AIBU or is DP about school bags?

[expatinspain]

DP doesn't think we should buy DD a new school bag just because it's a new school year, he thinks it's a waste of money as the old one isn't broken. I disagree. Her old bag isn't broken as such, zip still works etc, but it's definitely a bit shabby. It's a black emoji rucksack and the colour looks faded and she's not the tidiest of kids, so the inside is far from new. I think unless the bag is still in really good condition, a new school year should mean a new bag. My family were pretty poor and we didn't really have school bags, but i always got a new lunchbox and a new pencil case every school year. I used to look forward to it as a kid! AIBU or is he?

No beef at all with you, OP - you sound pretty sensible about the whole thing. But it is attitudes like this from a PP that often seem to go hand-in-hand with the ‘must buy new’ ... an I’m allright, Jack and fuck the rest of the planet. We can pretty much all do better if we try.

I recycle and don’t use food bags or plastic straws anymore, that’s as far as I’m willing to go as far as saving the planet goes, until I’m forced to do more! I’ll buy as much as a I like and I do not feel bad about it one tiny bit

If it’s functional then use it again!! Just give it a clean!

I spent €60 on my dd’s first school bag, it’s a great quality (similar to jansport) and I just pop it in the washing machine. She is going into her 3rd year of primary school and is still perfect! I plan on her using it until the end of primary school tbh.

Actually OP I go almost everywhere on a bike, haven’t eaten meat for 30 years, used cloth nappies, have an allotment, use Frey water in my garden ..blah, blah. It doesn’t matter. People need to eat and to travel but having a new school bag is not a need. It’s a desire. It’s fine and is a choice but I think in the grand scheme of unnecessary waste this is a bit of a no-brainer. If it’s still serviceable, no need to use finite resources to replace, it’s not an either or situation or absolute. It’s just you asked and plenty of people agree with your DH. Not just about the money but the environment.

Grey water, shocking typing!

Thanks to the posters who replied about lunch bags! I'm definitely going to try this as they never feel very fresh when I clean them.

We get a new one each year but the old one gets used as a spare, for overnights, swimming, brownies trips, general days out, holidays etc. By the time the year is through the spare is wrecked and new one gets resigned to being spare. Works for us.
Also I find styles change, the purple sparkly smiggle bag my DD had last year is now a bit young for her going into KS2.
My daughters spend summer doing a few jobs for £ which they use for school stuff, but as it's their money I let them choose which bag they want (within reason!).

I've only bought my girl a new one the year as she's gong to need more space for y6, her old bag didn't fit a4 things nicely and books/homework got tatty. It will now be used for sleepovers, club evenings etc where she needs to take things along. She will use the new one next year for high school too all being well. My other child is into his third year with his bag.

Why buy new if it's not needed?

We just buy as necessary. DS has a ‘Vans’ one and has used it for 2 years now. We have Eastpak bags that have lasted for years too.

I’m a secondary school teacher and my form are in year 10. They’re a real mix-some label junkies and some alternative types. Most of them (except the ones who have the Louis Vuitton fakery type stuff) tend to keep the same bag and change it up with badges, scarves, key rings, arty patches or painting/graffitiing on it. I always notice and comment. It’s a lovely way of imaginatively expressing themselves. 😊

I also keep a supply of shopping bags in my form room for water bottle/pen accidents etc. I dish them out when the girls (always the girls) occasionally bring a tiny bag to school and then complain they can’t fit their books in for homework. Surprisingly they always manage to bring a fair sized bag to my lesson after that. The threat of trailing round with an Aldi carrier definitely isn’t cool. 😂

Does he scrutinise his own spending to such as extent ? Sounds like a tight ass to me

My DS has used his now for two school years, it would have been a third but now it needs replacing. I think it is wasteful to replace something when you don't need to.
If you will replace, give it a wash and donate to charity so someone else can get some more use out of it.

If you will replace, give it a wash and donate to charity so someone else can get some more use out of it. If you read my posts, you'll see that it's still being used as an overnight bag. I'm not chucking it or giving it away to charity.

@Sirzy EXACTLY my thoughts.

I never saw the point in buying everything new for September. Just bought new when DS grew or ruined something

Why buy new if it's not needed? This applies to so many things that people do without a second thought though; Christmas presents, birthday presents, car upgrades, a second home, clothes and shoes for adults, gadgets, toys...the list goes on.

DD isn't spoilt, she doesn't get ridiculous money spent on her at Xmas and birthdays, she doesn't have hundreds of toys she doesn't play with. I've been a single mum and been skint in the past and I don't waste money and she's not a child who's always asking for stuff. She has a phone and even that's my old cracked iPhone with no contract, just internet. She wants a new one but is saving up for it with the weekly pocket money I give her and money from birthdays, xmas etc. While I appreciate many posters think I'm unreasonable and DP isn't (although his reasons had zero to do with the environment 😂), I just don't see anything wrong with buying my DD a bag she wants for a small amount of money for the start of the new school year, given the fact that she'll reuse the other for overnights and will be the owner of two rucksacks, which I hardly think is mass consumerism or blatant disregard for the environment.

Having taken on board what people have said, I'll stick the new one in the wash next summer and she can use it until the end of year 6, if it's in ok condition. It is only 17€, so who knows if it will last the distance. I will be buying her one for high school though, as I think that's completely normal. What I will probably do then is spend more money on something more sturdy and hard-wearing they will last.

Throwaway culture? Does no one give to charity anymore? I used to have a new school bag every year and this was way before the throwaway culture started and it was pretty much the norm back then. But then things are not made to last anymore because of the throwaway culture so if it is worn out as a result then what can you do anyways?

I'm just wondering how many people on here berating even the very idea of her buying a new bag drive gas guzzling cars and take flights.
I do what I'm comfortable doing with as regards to the environment but I'm certainly not going to deprive myself for the sake of it like some eco warrior martyr,most of whom are hypocrites anyway.

Does he scrutinise his own spending to such as extent ? Sounds like a tight ass to me He isn't like that with all spending. He just takes care of things to a meticulous level and doesn't understand why other people don't; think cleaning trainers each time he wears them, folding up clothes like they do in a shop (in fact the inside of his wardrobe looks like a shop display), cleans bags/suitcases out before and after every use (inside and out), takes pool inflatables out of the sun and cleans them and lets the air out after use, takes pool furniture out of the sun even if just going on for lunch, has clothes and shoes from years ago that look like new even though they've been worn quite a bit etc. I take care of my things too, but he takes it to another level!

Fucking hell no wonder this planet is dying on its ass.

Growing up, i did get a new bag and pencil case etc every year.

But my DC are 6 and 7. They both got a Smiggle bag for Christmas. Both bags are still in really good condition so i definitely won't be buying a new one until they need it.

Sounds like a perfectly reasonable plan to me, OP. No new bag for Year 6 but one for high school sounds about right. On a side note, how can we clone your DH?

On a side note, how can we clone your DH? 😂 The meticulousness sounds good on paper, but it's super annoying. He should have joined the army or something. He would have enjoyed all the punishments, like cleaning the floor with a toothbrush 😂

The meticulousness sounds good on paper, but it's super annoying.

I know, I know- I can imagine. But I have the polar opposite DH who has never in his life cleaned or put away a pool toy and wouldn’t know where the shoe polish was kept if he was held at gunpoint so I dunno, I reckon I could trade!

NoSquirrels I'll stick him on a plane 😂