Taking advantage of the hot weather I decided to wash new to us uniforms in preparation for the very first day of school.

We visited the secondhand uniform shop on their last opening for the term the other month. It was so beautiful seeing how excited and in awe Clover was as she tried on her somewhat too big uniform, proclaiming they were “perfect”.

With 15 minutes to spare and the help of one of the volunteers we came home with:

• 3x Summer dresses $30 (they were all brand new with tags priced at $49.99 each!)
• 2x Skorts $10
• 1x Jumper $15
• 2x Shirts $10

$65 for the lot! I was so happy and totally looking forward to volunteering once it’s open again.

On Christmas Eve, I was mindlessly flicking through the Facebook marketplace when I came across a bundle of uniforms. I messaged the seller and within the hour Tim was picking them up on his way home after doing the groceries. This time we got:

• 3x Summer dresses
• 1x Winter dress
• 2x Shirts
• 2x Pants
• 3x Jumpers

All for just $30! Needless to say we’re set for awhile.

I’ve been wondering how I could continue my streak of not buying new clothes from the shops that didn’t make the shop ethical list. I have had to accept that underwear, socks (which were meant to be for school) and tumble shorts (to go under skirts and dresses or just on their own) had to be bought from not so ideal brands. But uniforms I wasn’t sure how to tackle. Until I saw the secondhand uniform shop.

Something I have been totally fine with buying new are shoes. We get good quality, long lasting shoes and they were the same everyday pair regardless of their choice of clothes. And with school on my mind I wanted to get Clover school shoes. So we went to Shoes n Sox to get both kids fitted. Turns out Clover’s feet are just too small for black school shoes. I was baffled. The closest we could get are black sneakers with a white bottom. So we shall see.

Before heading home attempted to quickly duck in to the shops to get some hooks for school uniforms. I got distracted and found the lunch supplies aisle.

Clover and Iris has a field day, they are after all part me and I do love containers. I’ve been grappling with the whole having to accept plastic anything for lunches. I did find drink bottles that are made from 90% recycled materials which I’m quite happy with. I wanted so much to have tin containers which is what we use when we go out but there’s not many affordable and plain smaller containers. I’ve been looking for non plastic alternatives and without being able to actually physically hold them it’s hard to tell what will be practical.

So when I saw the focus and joy Clover had when choosing a lunch bag and lunch containers in the aisle my anxieties about plastic melted. She found a lunch bag she liked (after trying out two), picked a sandwich box she determined to be essential and she got some tubs. I asked her to open the containers and she kept the ones she could and put the rest back. She carried them with pride as we went in search for leggings (there were none). We ran into the hat stand, got one that fitted, I asked her to run up and down the aisle to see if it would fall off, it didn’t. Then she spotted the bows and I couldn’t resist. We grabbed a set, some shorts and off we went. She scanned all her lunch supplies, wore her hat and analysed them all as we drove home. She kept telling us what she was going to share with her friend when she has lunch at her “big school”.