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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think this is why people buy all brand new clothes for holidays?

545 replies

Kittythepink · 08/08/2020 20:33

We are going on a family holiday to the seaside tomorrow. I am so stressed under mountains of clothes to wash, iron and pack for five people.

AIBU to think this is why so many people go holiday shopping for brand new clothes? Put them straight into the suitcase what a brilliant idea! Wink

Seriously though, does anyone buy all brand new clothes for going away? I used to know someone who bought all brand new underwear and socks for each holiday, so maybe it's a thing?

OP posts:
NaughtyLittleElf · 10/08/2020 09:54

I have some clothes that I only ever wear on a holiday abroad, they stay in storage the rest of the time, so they're holiday clothes but I've had some of them for years. I might buy one or two new things each holiday, maybe.

userd · 10/08/2020 10:03

I’d still be careful but that’s me.

Exactly you do you. I'm not worried about catching Covid from clothes & I don't bleach my food shopping. Im far more likely to be injured in a RTA but I don't think about it when I get into my car.

Maryward · 10/08/2020 10:35

I always buy new underwear for holidays! I think it’s psychological, if suitcase gets checked & there’s a load of old grey knickers inside, embarrassing scenario🤣🤣Similar to always wear matching underwear to your doctor’s appt!!

Gubbeen · 10/08/2020 10:56

I think it’s psychological, if suitcase gets checked & there’s a load of old grey knickers inside, embarrassing scenario🤣🤣Similar to always wear matching underwear to your doctor’s appt!!

God, I didn't think people thought like this any more. The only person I know who was that obsessed with what other people might think of her underwear was my grandmother, who would be 111 if she were alive, who, when she was actually dying, (as in she died within 48 hours of this) insisted on struggling into a new nightdress because the doctor was coming.

woodhill · 10/08/2020 12:12

I wear my knickers for years'. I hate the new ones which are mainly synthetic.

I did lose a pair of really nice ones on holiday (always the way).

I notice my white tots get ruined with sun cream around the neck even here

dayslikethese1 · 10/08/2020 17:54

Nope I don't do this. And I don't have special holiday clothes, I just wear my normal summer clothes (including swimwear). But I don't go anywhere insanely hot or fancy so no need for anything especially different from normal really.

BertieBotts · 10/08/2020 20:10

Leaving clothes behind for cleaning staff in Florida?? Confused I expect they wouldn't be allowed to take them let alone want to.

cardibach · 10/08/2020 20:11

@JenandFlo

Why are you ironing? I never iron anything.

Really odd comment, do people really not know why it is necessary to iron clothes?

Is it necessary? I haven’t for a good 30 years and the sun still comes up every morning, I’ve been gainfully employed and haven’t been Hunted by a mob...
LizzieBlackwell · 10/08/2020 20:16

@BertieBotts

Leaving clothes behind for cleaning staff in Florida?? Confused I expect they wouldn't be allowed to take them let alone want to.
We left loads for the maids in Cuba. When we go we take loads of kids drawing books, plasters, colouring pens and if there is anything decent I probably won’t wear again I leave them as well.
MyBedIsMyDesk · 10/08/2020 20:33

I was a member of a FB clothes/fashion group. And the most bonkers thing was airport outfits. Flying from Manchester to Greece - 4 hours max - you must have an airport outfit. It was all about how fashionable it looked. I was gobsmacked that people actually were buying clothes to look fashionable on a plane. And not only that but they were buying airport outfits for their primary school kids!

Almost every time I have flown from the north of England to the Med it has been raining or freezing. So I wear layers which I can take off when I get to the lovely hot sunshine. And will wear the same clothes returning home again - because its probably going to be raining or freezing when I land back in England.

Gubbeen · 10/08/2020 21:01

And the most bonkers thing was airport outfits. Flying from Manchester to Greece - 4 hours max - you must have an airport outfit.

@MyBedIsMyDesk, please describe the insanity that is the airport outfit?

Doggybiccys · 10/08/2020 21:06

@JenandFlo

Why are you ironing? I never iron anything.

Really odd comment, do people really not know why it is necessary to iron clothes?

