Confessions Of A Cheap Mom

I am constantly on the lookout for clothes for the kids. Just last week I snagged a pair of mens jeans for $5. (Mens, not boys. For $5. Wowzers.) They're too small for Josh, but Luke is going to hit his stride in the next few years and outgrow everything he owns in a 3 month clip. (I'm speaking as an experienced parent.)
I also snagged a pair of size 12 elastic waist pants for Micah. He currently wears a size 8, but elastic waist in bigger sizes is so very hard to find, and when I find it for $5 I'll not-so-politely shove people out of my way to stuff it in my shopping bag. At the rate Micah is growing, he'll wear those next year. And I'll be glad for them.

This is the way I shop. When I see a deal, I buy it. Because of this, the kids always have updated things in their closets, and we slowly rotate in larger sizes as we weed out smaller ones. Because of this, I don't grasp the concept of back-to-school shopping. I cannot fathom buying entire wardrobes of clothes at a clip, nor buying all of it at full price. (I'm trying to stop my head from spinning at the thought of all that money being sucked down the retail drain.)

If I don't do back-to-school shopping, does that make me un-American? I generally buy them all a fresh pack of socks. Can that count as my back-to-school expenditure? Because you rarely get socks on sale, and the ones that are were overpriced in the first place.

And speaking of socks, Luke got his early. That boy cut the tops off his socks because he preferred the ankle height better in summer. My head. It's spinning again.