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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

WIBU to only replace the uniform items that really need it?

67 replies

Mouseyinmyhousey · 15/08/2013 10:18

Do you replace everything ready for September?

Ds will be getting new trousers, polo shirts, shoes for school.

But his PE kit still fits and there is nothing wrong with it. Tie, book bag, all fine. I'm even toying with keeping the jumpers a bit longer and perhaps replacing them mid year. They're £16 a go for logo jumper and they still fit and not a bobble in sight, but probably will replace these.

OP posts:

oscarwilde · 15/08/2013 11:21

You do realise that if you actually did this, just because, then would have a growth spurt in October and you'd have to replace the lot again.

Bonkers idea - surely the whole point of buying stuff "to grow into" is that you get some reasonable wear out of it?

youarewinning · 15/08/2013 11:22

YANBU!

DS has grown 1cm since last December and feet the same size. Had to get new school shoes as last ones died but his uniform still has growing room having bought last year with room to grow - and he hasn't

ouryve · 15/08/2013 11:24

I just replace stuff, year round, as needed. The boys don't confine their growth spurts to the summer holidays, nor do they only trash their clothes in July.

Of course, the year that one of the boys had a growth spurt in September was fun - there was not a blue polo shirt to be had, anywhere, in early October!

GraduallyGoingInsane · 15/08/2013 11:26

Gosh no! My aim is for them to do as many years as is reasonably possible in the same uniform!

DD1 is going into Upper Sixth and as far as I can remember, she's in blouses she started Year 7 in! The only reason she got a new jumper last year is because the colour changes for sixth form!

Shoes we check every year, otherwise it's just a case of replace as and when. Tights we get a bulk lot in August as they go ratty/holy but that's about it.

This year, other than the aforementioned shoes and tights, DD1 needs nothing.

DD2 needs a new pair of PE shorts as they have got lost, plus hockey socks as she only has one

DD3 has grown so will need blazer and kilt, although we're going to try the kilt as she only seems to have gone up, not out, so might squeeze another year out - they wear skirts in the summer so its only 2 terms. She rolls it shorter anyway so buying a new one just for length seems a bit like pissing in the wind, but we will have a look.

DD4 is in the last year of prep, so I really don't want to buy her anything new. She'll need jumpers as they all have sodding PVA glue on them. I'm hoping that's all!

crumpledinside · 15/08/2013 11:26

Op you can still get 1980s style plastic lunchboxes on amazon. Ds has one and I stick it in the dishwasher. I think it's made by fermoplast.

ilovepowerhoop · 15/08/2013 11:29

I only bought 2 new polo shirts for dd (9) as 2 of her old ones are going to ds (6) as they both have a range of sizes that fit. Poor ds never gets new stuff as he gets dd's hand me downs. I had to replace shoes, indoor shoes, ds's trousers and dd's skirts as they had been grown out of/trashed last year. They can cope with the shorts/jumpers/cardis/jackets that they had already.

I did get them new bags/pencil cases/lunch bags (wasnt going to get lunch bags but they had an offer in WHSmith with one for £2.49 and the other for £3.99 so got them both)

LittleprincessinGOLDrocks · 15/08/2013 12:03

I normally buy all new for DD, she tends to shoot up during the school holidays. I am hoping I can get away with her coat from last year though as it was not cheap. She will definitely need new skirts/ dresses as her current ones are far too short now.
With DS I am hoping to only have to get new polo shirts for him. White shirts are no good for pre-schoolers really. He has only been at pre school since January and every t-shirt is ruined, more annoyingly they still fit him.
Both will need new shoes as they are very badly scuffed and DS has wrecked his.
I am hoping to save a bit of money on it this year!

iamadoozermum · 15/08/2013 16:27

I have the same issue Mousey. In my youth (all those moons ago), August = being dragged around various outfitters in order to equip DSis and myself with brand spanking new uniforms, stationery, lunch boxes etc. it is so ingrained in me that I still do it for me, for work, now - I'm starting a new job too so double the stationery [fanatical].

I have to fight the urge to do this with the DCs as my whole body says New School Year = New School Stuff. However, as we're hoping to move house and move school in the next few months, it really isn't worth it and I just have to keep repeating that to myself.

ArtemisKelda · 15/08/2013 16:32

I only replace uniform as and when he needs it. He needs new shoes and 2 pairs of trousers, that's it for this year. He'll probably have grown out of the current polo shirts by the middle of spring term as usual so I'll replace them then unless there's another permanent marker incident

YoniBottsBumgina · 15/08/2013 16:33

GOLD if they are all white (no logo) you can bleach them.

Feelslikea1sttimer · 15/08/2013 16:33

I always had new but when we were kids uniform was only on sale up to September so our parents had to buy the whole lot 'just in case' now the supermarkets have it in all year round so I'm not sure there is a point! Mine are only need school shirts and shoes this year thank god, it cost a fortune last summer when I had to buy the whole lot!!!

NoComet · 15/08/2013 16:51

YANBU
We got new secondary uniform every year because we only owned one skirt and one jumper, by the end of the year they were on their last legs.

With no Internet and no local shops uniform had to be bought on the summer holiday trip to grandma's in the big city.

These days my DDs have several sets of uniform, skirts, trousers, tights, socks. The uniform shop has the logo'd stuff all year round and plain black trousers aren't difficult.

Stuff is replaced when it needs to be.

Elsiequadrille · 15/08/2013 16:52

That sounds like common sense to me.

Original poster

Mouseyinmyhousey · 15/08/2013 17:01

Thanks all! I just spoke with my mum and told her I was only going to replace the essentials,and she said, it won't matter while he's little but when he's older he'll want everything new because all the other kids will. See, see...! However thanks to MN will now not be throwing my money down the drain.

OP posts:

amicissimma · 15/08/2013 17:03

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

wonderingsoul · 15/08/2013 17:09

with my parents its the done thing to buy new each september..

but i will only be buying ds1 tousers as oh my god he puts holes inthe knees with in weeks.. one packet of shirts to go with last years. and one new logod jumper. oh and school shoes.

ds2 will have to have a new everything thing as its his first year at school [sobs] .. theres 3 years between them so cant really hand me down.. but even if they could i think your first year. if you can afford it.. they shoudl get their own sparkly new uniform of thier own.

i u sed to love back to school shopping.. my mum would always always take me out for the day to pick new stationairy.. new penicil case.. etc... i loved it.

Groovee · 15/08/2013 17:37

Ds's trousers were too short at the end of term but they lasted the whole year!

He needed new jumpers as they change colour in P7.

Because of the jumper colour change he needed new polo shirts.

Next year we change colour completely for high school.

So 2 years of all new stuff bar his gym kit.

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