@JenandFlo - I agree! I often read this on Mumsnet that people don’t iron anything. My clothes are so crumpled if I didn’t iron them I’d look like a tramp. Especially work clothes. I grew up with a mum who ironed socks, pants, towels and bed linen - I don’t iron any of those but do iron around 90% of my clothes I’d say. If I went into work with my clothes as they come off the dryer, I honestly think my manager would be having a word!
CherryPavlova · 10/08/2020 21:08

An airport outfit? Is that different to the one you fly in? I suppose if you came directly from work you might want to change in the lounge but only into something comfortable to travel in.
Nobody dresses up to fly anymore do they? It will look frightful after you’ve laid down in whatever you wear, unless it’s something very relaxed.
Ironing? It will crease in the case anyway. It’s better to have the hotel iron things, if necessary, surely?

MyBedIsMyDesk · 10/08/2020 21:09

Gubbeen I don't think I can as I never understood it. It was pretty much women posting photos wearing new clothes and asking the group if they approved of their airport outfit.

LizzieBlackwell · 10/08/2020 21:12

Yes we have an airport/flying outfit. Holiday starts at the airport!

BringPizza · 10/08/2020 21:16

Do people not wash clothes before they wear them? New clothes smell plastic-y, and god only knows who else has had their sweaty body inside them in a changing room before you bought them.

Smallsteps88 · 10/08/2020 21:24

I was a member of a FB clothes/fashion group. And the most bonkers thing was airport outfits.

Thats the nature of FB groups in my experience. It brings out a new level of competitive bonkerness in people. I’ve seen it in make-up groups, clothes groups, DIY groups, cloth nappy groups, Cleaning groups. Often I've found the same people across several of the groups (and they are U.K. groups- not small local ones!) being just as bonkers in each one. I call them elevenereifs.

Mochudhu · 10/08/2020 21:50

I have special holiday pants, nylon rather than my normal cotton. If we're flying budget we try to just take carry-on or at most one hold bag between us. Nylon pants scrunch up smaller and can be washed out and slung over the shower rail to dry over night so I only need maybe 3 pairs. I wish DH would do the same with his massive Cotton boxers!

pigcon1 · 10/08/2020 21:54

I’m very sympathetic to your packing plight - feels hellish preparing to go away. But no clothes buying here (unless needed for trip - micro swimwear for boys in France...)

Gubbeen · 10/08/2020 22:18

Tell us about your airport outfit, @LizzieBlackwell. Why do you need something specific to travel in?

TeetotalKoala · 11/08/2020 11:20

@BluebellsGreenbells

We used to take older clothes to a beach holiday as they would often get a bit stinky with suncream

Sun tan lotion wrecked all of our T-shirt’s last year, so I would never wear a favourite or expensive item

Have you tow never heard of the Nivea spray on sun location? It’s like hairspray.

10 seconds and your done and no slimes hands

Plus a Boots own brand solid stick for faces

No mess and no waiting about

@BluebellsGreenbells

THANK YOU so much for this. I bought some of the spray stuff this morning as DS1 (9) is a suncream fighter. He hates the way it feels (I don't blame him, so do I). He's had the spray without question or fuss today. Game changer.

TeetotalKoala · 11/08/2020 11:23

@Smallsteps88

I was a member of a FB clothes/fashion group. And the most bonkers thing was airport outfits.

Thats the nature of FB groups in my experience. It brings out a new level of competitive bonkerness in people. I’ve seen it in make-up groups, clothes groups, DIY groups, cloth nappy groups, Cleaning groups. Often I've found the same people across several of the groups (and they are U.K. groups- not small local ones!) being just as bonkers in each one. I call them elevenereifs.

God I remember the competitiveness in cloth nappy groups. And babywearing ones. So many stash and 'fluffy post' shots. All the better if they were limited edition ones to really rub it in.
TheKarenWhoKnocks · 11/08/2020 11:31

Ime this is a class thing. Working class people do it, middle class don't. Like many of the other things that w/c people spend money on that the m/c pooh pooh as wasteful, probably motivated by an insecure sense of social standing and the need to present outside of that on high days and holidays.

Megan2018 · 11/08/2020 11:37

@TheKarenWhoKnocks

Very middle class here! I always buy new things for holidays. But I have also never been on a package holiday either.

NotMeNoNo · 11/08/2020 12:01

I suspect it's more a case of something that goes back to a different time. When working class families didn't have a lot of new clothes and kids were scruffy, new clothes in summer were bought for first wearing on holiday when the family wanted to look more presentable (and similar Christmas). Better off families would have had plenty of clothes and not needed to make a thing of it.
Now it's just evolved into family traditions that some have, some don't regardless of current financial situation.

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