Some people get really excited about shopping for school supplies. I do not. When I have shopped for supplies, every other parent in my area also seems to be in the store shopping for supplies as I stand in the aisles checking to make sure I am purchasing the sharpened pencils and the correct size binder as requested.
Two years ago someone alerted me to the grocery pick up service that Walmart offers. I have three kids making it an adventure every time we entered into a store. Someone would fall and get hurt, tantrums were thrown, potty breaks were numerous and my kids are still learning not to pull things off the shelves. I had occasionally used the pickup service for some of our shopping.
I was still deciding how much I liked someone else picking out my groceries and was not using it as often as I could have. I loved the convenience of pulling up and everyone remained in their car seats saving me time and sanity.
On one of the trips, I noticed my shopper appeared to be very busy. Because the service was relatively new and unknown, the shoppers had not been busy on any other trip. I commented on the fact that it appeared that business was picking up, and I was told that many shoppers were using the service to get school supplies increasing the demand for the service. THIS WAS BRILLANT.
One afternoon, I sat on my back patio watching my kids play and went through the school supply list ordering every item from the comfort of my own home. When the order was ready, we breezed through and loaded the supplies in our van. There was no standing in lines, no tantrums and no rushing to bathrooms. Granted, a substitution had to be made for unsharpened pencils instead of sharpened ones because they were out of stock preventing a flawless system. Every teacher in the region requested sharpened pencils and there are only so many to go around. I am sorry for the teacher that got 100 unsharpened pencils, but I did not drag my kids into another store to satisfy the request. Surely, some first grade kid enjoyed sharpening those all those pencils.
Another school year start for us is days away. I have not completed my back to school shopping, but we will soon put in our order for pickup. We will avoid the lines, I will avoid telling my kids 1,000 times no to all the things they think they want to buy. I will retain some sanity this year.
Also, I have not been asked by Walmart to write the post or have any ties or affiliations to the company, but they have acquired this tired mom’s business.
Writer Bio: Summer Bolte
I spend most of my time and days with my three kids, husband and dog. My kids frequently play near me as I garden, cook, DIY and volunteer. My most unusual paying job has to be feeding fruit flies in a research lab, and my most fulfilling job was being an oncology nurse for seven years.
