School uniform question

nearlyrich

I always had at least 5 of everything and only washed at weekends (still do) I don't wear tops or blouses more than one day and I didn't think it was fair to expect my children to so they had clean on daily.

ciderwithrosie_2

Blimey, if I only did washing at weekends, I wouldn't be able to get past the mountain of clothes/towels/bedding piled up. Son's football team kits are a pile on their own! If I leave it for one day, I notice the difference. There are five of us though (all adults).

My lads only ever had 3 school shirts at most, 2 pairs of trousers and one jumper and tie, but even their jumpers would dry overnight on the airer so it wasn't a problem.

moomoomama27

My children only have 2 changes of uniform a week. They wash before bed, and in the morning, and are past the stages of rolling in mud or getting paint etc on them! If I gave all 3 of them a clean uniform or shirt daily I'd never get the washing up to date, as it is the machine goes on 1-2 times a day already! Buy a pack of 2 and wash and wear until the offers come in!!

Spendless

I start a school year with 5 of everything, or as close to that number as I am able to afford. Along the way items get torn or stained badly etc and at this point in the year I have less than the 5 I started off with last September, which is why I buy the amounts I do, so I'm getting them when discounts are there and availability is wide.

valk_scot

DS has five school shirts (or did at least till one mysteriously disappeared) as he's a big sweaty bloke and really needs a clean one every morning. DD has two per week and changes on Wednesday morning, she doesn't seem to pong up her blouses in the same way and only needs an extra change if she gets pen on herself or something.


Right through their school life though I've made a point of having at least one pack of the next size up in school shirts, socks and even trousers in the drawer so that I'm not caught out and of course it gives me the opportunity to buy in the sales, I'll buy short sleeved shirts in October when they're 50% off for example. If they skip a size I can always sell it to another school mum.


School blouses are usually fast drying though. Can you not make do with two and give the dirty one a quick hand wash in the evening and hang it up over the shower to drip dry, if she flatly refuses to wear one two days running?

kayl

Thanks for all the replies.
DD is a teenager and, to put it nicely, has had issues with finding an effective anti-perspirant!! These are now solved, but staining on her shirts has meant that, whilst I know they are clean, she can really only wear them with a jumper on top.
She does need a fresh shirt every day, and whilst I have no problem with hand washing every day if necessary, I find that even the non-ironing shirts from Marks need a quick run over with an iron, so it is far easier, and arguably cheaper, when you take account of electricity costs, just to buy 5.
The only reason that I go with Marks rather than looking on ebay or amazon is that I know that they fit her. She is a very slim nearly 16 year old, and their age 11 fits her!

valk_scot

Um...if she always wears them under a jumper, why do you need to iron them???


(Sez the woman who irons absolutely nothing, ever....)

mrcow

M&S do their 3 for 2 around June to July.

Savvy_Sue

kayl wrote: »

The only reason that I go with Marks rather than looking on ebay or amazon is that I know that they fit her. She is a very slim nearly 16 year old, and their age 11 fits her!

I realise that you may not have the luxury of time to do this, but I'd take one of her current shirts out shopping with me, and compare it with those in other stores.

Also, if her shirts need ironing, I'd say she's of an age to do it herself. Plus it's up to her to decide whether they do or not.

I don't think my boys ever had an ironed school shirt: my theory of ironing is that you need to consider how things will look once they've been on for half an hour, and if at that stage you'd never know whether it had been ironed or not, it's really not worth doing. Plus they were wearing blazers on top.

However I do make sure that shirts are shaken out not left screwed up at the bottom of the laundry bag.