£120 so far.

[Manchesterhistorygirl]

Ds1 needed new everything and so far it's set me back £120 including shoes! That's for four pairs of trousers, six polo shirts, 3 logoed jumpers, lunchbox and shoes.

His dad is giving him one of his many rucksacks and it doesn't include the two pairs of shorts I bought him just before term ended!

This is for primary school! Year 3!

That sounds expensive to me

My two have had this each

5 polos £4.75
2 school jumpers £18
Pumps £3
Socks £4
Bag £6
Lunchbox £6
Bottle £3
4 trousers £10

Yet to buy shoes but will be max £15
Ds first pair of school shoes were £30 and he ruined them in a week

Mine have had:

1 Logo Jumper £7.99
2 plain jumpers £8.00
4 Trousers £16.00
6 Polo Shirts £6.00
School Shoes £18.00
P.E. Shorts £2.50
P.E T shirt £1.00

It does all add up doesn't it. I'm hoping one year they will be able to carry stuff over from one year to the next but they just wont stop growing!

Due to growth I had to buy a load of stuff in the summer term. I'm buying the rest of the stuff tomorrow, so will come back and tell you how much I've spent.

Yesterday it was £42 for

1 blazer
1 tie.

I just buy when they need it so all the money doesn't need to be spent in the summer holidays. And I've never bought 4 pairs of trousers, my DS has just 2. But I buy more sports kit than you do, needing separate kit for cricket, athletics and basic school kit. It's coats and shoes and especially trainers that cost the most ( and in DS's case, the cricket bats and kit).

I've spent £80 on shoes for both DC's, £50 on m&s order which included polos/shirts for both, trousers for DD and underwear for both. Luckily only DS needed new pumps (£9) and 1 logo'd jumper (£8.50), his other jumper still fits and both DD's cardigans from last year are ok. DS's trousers were £9 for 3 pairs and new school bags were £9 for both and lunchboxes £14 for both. Frightening how much it mounts up considering that not everything needed replacing!

We buy a mix of cheaper/more expensive stuff purely based on how well it's lasted in previous years. The logo'd jumpers/cardies are well worth the extra, m&s polos and shirts wash and wear well, DS's george trousers lasted the whole of last year so bought them again but for DD m&s trousers are better. The only thing i'm trying different this year is slightly more expensive shoes, decided to try the excellent independent shoe shop instead of clarks and got Ds geox which look bombproof (fingers crossed they last the year) and start rite for DD (getting picky about 'trendy' styles this year and hated everything in clarks).

I never, ever bought 4 pairs of trousers and 3 jumpers when mine were in Reception. The most they have ever had is 2 of each, one on, one in the wash.

I haven't done shoes yet, but am quite happy to pay £40-£50 for each DC for those, we have always gone for Geox, Start-Rite etc and have always got right through the school year in them (DCs are going into yrs 3 and 5).

Buy cheap rucksacks, water bottles etc from Sports Direct, I usually buy new trainers 6 monthly and put the previous pair into PE kit. Buy everything else in M&S sale around June time to save money. M&S school trousers tend to last DS for 4 or 5 terms till he grows out of them, same for DD and pinafores, skirts etc. I do try and spread it around the year.

Why 4 pairs of trousers and 6 polos? And why 3 jumpers? Don't you have a washing machine?

Mine only ever had 2 pairs of trousers, 2 jumpers and 3 polos at any one time.

Who wants to be on top of washing all the time?
I would have 4x trousers, but would aim to get them from charity shops.
6 polos might be a tad over kill, I'll concede that.

If you think that's bad, try secondary uniform prices when they are that much more aware & resolved that they don't want clothes from the jumble sale. I'm hoping the lot will come in under £300.

I have to pay over ?250 for books.
?75 photocopying fees
Shoes for dd and ds2, not sure how much that'll set me back
trousers, jumpers and cardigans for the older two, will set me back at least another ?50

And I actually have almost everything uniform wise this year compared to other years!

None of that is bought yet, I spent ?30 yesterday on schoolbags and stationary and will have to buy them drink bottles as they lost all theirs last year.

But it does seem a bit odd to complain about the cost of school uniform if you are buying twice as much as most people do!

6 polo shirts because they come in packs of three and I cant get away with 3 as they need a new one everyday due to being mucky pups and whilst I do have a washing machine I do not put a wash on everyday and in the winter things take longer than overnight to dry.

4 trousers because they come in packs of 2 and I cant get away with 2 for all the above reasons.

My DC have 3 of everything (Only trousers come in packs of two -logoed polos and sweatshirts come individually).

Uniform is washed on a Tuesday and Saturday.

I don't buy new PE kit each year, just when they grow out of it.

We had two jumpers last winter and it felt like I was always washing so I don't think three is overkill.

I don't add up school uniform because even at supermarket prices it's scary. I don't add up clothes for the children generally, tbh. If they need them, they need them.

I have loads of uni too, ds1 destroys his and it's impossible to buy in winter so I need spares. Plus I'm not great at keeping on top of washing, we generally have to fish uni out of the dryer most mornings as its barely done on time even with 3/4 of everything

I buy 6 polo shirts too, as I only do white washing once a week and they need changing pretty well every day (I have messy eaters). DD can wear one of DS's if necessary, but he can't wear hers as they are his hand me downs and too small.

Mine have a polo for each day of week so I only have to iron once lol school polos are the only thing I iron

You're lucky you're allowed supermarket stuff, all polo shirts and jumpers have to be bought from the school with logo, £8 and £9 each, even the skirt has to have a specific type of pleat and gingham dresses must NOT have white collars!
Luckily my kids haven't grown much this year, no way i could manage on two of each thing by the time i've got home from work and sorted the kids washing isn't top of the list and in winter couldn't turn it round quickly enough.

Son has huge feet width wise so found it has to be more expensive fitted shoes, alas, alas. They were £42. I always buy him three pairs of trousers, but bought four pairs because it was as cheap as getting two. He's shot out of everything towards the end of the year so needed a full replacement. The polo shirts were £4.50 for three, I always double up because he ends up wreaking a couple usually, or mislaying them! Trousers were £8/2 pairs. It adds up quickly!
His jumpers were £30! I should be more organised, but that's so never going to happen with uni, running the stables and home as well as most of the childcare because of dh's long hours, so I like to have three lots of uniform on the go.

I bought 2 skirts at Easter (yr 10) for the school to announce a "School Skirt" is being brought in from September; children will be sent home if they are not wearing it

I will not be buying a school skirt............DD can wear trousers!

Thought:

People who can't afford to have a washing machine and tumble dryer in their house, or if they can, to run it half empty all the time, are also the least likely to be able to afford enough items of school uniform to save the washing up for a once-a-week trek to the launderette.

that is, save up the washing, rather than "save the washing up" which is another thing entirely

I will spend:

DD2 (y4) ~£35 new school shoes.
Everything else fits from last year /y2.

DD1 (y10) ~£35 new school shoes. Everything else fits from start y7!

Primary PTA sells second hand log stuff at £1, and anything else at 50p.
Always amazed at the amount of brand new looking, unmarked items in lost property. They end up with the PTA at the end of the school year.

I'm on the PTA and we've o my just started a second hand shop so there's very little in it yet and I think we need to push it more.