I can’t believe there are only two days left of the first half term, Viggo has settled into ‘big school’ well, Tyrus isn’t quite so reluctant to go in and Eowyn is loving year 5. Kaide and Neva are both in top sets for all subjects and the dreaded gcse revision is well underway, with three extra hours after school each week for Neva!The school clothes are being put through their usual punishing routine, I really have no idea how children can get SO mucky! What starts off as a bright, crisp, sparkling white polo shirt at 7.30am Monday morning, ends up as a paint filled, gravy stained graffiti wall by 3.15pm!
Viggo’s polo shirts aren’t as bad because he keeps his jumper on most of the day, which is Navy, so hides most of the issues! Although he does bring half the sand pit home in his shoes most days!When I was asked if we would like to give ACE for colours and ACE Stain remover a try, suddenly the school uniform was a force to be reckoned with! ACE for colours gentle removes stains and keeps the colours bright and the stain remover spray tackles grease and germs along with stubborn stains (hooray!) and the best part is you can use it every day!Having seven children, the laundry basket is always full, along with the ironing basket, the washing machine, tumble dryer and the washing line (if its a nice day!) I have a 13kg washing machine which is great, however the tumble dryer is almost half the size, so it never seems to stop!
We now have five children in school uniform, three at primary level and two at high school, I was so fed up of trawling through their wardrobes every day and finding stinky sports kit at the bottom, I cleared out one of the wardrobes in my bedroom and it now houses all of their polo shirts, trousers, skirts, shirts and blazers along with ties, PE Kits and anything else school related. They also have their own dedicated coat hanger colour, with Tyrus and Viggo nearly the same size and three of them in polo shirts, having colour coded hangers means neither of the boys end up with Eowyns frilly coloured polo tops on (this may have happened a few years ago to Kaide!)At the beginning of this school year I also made the decision to have a dedicated school sock drawer, so whenever I do a wash I put all of the school socks (mostly black except for a couple of Eowyns white ones) into a large net bag, wash and dry them and then pair them up and pop them into the sock drawer, I bought the two youngest boys days of the week socks and for the first two weeks that had the correct day, but as the weeks have gone on they no longer have the same matching socks and you may find a pair of Sunday socks on a Wednesday!!
So that’s how I keep the school uniform in order, oh and a giant size iron that makes its way out every couple of weeks to make everything look smart again (I will admit that occasionally the shirts under the blazers may not be as crease free as they should be!)The stains are being tackled nicely by ACE (the stain remover) although I haven’t quite got Ace the husband to be quite as good at removing the stains! (he’s getting there!) and now its nearly time for the school holidays, I cannot wait!
This post is an entry for the BritMums #ACEforSchool Challenge, sponsored by ACE. Get help for all kinds of stains with the ACEStain Helper. http://www.acecleanuk.co.uk/ or to buy head to your local Tesco’s, Morrison’s, Waitrose or Sainsbury’s.