How much on back to school

[parentinghacks]

Aibu to wonder how much has it cost you to get your back to school stuff?

New winter coat, shoes, trainers, polo shirts, jumpers, school logo items, new water bottle...all adds up costs me a fortune!

DS2 needed new trainers as school have brought in a new black trainers only rule for September. But at least he doesn't have to have expensive school shoes. And their polo shirts were getting a bit scruffy so I replaced them. Everything else still fits. So about £25 spent.

@Sirzy

Coat is replaced as and when needed and I tend to buy next size in the sale as I see them.

The key is to replace things as they need replacing rather than trying to do it all at once

This is what I do

I never buy new school kit just because it's a new school year so costs are spread over the year. Dc are now back at school and so far I've spent:

Ds (9)
4 x shorts £24
Schoolbag £18
Pencil case £3
Shoes £25
Logo gym tshirt x 2 £7

His winter coat will probably still fit him and we have tonnes of polo shirts from his older siblings so won't need those for ages.

Dd2 (15)
Doesn't have school uniform so we did a top up clothes shop in July and spent around £60 on shorts and tshirts basically, these aren't just for school they are for regular wear as well.

Thankfully the primary school is super sensible and pupils can wear pretty much any navy bottoms, a polo shirt with or without school logo and any shoes or trainers.

Around £1000, DS starts secondary next week so far uniform has cost £200 and sports kit £350. Who knew rugby shorts and PE shorts were different?? And £30 each!! He still needs trainers, footie boots, rugby boots and a range of other stationery and sporting goods as well as school shoes. DD is going into year 9, needs a new skirt, shoes and some bits of PE kit. It is soooo expensive but DD has had the majority of her uniform since year 7 so it won’t be an annual occurrence fortunately!

Mine are in primary and I have two ds so the youngest gets a wear out of the older stuff.
I just buy fresh jumpers and tend to buy stuff as I go along in the supermarket.
We have to purchase books and all stationary etc.
Water bottles and lunchboxes and bento boxes. I didn't buy coats as had already bought some in March and raincoats during the summer.
Approx 20 on jumpers each.
60 each on books
Stationary 5 each
Lunch boxes and bottles 10
Shoes 25

Ds12 - new school shirts, trousers, shoes. PE kit still fits as do trainers, so only about £70 this year.
Ds15 - nothing - he had everything new after lockdown in spring so it all fits. He did announce that he needs a new pencil case, so about a fiver!

I absolutely appreciate a school uniform, for both boys (both in high school) around £700 for them both however shoes were £100 each.

It’s only that low as school bags didn’t need replacing and neither did jackets

Ds are into their designer gear and a t-shit can now cost £110 easily.

New shoes bought last term, so they are still new due to bubble isolating numerous times and PE shoes being worn 2 days a week. Slow growing feet! , £9 for 2 pairs of trousers, supplier out of stock for sweatshirts, so he'll be wearing old ones. Suppliers out of stock for poloshirts - will be wearing old ones. I'll just replace later in the term. Not ordering new coat - he won't wear it, not cool, will wear light weight shower proof jacket, which he already has. Loves his current bag - three years old, was expensive, but still looks great. Old water bottles. He normally has new everything, but he couldn't care less. Cheap PE trainers £14. He's little and hasn't grew out of anything.

Get coats from
www.polarnopyret.co.uk
Lasts 2+ years and about 5 Kids/so good resale value!!!

Wow. No way would I be buying tshirts at 110!!!

So far:
2 packs of sharpeners, 2 packs of erasers, sticky numbers 0-9, new pencil pots of each colour, sticky coloured circles for each group, carpet cleaner (don't ask!) and a new unit with 9 drawers (£280!!!) in to store the coloured paper and card I have also bought. I am really trying not to buy too much this year!
You probably guessed it but I am a teacher!

We normally never buy new at the start of the school year, just replace as and when required however DS 16 is going up to 6th form at his fantastic SEN school and their uniform is in totally different colours so have had to replace it all apart from trousers.

Polo shirts x 5 £20
Jumpers x 5 £42
Tank tops x 3 £24
Socks £7
6 SEN body vests (to stop him getting inside his incontinence pads!) £67

Coat I got in the sale at next at the start of Summer £15 down from £70
Bag he will be using the one he has used for the last 3 years which is still virtually like new. Bloody expensive at the time but worth every penny and will last him until he leaves.
Shoes still fit but I did get a great bargain from M&S again at the start of Summer, black leather shoes for £6:38! Should have been £38 so he is sorted for the next size already.

@parentinghacks

Aibu to wonder how much has it cost you to get your back to school stuff?

New winter coat, shoes, trainers, polo shirts, jumpers, school logo items, new water bottle...all adds up costs me a fortune!

Why do you need to buy new everything? I replace as and when my kids have outgrown things or stuff is broken / worn out, not because it's September.

Starting reception

Hopefully indestructible kickers £45
M&S reinforced trousers x4 £24
Schools own jumper & pe tops £30
Plimsoles £3
Shorts £3

His dads buying school bag, pe bagand polos. My mum bought his new wellies

@Tuliprain he's 13. Overtook me heightwise about a month ago and I'm now looking up at him. Voice has gone in last 6mo. Fridge gets raided all hours. I used to think people exaggerated about teen boys and food.

tbh I'm really glad he gets lunch at the new school! Something's got to offset the uniform £!

@Angel2702 thanks for that tip... my next task is finding wide fit rugby boots. If they even exist...

@Heronatemygoldfish similar age to mine and sounds like he’s exactly the same as my son.

@Coasterfan I know exactly what you mean about the shorts! Same here - normal shorts, rugby shorts, games tee, rugby shirt, tracksuit... plus optional stuff for when it's freezing out. Argh.

It's all very well trying to replace as and when, but I've been caught out before with no black school shoes or uniform available in the right size when Dc suddenly grow out of them, so now I do try and get stuff when it's available and squirrel it away.
If you know you're going to need them at some point, it makes sense to pick them up while the shops are full of them.

I bought what was necessary. They both had a growth spurt towards the end of last term, and one of them had a broken bag - so it so happened I needed to replace a lot of things this year. It cost around £260. That's including a new lunch bag for one, and stationery for both.

Shoes were £46/40, plus a pair of PE trainers.

Both needed shirts, trousers, skirts, jumpers. No new blazers or coats necessary yet. (One blazer is getting a bit snug, we're using it for as long as possible 😅)

Luckily not too much uniform needed as last years is fine so I'd say I've spent somewhere in the region of €280 on books and stationery for two primary aged children

About £120 in total for 2 dc. Shoes and school trousers for ds. A pair of trousers and a couple of tops for dd (going into 6th form).

For 3 children it’s cost me almost £400.
My youngest DC isn’t school aged yet, so when she starts the cost will go up again, around about the time when my eldest will be starting high school, and the cost will go up even more.
I reckon when DC4 starts school and DC1 is in high school, I’ll be paying around £500-600 easy.

It’s almost as expensive as Christmas .

2x logo jumpers at £12.50 each
3x pairs of grey joggers £4.00 each will be getting 2 more pairs so he has one for each day of the week.
4x polo shirts £10.00
bookbag £5.00
water bottle £3.00

still need to get
coat
slip-on trainers
grey socks

Thankfully most thing can be brought from the supermarket except the jumpers.

In the region of £200. He’d outgrown absolutely everything!