New school bag and lunchbox every September?

[AvocadoHo]

Light hearted debate with OH.

Making a list of school uniform needed for daughter (8) going back to school.

He rolled his eyes snd asked "why does she need a new bag? What's wrong with the one she has?"

Nothing is wrong with it, it's just a bit grubby and battered. But when I was growing up we had a new bag and lunch box every year. He feels this is excessive.

Is it really that uncommon?

I feel your pain

I buy new every year but he uses last years bag for his football boots ball etc when going out with his pals

Are people putting all the food straight into the insulated soft lunchbags?
That might explain why they are going "manky and mouldy".

Put any messy food in a hard washable plastic box, put the box inside the lunch bag to keep cool, that way any mess will be fairly easily contained and the bag will be easily cleaned with a quick wipe over.

Wash the bag in the washing machine every few months to keep it pristine.

Try not to buy bags that will be seen as "babyish" as they won't last - customise with a key ring instead, so children can identify theirs easily.

@TulipLightBulbs

Are people putting all the food straight into the insulated soft lunchbags? That might explain why they are going "manky and mouldy".

Put any messy food in a hard washable plastic box, put the box inside the lunch bag to keep cool, that way any mess will be fairly easily contained and the bag will be easily cleaned with a quick wipe over.

Wash the bag in the washing machine every few months to keep it pristine.

Try not to buy bags that will be seen as "babyish" as they won't last - customise with a key ring instead, so children can identify theirs easily.

That’s what I was wondering. I genuinely can’t see how they go manky and mouldy unless you’re putting sandwiches etc directly into the insulated bag.

My son had a quality rucksack in reception, and he kept it until year 6, I just washed it in the machine to freshen up and looked as good as new. He wants a new one for year 7 in older colour but fingers crossed it lasts many years. His elder brother had the same in year 7 and he is going into year 11 with the same bag!!

Agree with your OH. Terrible decision for the planet even if you can afford new ones. My DS used the same backpack and lunchbag for two years until the bag had a few holes and needed replacing. He’s going to secondary school so doesn’t need a lunchbag anymore but he’d still be using it otherwise because it’s fine. There’s just no need to replace expensive items like this for the sake of it.

Even if things are put straight into the lunch bag surely it would only get manky if not washed and dried properly?

Ds has used the same lunch bag to take his tube feeds into school for 2 years and it’s still going strong even with the odd leaking bottle of specialist milk.

Nothing is wrong with it, it's just a bit grubby and battered

Face it, the new one will be grubby and battered within a week, so you may as well carry on with the old one.

No only buy if actually need them

I do replace them every year. It’s one of our highlights preparing for the new year. We make abit of a day with it and it’s nice. I didn’t last year as due to lockdown they all looked really good so I replaced them when they went back after second lockdown instead. This year we have a new school so will need new bags anyway. I bought two lunchboxes last year and one is still unused so will just use that.

I do replace them every year. It’s one of our highlights preparing for the new year.

A few people have said this, or something similar. But why can't you just institute a new "going back to school" tradition, that doesn't involve buying unnecessary items? Going for a milkshake after school shoes/uniform shopping, for example?

[quote MorganHunt]@DariaMorgendorffer:

I don't agree. I would never put the environment above making my child happy. I never fly anywhere, I don't own a car, I don't eat meat and my carbon footprint is probably minus. All I do is buy a new schoolbag and a new pencilcase for my happy child each year. If that messes up the planet we live on, I don't care.[/quote]
My child is happy reusing and recycling perfectly good items. This is the planet that your child, and their children in turn, need to live on! Not having a new schoolbag will be the least of their worries if this level of global consumption persists

I buy everything as and when it needs replaced, this includes uniform!

I've never understood why everything has to be bought new en masse "for September" when simply buying things as needed spreads the cost and reduces waste.

My daughters get replaced either for birthday or Christmas depending on their condition/change in interests.

That way I can buy when they are on offer 😁

I have 3 DCs who have a combined total of 25 school years.

Just worked out that they have had a total of 5 school bags between them!!! Imagine the waste if I had bought one every year.

To be fair, I do buy really good ones at £50 a pop so they should last.

@DariaMorgendorffer

I agree with you on this.

It’s all relative. Some posters vehemently condemning people buying a new school bag may eat meat every night and go on two plane holidays a year. I’d say a new bag for someone with a low carbon lifestyle is a very low level problem vs a new bag for a high carbon lifestyle. It’s all about little steps, not the total eradication of planetary impact.

At the end of the day, we could all still be using our school book bags and 70% of carbon emissions are coming from the big companies.

@BluebellCockleshell123

I have 3 DCs who have a combined total of 25 school years.

Just worked out that they have had a total of 5 school bags between them!!! Imagine the waste if I had bought one every year.

To be fair, I do buy really good ones at £50 a pop so they should last.

One of them has had the same bag since reception?!

I buy new every year, as does everyone I know. However I do always give any items still in good condition to the school & they distribute them to families who need them. I do the same with uniform & mostly it's all in good condition as my DD seems to grow at lightening speed. Although I generally only buy 2 new school outfits as, like previous posters mentioned, I will be buying more at christmas time when my DD will no doubt have grown again.

2 of them have had the same bags since they started school.

DC1 (yr 12) has had 3 bags (2 broken zips)
DC2 (yr 9) has had only 1 bag
DC1 (yr 6) has had only 1 bag

awww, come on, I'd always get them a new one at the beginning of the school year, I loved school shopping!

One of them has had the same bag since reception?!

They might not have had one in reception if they had school dinners?

@PrincessNutella

awww, come on, I'd always get them a new one at the beginning of the school year, I loved school shopping!

What do you do with the old ones?

Well, I must say I’ve been convinced. ‘It’s nice’ and ‘I loved school shopping’ seem like excellent reasons to buy unnecessary stuff and contribute to landfill.

@PrincessNutella

awww, come on, I'd always get them a new one at the beginning of the school year, I loved school shopping!

But why would you get a new one just because it's September?

It's consumerism! The shops obviously want you to spend spend spend... But that doesn't make it the right thing to do.

I have never encouraged my kid to want new things for the sake of wanting new things. Yes, it's nice to get a new bag, or whatever. But the new bag is because the old one is falling apart, not because of a need to feed a desire to get new things.

@waterlego

Well, I must say I’ve been convinced. ‘It’s nice’ and ‘I loved school shopping’ seem like excellent reasons to buy unnecessary stuff and contribute to landfill.