While school uniforms are often seen by children as boring and limiting, they can be incredibly helpful for you as a parent. Some schools have an official uniform which you can buy directly from the school, but most schools simply have guidelines and you must buy the pieces yourself. In the event that you need to buy each of the components of your uniform individually, it is important to know what to look for and how to save money.

Before you begin, you should check your child’s school uniform requirements. From there, you will be able to begin shopping. Keep in mind that you should choose pieces that are durable and high quality, since their uniform will be worn every day during the school week. Here are five tips to help you when buying your child’s school uniform.

Buy Only What You Need

Instead of buying more than what you need, keep things minimal instead. For uniforms, only buy what is required and avoid the optional pieces, unless you feel your child would benefit from having them. Check and follow the uniform rules to help you out. Unlike buying clothes for schools that don’t have uniforms, you will be able to keep things much lighter when it comes to shopping.

Consider Buying Online

Buying clothes online can be tricky unless you know what to look for. Buying clothes online is not only convenient but can also save you money. You can often get better quality clothes online for a lower price, due to more competition. More competition means more competitive prices for school clothing manufacturers.

Be sure to choose a reputable site to shop from. This means that you should only shop from sites that offer good customer service, flexible return policies, and accurate information about their products. When you can shop reliably online, you will never want to shop any other way.

Factor in Growth

If your child is still growing, you will need to consider that when shopping. You may want to buy with “growing room” in mind. This will help to ensure that your child’s uniform will last through the whole school year, while still accommodating their growth.

See What Your Child Uses

Be sure to pay attention to what your child actually uses and what gets less use. Throughout the year, you can take note of what does and doesn’t get used, so you can adjust what you buy the following year. You can also note what wore out quickly, and buy more than one article of that item if necessary.

Choose Quality Over Quantity

Quality is important, especially when your child’s uniform will be getting daily use. The quality will influence how long the uniform will hold up. You will need to choose clothes that can withstand frequent wearing and washing without having the quality and wearability of the uniform be affected.

Good uniforms should be able to be worn for an entire school year and beyond. So, be sure to keep that in mind when shopping.