I've written before how children get more expensive as they get older. Instead of needing some gifts for them to take to children's birthday parties ($5-$10 dollars), they need money to go to camps or retreats ($80-$100 and no coupons!).
And braces.
And sports fees.
And sports clothing items.
And regular adult-sized clothes. Gone are the days of hand-me-downs. Luckily, my kids have always been OK with shopping at thrift stores and actually prefer it because they can get more items and often brand name things we just won't pay for (American Eagle, Abercrombie & Fitch, etc.).
Well, I could go on and on, but the point is, we look for any way we can to save for things they need.
So I was thrilled to discover that with the era of digital photography, we can take our son's senior pictures and just email the one he wants for the school yearbook.
They even sent us all the information (required sizes, etc.) this last summer with the address to email them to.
Of course, if you don't have a good camera and someone who's good at taking the pictures, you might still have to pay, but it's significantly less than when I graduated (um...we'll just say awhile ago).
Enter my wonderful sister, Amy, who took all these pictures of our son on a beautiful fall day.
She got all the "traditional" senior poses, the close-ups, changes of clothes and scenery.
We just went to a park close to her house and it only took about an hour.
Cool.
The only problem was she took over 100 pictures (in an hour?-she's good!), and so many of them are good, we're having problems deciding on the ones we want!
This is a good problem.
The other benefit?
We got some other shots as well- and for no extra sitting fee! :-)
And we got our family Christmas photo, too.
OK, when I saw this, I realized that my husband and children all look alike, and I'm the odd one out. Of course, I've always known our children resemble my husband more, but this was the first time I saw a picture of us and thought:
"One of these things is not like the other, one of these things just doesn't belong..."
(name that preschool TV show)
There are lots more saving ideas at Life as Mom's Frugal Fridays.
-Jami
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