T do her own back to school shopping. We gave her a budget and guided her through the process. We see this as a good training to help Ms T to learn some basic lessons in financial planning and shopping. The first step in keeping with any budget is to Separate wants from needs. It is nice to get the sharpest, and stylish clothes. When you shop with style in mind it is going to cost a lot than if you are shopping for just functionality. When I was young, and was ready for my first car, I want a 1956 Chevy four door. In reality all I needed was some transportation to and from work. I needed to pay rent, utilities, and other bills. The only way I could afford that 1956 Chevy was if I didn’t pay rent and some of the other bills for a couple of months. Reuse last years leftovers - Most school supplies like pencils, rulers and scissors don’t go out [...]]]> http://theshoppingnazi.com/2011-back-2-school-shopping-pt2/feed/ 0 http://theshoppingnazi.com/back-to-school-%e2%80%93-motherdaughter-view/ http://theshoppingnazi.com/back-to-school-%e2%80%93-motherdaughter-view/#comments Tue, 10 Aug 2010 13:00:02 +0000 The Shopping Nazi http://theshoppingnazi.com/?p=3321 Remember a couple weeks ago when I wrote about setting up a budget for our daughter for school clothes and school supplies. The post was titled, Back to School – A Dad’s View. Well, a few days ago, we gave our daughter her money and went shopping for school supplies. We chose to do the school supply shopping on a Thursday evening. I would pick up our daughter at the Boys and Girls Club, then my wife as she was getting off work. Then we would go out to dinner before shopping for school supplies. While at dinner we set and listen to our 10 year old talk about the different places she wanted to go to get what items. She, in a very confident voice announce she want to go to Office Max for her school supplies. If you remember the budget was $50 for school supplies. At Office Max the bill was $80 and some change. As we walked out of the store, we reminded our daughter the extra money she spent on school supplies would come out of the money for her clothes. Realizing just spent $30 of the money on her clothes our daughter grabbed her mother by [...]]]> http://theshoppingnazi.com/back-to-school-%e2%80%93-motherdaughter-view/feed/ 0 http://theshoppingnazi.com/back-to-school-a-dads-view/ http://theshoppingnazi.com/back-to-school-a-dads-view/#comments Fri, 30 Jul 2010 13:00:18 +0000 The Shopping Nazi http://theshoppingnazi.com/?p=3266 Like any dad, I want to see the best for my children. When it comes to buying for back to school supplies and clothes it can be a bit of a tug of war. This increases as they get older. Girls more so than boys. I am talking about staying within budget! I am talking about the definition of basics. Last year I did not see what was wrong with the backpack my daughter had from the year before. The concept of a needing a messenger bag to carry over a perfectly functional backpack was beyond my understanding. I was reading a post at Kiplinger.com that got my attention. It read, “But throw in backpacks, electronics, new clothes and more, and the cost of a back-to-school shopping trip quickly adds up. In fact, the average family is expected to spend $606 this year on these items, according to the National Retail Federation. That amount tops last year’s — $549 — even though many Americans say they’re struggling financially“. I personally thought these numbers were to high considering our current economy. Yes, we may spend $500 to $600 over the course of the school year, but not at the start of the school year. In [...]]]> http://theshoppingnazi.com/back-to-school-a-dads-view/feed/ 1 http://theshoppingnazi.com/a-computer-is-an-investment/ http://theshoppingnazi.com/a-computer-is-an-investment/#comments Thu, 07 Jan 2010 15:00:21 +0000 Ray Littrell http://theshoppingnazi.com/?p=1712 The other day, I was talking to a lady from the state of Georgia. She was telling me that she could not afford to buy a computer. She thought is was a luxury besides being a waste of time and money. A couple of years ago, I doing cold sales calls on businesses in a rather large strip mall. I walked into this shoe store, and asked to speak with the manager or owner. A very well mannered elderly lady came out from the back room and introduced herself as the owner. I asked what kind of software she was using to manage her inventory. At that point she harshly stated that they did not use any computer software for inventory management.  