The Death of Back-to-School Shopping

Last time I checked, it was still summer. Yet for some reason I’m being bombarded with commercials, e-mails and advertisements for everything related to fall- including back-to-school shopping. Usually these types of things would get me excited for the upcoming year, but now that my years of schooling are over, all they do is make me sad.

Back in middle and high school years, I looked forward to this time of the year. I got to see my friends every day, I liked the majority of my teachers and classes and the days went by relatively quickly. The best part about heading back in the fall was going shopping for school clothes.  After buying a range of new jeans, tees and shoes, I would go home to plan my outfit for the first day (and week) of school. I think this is something most girls can relate to, but I also enjoyed all the other parts of school shopping- things like which color notebook I would get for each class. Although it was usually a long and tiring day of walking around the mall, back-to-school shopping was an epic event and something I looked forward to.

Then in college, back-to-school shopping became less about the clothes and notebooks and more about the essentials. Because I would be living on my own, all the little things I took for granted I would now need to buy for myself- and in bulk. I had to write long lists of all the essentials- hangers, cleaning supplies, shampoo… the list never ended. On top of this, I had to purchase (or rent) textbooks for each class, which wasn’t exactly my idea of fun. But still, I found this shopping fun and exciting, as it signified the start of a new season and a new school year.

Now that I’ve graduated college and no longer have any type of schooling to return to, this concept of back-to-school shopping is no longer relevant, and I’m pretty sad about it. It feels like a tradition I’ve been participating in for the past fifteen-or-so years of my life is no longer there. Now I have no legitimate reason to buy new clothes or new notebooks. What am I supposed to call it now- fall shopping? It just doesn’t have the same ring to it.

This article was originally published here for LA Family Magazine. You can read the rest of my articles here as well.