Anyone else not buying new uniforms?

Sweet_Pea_2

I took my two to Clarks today along with their old school shoes. The girl in the shop tried the old shoes and measured their feet and said they didn't need any new ones. I immediately thought Yippee! £80 saved for a while at least. Both DD's were not happy though. The one time they don't need any and Clarks get some nice trendy ones they actually liked (Oxford style) They tried a pair on each and I actually felt guilty for a second or two until common sense took over. They are a new style so Clarks will hopefully be stocking them for a while.

I find it's not just school uniform though, I also have bought a new guide hoody (£22!!!) slightly offset by me selling the old one on ebay. They both need new ballet shoes, DD2 needs character shoes and both need new leotards so we will be off to the dance shop sometime this week. Luckily dance uniform does sell well which helps.

I have had to buy two skirts, 2 jumpers, a pair of trousers, black tights, and a new PE top for school. Luckily I had a hand me down pair of trousers for DD2 and I have ebayed some of the outgrown items, which have sold quite well. I made DD2 a new dance bag, (I threw her old one away as it was holey!) and a new PE bag - Wilkinsons have some really pretty t-towels, a bit like Cath Kidston style, 3 for £4. I made a drawstring backpack type of bag for PE and a smaller shopper style for dance, both with pockets etc quite easily, on the dance bag I put a couple of pretty pale blue bows on the pocket and I realized that I had cut them off a pair of school ankle socks when they were in the infants, (DD2 for whom I made the bag is nearly 13 now!) Thats what I call recycling!

gunsandbanjos

Only bought new shoes/dresses/socks.

Jumpers and shirts are still fine from last year.

Spendless

Hopefully I can get away with not buying much for DD, which is just as well as DS starts Secondary and the amount of stuff he needs. :eek:
Where would any of you recommend me going for traditional white long sleeved shirts? I want some that are minimum iron and don't look like a dishcloth within weeks. 1st time of buying as he's always been in polo shirts before.

Due to concentrating on DS's school clothes, I missed the deadline date for school jumpers for DD, but hopefully a rummage through the wardrobe will produce enough stuff good enough.

Still got school shoes and trainers to get, as wella s football boots for 1st time too.

valk_scot

I buy it as they need it rather than all new at the start of the year. Do some people really replace everything for the start of the year whether the kids need it or not?

I had to buy DS new school shoes and new rugby boots though, argh. Fortunately his school don't mind trainer type shoes as long as they're black and have no obvious logos, so Sports Direct came up trumps with a pair of all leather Karrimor hill and trail trainers for £25. I was pleased about this...except I then had to cough up £35 for proper 8-stud rugby boots. Both in adult size 12!

Incidentally when DS was in primary school he developed plantar facilitis which the doc was pretty convinced was caused by him running around the concrete school playground in "proper" school shoes with no decent cushioning. He's worn trainer type shoes ever since to school, with a good layer of cushion under his feet and the problem has eventually cleared up. I'm not convinced some of the shoes some schools insist on are ideal for young feet, especially these flimsy ballet type pumps that girls wear. I had a real struggle finding solid soled enclosed shoes for DD and when I did they were £48 StartRites.

YORKSHIRELASS

There was me being all smug and DS1 has just got his football boots out and cant get them on!! He will be getting some second hand ones from ebay though if I can find some.

Shocking how much some of you are spending on uniforms though. I have to pay for a £230 school trip next January so I need to be saving for that.

SpikyHedgehog

I've ended up buying loads this year and haven't even done the shoe check yet. Don't know if you were aware of this, I wasn't till last year, but as Clarks say children should outgrow the shoes not wear them out, if you child's shoes are worn out or damaged, they will change them - and when we did this with DS2's shoes in the Spring, after measuring his feet, they went for the next half size up. So I might be able to get away with them for the Autumn. Will check tomorrow though...

I do check what the boys need before buying. But this year DS1 goes into Yr 11 and his school have different uniform for Yr 11 - plain black polo shirts & jumpers so they can wear them when they've finished school without looking like they're wearing uniform. But of course finding plain black polo shirts wasn't so easy and we had to get him mens' jumpers not boys' as the boys' aren't big enough. Grr! He's not even that big either!

