Changing School Uniforms

[wingingit1987]

Having a chat with a friend today and I mentioned ironing the uniforms tonight for the week ahead. I said I iron a fresh uniform for each day of the week and my friend says she recycles a uniform for a few days then swaps it out. Am I giving myself more work than I should be?

fresh uniform daily- YANBU
recycling it for a day or so- YABU

Clean uniform everyday, except for blazer and tie - these 2 items get washed 2-3 times per week. I’ve got 6 shirts, 4 trousers and 3 jumpers (which rarely get worn) for dc. I do a wash of uniform and work clothes every night - hate the smell of school on us

Depends on the kid, and the school.

Primary I tend to have enough in the house for 5 days of uniforms (both stuff bought new for September plus the less knackered and not outgrown stuff from the previous year). DD2 is a muck magnet and needs a full set of changed stuff every day - DD1 was less so.

Secondary - not with the cost of it - fresh shirt and tights (stuff that's going close to the skin) - and I've bought about 10 pairs of tights for DD1 as I know she'll put her finger through half of them getting them on with them being adult style tights versus the fluffy little kid style ones. Bought 6 shirts (allowing for incidents with leaky biros etc over the year) as well. I've only got her a couple of the expensive logo jumpers since apparently most kids just shove them in their bags anyway - and if it's just a stunt jumper being carted back and forward 90% of the time - I'm not washing that everyday.

Most of the time my kids end up getting into casual clothes (that they'll wear for a few evenings for an hour or so) when they get home from school anyway - I don't enforce this, it's something they've chosen to do.

It's one on MN where people sense the chance to be vicious witches though and lay the boot into others if you're not washing clothes every nanosecond of your lives... yet give it a few threads time and you'll be being berated for not caring about the planet in terms of daring to use a pod coffee machine, or drive a petrol car, or having more than one bag of rubbish in your bin over the course of a decade - this ridiculous MN double-standard nonsense which is basically just boiled down to "I've found something I can have a go at someone for - bring it on"

You wash the blazer and tie - 2/3 times per week???

Lol I do that 2/3 times a year.

I set out a uniform for each day on a Sunday. Full set, pinafore/shorts/trousers, tshirt, jumper, undies etc.

If they come out and the trousers/pinafore etc are clean it gets reused the next day. Any unused stuff at the end of the week is a bonus. Tshirts and undies/socks are changed daily.

Everything that touches their skin is clean on every time, with the exception of school jumpers/cardigan which sometimes get a wipe, air and rewear as they are expensive, branded, and don't survive being washed often, so need replacing every term anyway unfortunately. PE kit is usually washed for each use, sometimes I'll just do the shorts and T-shirt if the tracksuit has minimal wear. I don't iron, but might start as they do sometimes look a bit crumpled or scruffy. We are definitely the council nursery demographic, though. I feel like being poor we get judged harshly for our presentation.

I'd argue what "works" is your standards.

Ours aren’t school logo uniforms so it’s just the Tesco/Asda/Aldi stuff we use. I don’t find it hugely expensive.

I just don't think the word 'standards' is needed for this topic tbh.

Mine always had 2 pairs of trousers/skirts and a pack of 3 shirts.

In primary they used to wear trousers/skirts for 2-3 days and shirts for 2 days unless they spilt something down themselves.

In secondary once puberty hit they had a clean shirt every day but wore trousers/skirts for 2-3 days still.

I do the same myself. I have a clean top every day but wear my trousers for a couple of days.

We have 5 kids and always have loads of laundry. I keep the uniforms til Saturday morning then wash them.

As for PE kit, we used to have to keep the PE kit in school at all times in primary and they sent it home to be washed every half term.

Secondary was different as ds did Rugby/football etc and kit got muddy & sweaty. Dd didn't do PE in secondary but she had dance kit which got washed every few days.

Thanks for all the replies. We have a larger family than most (5 kids) so I do find it easier to do a massive ironing session on a Sunday for the week ahead just to be organised. I always put fresh clothes on them for nursery and our work uniforms are fresh each day (nurses) so it always just made sense for me to have fresh school uniforms for each day.

I’ll add- I don’t think my friend is being dirty or anything. It was more that I was wondering if I was giving myself an unnecessary amount of work.

P2 here - we only wash when visibly mucky and on the weekends. We used to live in a hot country, 35+ degrees year round and even then he didn't sweat much or smell. I used to give them sniff tests and clothes got at least 2-3 wears out of them. It's such a waste of energy and water otherwise to wash everything every time. Germs are everywhere and are good for them - they are breathing them in all day throughout school.

I mean, what is likely to happen if your child goes in with a not so clean uniform?

Well I'd wear a cardigan and jeans twice before washing them, unless they got something on them.

Yes, I wear tops for two days, sometimes three in winter, my fleece all week, and jeans are washed when they are dirty only.

Well we will have to agree to disagree then, as I do.

We don't 'have' to do anything. 😬

Clean shirt everyday but skirts and pinafores every 2-3 days so long as they're clean.

Good lord - reading these exchanges is like listening to my kids squabble.

Its tedious - can you not move on

You iron school uniform? why?

I have 4 sets of uniform (they wear PE kit one day). I can see that washing less is the ideal, but my children seem to get everything filthy.

They don't change out of uniform when they get home, unless it's into sports kit for a club. I'd rather have one set of clean clothes each day, rather than multiple half mucky sets.

It looks nicer than un-ironed
Ironed clothes feel nicer on the skin.
It brings out the smell of the fabric conditioner.

Are my reasons for ironing.

Lots of people don't iron (their choice) but I can always tell if someone is wearing un-ironed clothes.

Depends on your kid. DS' is too dirty to rewear. DD is 10 so has stareted with BO, so she at the very least has a fresh shirt every day. We just assess as we go, but mostly it's a fresh set every day. I don't iron anything though.