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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To expect my DDs to get more than one wear out of a school skirt?

98 replies

PoopySalata · 13/12/2021 21:54

DDs are 9 and 10, I am sick of constantly washing and ironing their school uniform.

I asked them this morning to please keep their skirts clean (nightmarish pleated little things that I hate ironing). They always have clean shirts and jumpers but the skirts drive me insane.

They've come home this evening and they are both filthy again, the youngest seems to think it's acceptable to wipe her mouth/nose on her skirt. The eldest has just told me if I don't like it I should just send their clothes to the dry cleaners and stop being so dramatic.

I think I probably got a clean skirt once a week when I was a kid, which was less that ideal. But please tell me that I'm not BU to expect a skirt to last two days?

OP posts:

Hankunamatata · 14/12/2021 22:10

Nah my boys similar age need clean trousers everyday. I gave up and got 5 pairs each and they tumble dry nicely

Hankunamatata · 14/12/2021 22:11

You make the oldest wash them and iron them for her rudeness!

AfterSchoolWorry · 14/12/2021 22:15

My 9 year old is a muck magnet, I don't know how she does it.

I just buy 3 skirts, 3 shirts, 3 pairs of tights for the three uniform days and 2 tracksuits and 2 polo shirts for the 2 tracksuit days.

I also don't iron anything, shake the skirts and let them dry on the hanger.

Life is too short to be laundering kids uniforms constantly. Just buy one for every day.

gah2teenagers · 14/12/2021 22:17

@PoopySalata

Haha I'm sexist for expecting them not to wipe food and snot on their clothes? They aren't toddlers ffs. If they were boys I'd be just as annoyed. It's disrespectful behaviour, it's got nothing to do with gender.

The skirts will be entering their third day of service tomorrow.

I have offered a lesson in how to use the washing machine. So far it's been declined. I guess we'll see who blinks first

Deffo do this. 2 DD’s never ironed a piece of school uniform in my life. Both graduates now. Stop doing packed lunches for secondary too. They can make their own.

Ericaequites · 14/12/2021 22:17

Prepleated poly skirts require no ironing if hungg up on no rust skirt hangers straight from the wash. Does your naughty daughter know cleansers charge a flat fee plus a charge for each pleat when dry cleaning pleated skirts.

Ubiquery · 14/12/2021 22:17

The 10 year old can definitely be doing the ironing. I had to iron my mum’s work uniform at that age.

CraftyGin · 14/12/2021 22:22

@Ubiquery

The 10 year old can definitely be doing the ironing. I had to iron my mum’s work uniform at that age.

I think I had to iron my dad's and brothers' shirts at that age (my mum hated ironing shirts). Damn that Brownie badge that qualified me for it.

I remember the burnt fingers, but learned how to avoid them after a bit.

girafferafferaffe · 14/12/2021 22:25

The eldest has just told me if I don't like it I should just send their clothes to the dry cleaners and stop being so dramatic.

I'm wincing at the thought of what my mother would have done to me if I ever uttered these words to her.

Glad to hear you're standing your ground op.

Ubiquery · 14/12/2021 22:30

I'm wincing at the thought of what my mother would have done to me if I ever uttered these words to her.

Heh, yes.

DdraigGoch · 14/12/2021 22:54

Time for ironing lessons.

justasking111 · 14/12/2021 23:02

Watching Downton Abbey again, lots of sponging of clothes on there. Stop washing and sponge. When you do wash lay damp skirt on a large towel at the top end straighten the pleats, fold over the bottom end to cover skirt then carefully roll like a Swiss roll. Then stand on it gently, carefully unroll and hang up. The skirt will be barely damp you'll have a wet towel and nice pleats

Lagomtransplant · 14/12/2021 23:50

Washing clothes once in two weeks, or even less, is absolutely appaling, especially during covid times. Would you go to work every day in something that was only washed a couple of times per year? And just because you experienced it as children yourself, doesn't make it acceptable!

OP, wash them, hang them straight out if the washing machine and leave them to dry. And make sure the DDs PARTICIPATE in the process. However, dumping the whole process in them while still in primary school is something SS would really frown upon, and with good reason.

FlyingPandas · 15/12/2021 08:44

Mine (boys) get a clean shirt every day, clean trousers / shorts every two. My 8yo can be a bit of a muck magnet but would never dare to be rude as your DD has been. I regularly remind them that I’m not the family slave.

Don’t iron school uniform, just don’t. Hang up and smooth out is my motto. They need clean clothes but they don’t need ironing! I’ve literally never ironed a piece of uniform in my life (oldest DS is now at sixth form so I’ve washed a lot of uniform!) and the DC have always set off for school looking smart and presentable. Even if they only remain that way for half an hour once they get there

Ohdofuckoffcovid · 15/12/2021 12:16

Just don’t iron them, wash shake hang. Let kids be kids not worrying about wether they are dirty or not. Also, do they need to wear pleated?

GETTINGLIKEMYMOTHER · 15/12/2021 12:59

Let them go in dirty ones, see how they like it. Two a week, max.

As for a child of that age wiping her nose on her skirt, that is disgusting.
And the other, telling you to send them to the dry cleaner’s instead, I’d be stopping her pocket money instantly! Is she always so cheeky and rude?

eddiemairswife · 15/12/2021 14:24

Does the nose-wiper have a little packet of tissues about her person?

Hankunamatata · 15/12/2021 14:28

One posters has a point about covid. Our schools asking for full change uniform everyday

Rheia1983 · 15/12/2021 14:34

@PoopySalata

The skirts will be entering their third day of service tomorrow.

I have offered a lesson in how to use the washing machine. So far it's been declined. I guess we'll see who blinks first

I was washing and ironing my own uniforms (including skirts with very tiny pleats that did my head in) since I was 7 years old.

Would it be an option to get your daughters to do them?

TuftyMarmoset · 15/12/2021 14:47

Washing clothes once in two weeks, or even less, is absolutely appaling, especially during covid times. Would you go to work every day in something that was only washed a couple of times per year?

Yes… I wash stuff because it’s dirty, not because it left my wardrobe. So things that rarely get dirty, like my work skirt and jacket, rarely get washed. Work trousers I usually wash once a week.

beetr00 · 15/12/2021 15:01

@PoopySalata

a wee tip for pleated skirts, place skirt flat then roll from one side seam to the other (makes sausage shape)

Place the 'sausage rolled' skirt, waist band first, into one leg of a pair of tights.

Knot the tights above and below the length of the skirt. Keeps pleats in place.

Detestable ironing is so 20th century

Iggly · 15/12/2021 15:03

@PoopySalata

Yes! It's the rudeness, the hand wave and 'call the dry cleaners' that has sent me over the edge tonight.

They are spoiled and rude and will be going to school in unwashed skirts tomorrow.

Where did they get this behaviour from?

And why on earth are they wearing pleated skirts. They are the work of the devil.

Iggly · 15/12/2021 15:04

@eddiemairswife

Does the nose-wiper have a little packet of tissues about her person?

^this!

Original poster

PoopySalata · 15/12/2021 16:58

The little nose wiper has tissues, she even has a proper cloth hankie that goes in her pocket. She's just a filthy little shit who thinks she's funny.

The eldest has been very contrite since her dry cleaner proclamation. Probably because I went ballistic. She's at an age where she thinks she's got a smart response for everything. She needs to learn that running her mouth off has consequences.

I am loving tips to avoid ironing the bastard pleated work of the devil skirts. (Just to add - they are required uniform and not my choice).

OP posts:

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