DS2 wears white polo shirts and they looked disgusting before he decided to start cutting holes in them! I had already bought new ones when on offer but he has been warned that more clothes destruction will result in new school uniform for Christmas instead of nice presents. I needed to get him a new jumper but the school fleeces he already had, one is still fine but the other he's had since Reception - and he goes into Year 4 in September.

PE kits they're both fine for, but both needed new raincoats & thick coats Managed to get DS1 a thick coat from the car boot sale but had to get DS2's new. They usually last him 2 years though so not too bad.

Forgot to say, I got the raincoats with the Tesco uniform offer, because they needed the coats. So we have trousers stashed and long sleeved white shirts in case they need them.

SpikyHedgehog

Spendless wrote: »

Hopefully I can get away with not buying much for DD, which is just as well as DS starts Secondary and the amount of stuff he needs. :eek:
Where would any of you recommend me going for traditional white long sleeved shirts? I want some that are minimum iron and don't look like a dishcloth within weeks. 1st time of buying as he's always been in polo shirts before.

Due to concentrating on DS's school clothes, I missed the deadline date for school jumpers for DD, but hopefully a rummage through the wardrobe will produce enough stuff good enough.

Still got school shoes and trainers to get, as wella s football boots for 1st time too.

I only had them for DS1 through primary school as he has to have logo polo shirts for high school & DS2 has to have polo shirts for his (different) primary school, logo optional.

I got them from which ever supermarket we were at that had them in his size and found they all lasted well. If you get all cotton ones, they will need ironing to crisp up, but I only occasionally ironed his poly-cotton shirts. Good shake when they come off the line/clothes horse/out of the dryer, and they'll be fine! (Ok, I'd probably iron one for school photos...)

I got some this year from Tescos with the school uniform offer just so they'd have 'smart' white shirts and the shirts look ok. Lots of threads that needed shaking off.

Spendless

I buy uniform in the school summer hols upto my maximum limits because I find it a pig to find at other times. Both my kids have wide feet, DS also has flat feet, so shoe/trainer buying is a nightmare. I am delegated football boots buying to my DS having never bought/worn a pair in my life so I've no idea what they should be like.

DS has 'rugby playing' thighs, so what is correct in length for trousers he can't get in them. Back in January when were stuck for trousers that fitted him, the staff at next ended up with their tape-measures out to try and work out what size he was and were themselves amazed and said they'd never have guessed looking at him, when age 16 was the correct fit but then they had to be taken up.

DD wears navy polo shirts. The school ones cost a fortune and the 1st time DS wore one the scratchy embroidery made a deep welt through his nipple where it rubbed. For the past year I couldn't even find navy polos in DS's size and his had a small white logo on it. i waited all year for it to be mentioned, at which point I intended looking for a navy fabric pen and colouring it in. I am glad I stocked up on navy shirts when Sainsbury's sold them off a few years ago. Am going to check my school uniform stock in a min.

Rummer

A lot of my DDs stuff still fits so we didn't need to get too much, although my mum did buy a few bits and pieces for her.

Spendless

Just gone thru the stuff in the wardrobe and DD doesn't need anything for uniform except poss some PE t-shirts. :T

She has a couple of gingham dresses which will get her thru the first couple of weeks of Autumn term when the weather tends to be warmer and when the weather changes (before the end of the month - I know, it's my birthday!) I'll get rid as they won't fit by the time warm weather rolls round again, and she can change into skirts. Some are getting close to being too short but thick tights will solve that and by the time she's out of them, it'll be back to the spring months and I'll get more gingham dressess. All her navy polo shirts still fit and I have several hand me downs in next size plus an unopened new pack of 3 in next size up. She also has around 4 school jumpers plus 1 cardi still fitting. I knwo she has 2 x PE shorts as I tidied them away yesterday, just need to see if she has plain white t-shirts. Really pleased. :j

Now I need to dig out DS's secondary school list and see what we still need to get for him.:(