to buy 11 white polo shirts for my 4yos school uniform, so I don't have to wash them as often?

[User1789]

DS started reception this week, and predictably his tops look like the 'before' shirts in an Ariel advert.

However, I don't really have that many white clothes, particularly autumn/winter, and DH only goes into the office 2 days a week and doesn't wear shirts any more except on high days and holidays.

This means I only do a whites wash about once a fortnight usually.

I had bought 5 polo shirts for DS to wear with his school uniform, but this does not a whole load make, or include a spare for him to take in in his bag. I figured out that the £9 extra quid on 6 more polo shirts will pay for itself in about a term and a half if I don't have to do an extra load every fortnight (excluding the cost of tumble drying/detergent/stain removal!). So, AIBU?

I have white towels and white bedding, if I didn't I'd really struggle to make a load.

Ultimately though I have moved DS to red polo shirts, it's not strictly uniform but lots of parents do it, the school don't seem to mind.

This is why we own white towels. If we have little white wash, can then just wash whites with towels. Also Ds bedding bottom sheet is white.

So maybe just buy two white towels or some white T-shirts yourself or non uniform white tops for Ds. Then you will have a larger white wash each week and can wash other things together.

Yes I would. My dd's uniform always lasted over a year at that age so got my money's worth.

Surely if you leave then stained for two weeks you're less likely to get them cleaned? Does your machine have a quick wash or half load setting? I'd do a lights wash with a colour catcher

I’m curious about colour catchers too. Just do half a load? My machine has a half load setting. Uses less water and you needn’t use as much detergent. I hate ‘grey whites’ but I think the stains might set if you leave them too long before washing.

More confused as to why this is an issue. You can put on a light load of even just 2 or 3 polo shirts. Seems wasteful and allows massive bacteria buildup in your washing basket if there sitting there for 2 weeks full of school germs breeding. Or wash as one load at the weekend. I find this post strange.

Last school year I did this with shirts but I have calculated this year that it is cheaper to just do the extra wash. DS is 15 though, so his shirts are probably a lot more expensive.

Surely he doesn't need a fresh top every day? Particularly as it gets cooler and he's wearing a jumper on top. 11 polos would have lasted me almost half a term when DD was in reception!

I'd do a quick wash or even a hand wash followed by a spin in the machine each weekend rather than buying 11 tops.

I’d buy them a size or 2 up

Weird you’d ask. Just do what works for you.

Does he have to wear white polo shirts? My daughter's school can wear either white or red. She started off with white, but they ended up stained with sun cream so I bought her red instead. Much more practical!

You can wash whites with other light colours and they will still stay relatively white tbh, as white as if you only wash with white - it's often the washing itself which makes them dull/grey. I'd personally stick with 5 or 6 and wash them more often, but you do whatever works for you. Someone said they might be outgrown quite quickly - just make sure you either donate/pass them on, or if you think they are not good enough for that then use as cloths/rags or something (and cut buttons off for spares).

My washer is on every day
Tea towel
Knickers
Nightwear
Dish cloths
Just chuck it in on a quick cycle

My child has 2 very keen grans that like to buy for him going back to school.

So he has:

3 school embroidery jumpers
5 school embroidery poloshirts
10 pairs of fitted trousers
6 pairs of joggers for PE days
10 plain white poloshirts
2 pairs of black shoes

I only had to buy the school jacket this year. Think am sorted for the year too.

We buy stacks of them as don't do a white wash every week and they get destroyed in no time anyway.

My DS definitely needs a fresh shirt every day, he's always a manky mess and doesn't wear the token school jumper that lives in the bag.

I accept that some kids aren't anywhere near as messy as he is (my older one is relatively neat and always has been) but reception is a messy kind of place!

I've always bought ten, one set clean and a back up set in the wash. Have never had an issue with a child growing out of a polo that quickly!
Go for it!

Perfectly reasonable. You don’t want to be constantly doing washes, and this will probably worked out cheaper in the long run.

Ive never found they shrink in the wash myself

My youngest could get away with same one two days- oldest is a manky mess.

If my DCs school uniform included white polos I'd do this.

The only white thing they wear is socks, so I have a LOT of white socks to minimise how often I have to wash them.

Why is this a dilemma?

Do you boo!

LOL I had exactly the same conversation with one of my DC.

You can buy a white polo shirts in a multipack for £1.50 per shirt. A load of washing costs 35p in water and electricity. The cheapest washing liquid works out at about 7p a load. So a cost of 42p even if you forgo fabric conditioner and line dry rather than tumble drying. 49p if you use fabric conditioner, a whopping £2.20 if you tumble dry them! That's without factoring in stain removers.

If you halve the number of washing loads by having enough polo shirts for 2 weeks instead of 1 week, you will have made a saving after 36 weeks by having double the number of polo shirts. Just 7 weeks if you tumble dry them...

Washing whites separately and washing half as often will mean they stay looking good for longer. By our calculations, based on them having enough for a full white load every fortnight, as long as they fit for a year, it makes financial and environmental sense to buy more. Hopefully, they will still be good enough to donate to the secondhand school uniform bank once they no longer fit. We may have to reconsider the environmental impact if they aren't.

We are a somewhat nerdy family 😂

We have one weeks worth of uniform and so the washing at the weekend!
Definitely worth it

I'm surprised 5% disagree with you to be honest.