Brandi's off to her first year at Pasadena City College. She's reached so-called financial adulthood with a bank account, a debit card and scholarship money.

Bank of America will not be collecting overdraft fees from this student's account. Nor will the financial-aid authorities or the organizations who awarded her scholarships be hauling her in to explain herself because she abused the trust they placed in her by believing she was pursuing higher education.

She's on a budget that gets reviewed by the Overseer - me - weekly. Her debit card only gets carried when she's to make a purchase and it must return to the Overseer with the receipt and together they stay in my care.

We took inventory at our house and Brandi started with a count and organization of her clothes and shoes. It seemed like a fun activity when she first got started but once the job was completed the very serious part of the project dawned on her.

Looking at her wardrobe, laid there in the bedroom, she came to know her favorite red shoes needed replacing.

"I can go online, find `em and order," she announced with much confidence.

"But how many pairs of shoes do you count over there?" I asked.

"Eight, including the worn-out looking red ones that I'm going to get rid of," she responded without hesitation.

"There will be no new shoes brought into this home!" I announced emphatically.

Fortunately for me, my teenager often forgets to make a mental note, or even a written one, of the strategies that prevail in my household. So when it came time to make that list for the school supplies she needed, like the clothing one, it had to start with inventory.

Brandi had spotted some "cute" pens being advertised in the Sunday newspaper. She'd clipped the promo piece to be ready for the big challenge when she would be called upon to justify what she said she needed and where she would go for the purchase.

Inventory of the kid's room is always a must. There's quite often enough stuff stashed in a variety of unknown places to start a small supply store of one's own. And true to this, Brandi was able to produce 34 pens that could still write.

Not her art pens - another column - but just those pens, many of them promotional items she collects everywhere.

"Ugh!" she complained. "No fair!" I asked her to divide them up and share half her stash with me.

She was initially unwilling but finally cooperative. No cute pens were to be purchased and she understood quite clearly that she may have wanted them but she did not need them.

Like so many other families, we did hit the stores for back-to-school shopping and I'm pleased to report having seen a whole bunch of kids reading from their list with an adult trailing in a supervisory position a few steps behind.

Next week, we'll be looking at textbook purchases and where the best deals are to be had. There are some online sites for purchasing and depending on the professor's list, some experts recommend purchasing older editions.

Do I monitor everything? I sure do. While trying not to lecture, well, let me put it this way, I haven't written this piece because I need to vent.

Brandi did not get rid of her worn-out-looking red shoes. She's got `em on today and they look good as ever. They match her old red T-shirt.

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