Feeling organised for a change – getting back to school ready

BacktoSchoolDebenhams
Every year since Emmy started School I have celebrated the start of the Summer holidays with vigour that we have a whole 6 weeks off and plenty of time to do everything.  Of course the time passes far too quickly for all of our liking – even with the “I’m bored” from the kids or the “Please just 5 more minutes to answer these emails and get this work done” from me.
It is a struggle for me as I do work from home, and being self-employed there is no sick pay nor holiday pay, if i don’t do the work I don’t get paid, however at 3 & 6 years old the kids find that hard to understand and NEED me as soon as the laptop is out.  I do as much as much work as i can in the evenings but of course with children who don’t sleep well and trying to tire them out in the day I am shattered myself but needs must.
This year with Harry and Emmy in School and both in uniforms I am determined to be more organised as there is nothing worse than the end of Summer rush to get everything ready, the supermarkets are stores start to run out of the T-Shirt sizes I need and I have never managed to send Emmy back to School with a pair of Plimsolls which are the correct size yet! – Just why every year I forget I do not know but the day before term starts is the day I remember she will need to try them on, only for them to be too small.

NOT this year though – I have teamed up in advance with Debenhams to grab my essentials early on, before the rush and before I forget yet again – this means I can enjoy the Summer without worrying about this job later down the line.
Back to school essentials with Debenhams
I am one of those Mum’s now who go for practical as both children are in school uniform, gone are the girls pretty collared Polo-Shirts and in are the Unisex versions (Sorry Emmy – although she knows no different I’m sure), this is of course because once Emmy has outgrown them then Harry can wear them and because they actually wear a similar size now so if I’m not up to date with the washing it doesn’t matter as much.  With packs of 2 starting from just £4 I have stocked up on these so hopefully we won’t have the bottom of the washing basket dramas by week 2.
The same goes with the School Jumpers, Emmy has a few larger School logo’ed Cardigans which still fit her so I have chosen Jumpers as Harry can have when he moves to reception next year. His jumper colour for Nursery is Yellow however they are actually allowed to wear Blue too – this was implemented as many children have siblings in the main school and the uniforms are passed down – to avoid added unnecessary costs to parents Nursery children have the option to wear the Blue jumpers should they which.  Harry has started in Yellow because all his friends did and I didn’t want him to feel left out, once those are too small though he will be wearing Emmy’s blue ones she has outgrown (I’ve a pile ready and waiting).
Emmy’s plimsolls are on order ready this year, no waiting until they are all sold out – I think I have been clever this year and ordered them in the next 2 sizes.  Her current ones still fit so come September she will either wear these or I will be ready for another growth spurt! – The great thing about Plimsolls is they are unisex too.
I couldn’t resist new school shoes in a size up for Emmy as they were in the sale for £6.40, these are also the next size up ready.
Then with the clothing essentials out of the way – Emmy’s school dresses and Harry’s trousers don’t need renewing just yet as I upsized when I purchased last time, it was onto the accessories for them both – Harry needed a new lunchbox with matching water bottle (although he can’t use the water bottle for school due to their rules) and Emmy needed a new pencil case ready for year 2 and with everything she needs inside it was a bargain £10 – I was however tempted to buy this one for myself
Eat Sleep Blog Repeat Pencil Case
I was supposed to go to our local store to purchase the items I needed for the children however with our car dying this was impossible.  Thankfully I was able to browse the school uniform section of the website to order instead.  This possibly saved me money as I tend to get distracted in store and browse departments I hadn’t planned or budgeted for or take the children with me who suddenly ‘NEED’ everything they see!
Delivery was very quick with updates send on the delivery process along the way, all the items I chose arrived in one package and the sizes were true to size with nothing needing to go back – of course the children haven’t worn these items yet however all fit and the stitching etc. looks very good.  I will update when we are back to school if there are any problems later down the line.
Disclaimer:  The above items were bought using a Debenhams gift card in exchange for an honest post, all thoughts and opinions are my own.

Subscribe to Emmy’s Mummy

post signature