Ohio's Sales Tax Free Weekend

This past weekend was Ohio's annual sales tax free weekend for clothing items and school supplies.  In all of the previous years that Ohio has had this event, it has not occurred during a worldwide pandemic so this year's weekend was a lot different than those in years past. And by a lot different I mean a lot worse. If I somehow thought that shopping with our breathing airways covered and not being able to try on clothes would not impact the enjoyment of shopping, I was wrong. 

We gave back to school, not knowing if we were going back to school, shopping the ol' college try in light of our tradition of going back to school shopping during the sales tax free weekend. We only went to two stores, Kohl's and TJ Maxx. We didn't get very many items. We concentrated on things we knew we'd need, basics like underwear and socks. We may not have the need for cute clothes in the months to come but socks wear out and feet get cold in cold weather so there's always the need for socks. Might as well buy them without paying sales tax.

I couldn't help comparing this shopping trip to another one during the pandemic- one of the first times we went shopping shortly after department stores were allowed to open after their forced closures to "flatten the curve." This was in mid May.  I remember a huge sense of relief. Sure the shopping was a little bit strange- only a certain number of people could be in any one store at a given time and dressing rooms were closed. BUT, there was a feeling that the worst of the pandemic affecting our lives was over (bless our unknowing what was to become hearts). Very few people were wearing masks, meaning those who weren't wearing masks weren't made to feel guilty and of course meaning that the governor hadn't mandated mask wearing inside public places. 

Abby normally picks up some athletic wear during the sales tax free weekend- she can wear the items to the gym and to dance. Right now, there's no gym for her to go to (the gym she used to go to never reopened after gyms were shut down) so she works out at home. Abby has a fitness IG account and recently a fitness wear company contacted her about giving her some work out clothes if she'd do a post featuring the clothes and the company. Abby enjoyed picking out items; they've yet to come but hopefully will soon. Anyway, Abby already has a decent amount of work out clothes and she'll be getting more free of monetary charge so she had no reason to get any work out clothes over the weekend.

As for Alyssa, who knows what the school year holds. As of now, the school year is scheduled to be in person for families who chose that. However, the start date keeps getting pushed back. Now it's September 8th. I could easily see the school going fully online- several schools near us have done so. It's not like the need for clothes would dissipate if school is online but certainly there's less need for cute clothes if the students will be home for school. Alyssa and Abby will be in comfy clothes (sweats, yoga pants, sweatshirts) in the event of 100% online school. So, we didn't buy too many clothes for the upcoming school year.

Our TJ Maxx receipt- just a little bit of tax on one clothing item that we purchased

Of course there's nothing quite like paying nothing at all... Abby sent me a screen shot of the items she's getting in exchange for doing an IG post (or two- I don't know the details of what she'll be posting for the company).