The only computer they had was the card reader for processing credit cards. In today’s world, the 21st century demands that everyone has a computer with some level of skill. This is from a fourth grader doing their homework to the scientist reviewing the result of some experiment. Then there is knowing what things cost and where the best deal is at. I use The Shopping Nazi as a means to share ways for saving money one product at a time. [...]]]> http://theshoppingnazi.com/a-computer-is-an-investment/feed/ 0 http://theshoppingnazi.com/school-lunch-hot-or-cold/ http://theshoppingnazi.com/school-lunch-hot-or-cold/#comments Sat, 29 Aug 2009 14:22:39 +0000 The Shopping Nazi http://theshoppingnazi.com/?p=790 In this post I am talking about lunches for elementary aged children. Why? That is the age range of our daughter. Since school starts Monday, we need to decide if your daughter is going to take a lunch or buy her’s. Last school year, our daughter was happy taking a school lunch. Then about February she started asking for a hot lunch. This year she wants a hot lunch, because all her friends will be taking a hot lunch. Most school lunches run about $1.90. Then those school who offer breakfast for the kids for around $1.25. Those families that are struggles there is a reduced price if not free. For the reduced or free school lunch program, you will need to contact for office at the school your child goes. If you are wondering if it is more economical to pack your child a lunch of buy them a hot lunch, consider the following; Want to known the rest of the story? Want to know the real cost of taking a school lunch?  Just log-in as a member. {+} Lunch box or lunch bag runs about $12.00 (That is if the child does not lose it during the school [...]]]> http://theshoppingnazi.com/school-lunch-hot-or-cold/feed/ 0 http://theshoppingnazi.com/school-supplies/ http://theshoppingnazi.com/school-supplies/#comments Sat, 08 Aug 2009 16:25:13 +0000 The Shopping Nazi http://theshoppingnazi.com/?p=513 It seems school was just letting out for the summer months. Now we are getting attacked by ads for school supplies for your children. Last night was our night to go out an buy all those things to get our daughter ready for the new school year. We could have look at each of all those sells ads, then went from store to store for the best deal for pencils, erasers, note books, crayons, folders, and pens. Then we would of have spent more time and money driving from one store to the next. Instead we picked the closest discount department store to buy what we needed to get. $43.16 was to total for school supplies. Then there was school clothes. I am not going there, because every child boy or girl has their own taste and personal budget. I remember my dad taking us to buy school clothes. It was three pair of stove pipe leg jeans, and five shirts. Last year school clothes were what we were to wear after school and on the weekend.  That was a different time and place. Take a look at what we actually spent on school supplies, just log-in as a member. [...]]]> http://theshoppingnazi.com/school-supplies/feed/ 0 http://theshoppingnazi.com/software-4-school/ http://theshoppingnazi.com/software-4-school/#comments Sat, 01 Aug 2009 14:00:26 +0000 The Shopping Nazi http://theshoppingnazi.com/?p=515 Between cloths and school supplies a lot of money is spent getting our children back to school. Elementary age children are pretty simple in what we have to buy for  them to get them back in the classroom. Junior High and up requires more than pencils, paper, and some nice looking cloths. Now they need some pretty powerful tech supplies. I am talking about a computer and the software to go with it. Desktop computers and laptops, for school can be purchased from $200 and up. This all depends if it is new or used. CraigsList.org is a good place to start for the discriminating, tech savvy buyer. Software is another story. The old idea of handwritten reports are no longer accepted, since it is so easy to type, edit and print from a computer. Research is no longer done, from home, with a 36 volume encyclopedia. A high speed internet connection yields information faster and newer. Then our child needs the software to put that information into a accurate, eye pleasing report. An acceptable computer will run you about $300. Just word processing, and spreadsheet software will run you about $100. Then there is that high speed internet connection, [...]]]> http://theshoppingnazi.com/software-4-school/feed/ 0