The mother of two, who asked not to be named, said she would be spending about $1000 buying only the essentials in her children’s uniforms.
She said she put money aside but got made redundant.
Then her car blew up and then she had to pay for a medical emergency.
"Now we’re back to zero."
This week, the Otago Daily Times asked for readers’ stories of dealing with school costs.
The mother of two was one among many who said they were struggling this year.
"I budgeted like I was meant to," she said.
"I just retrained to get a better career and I’m still in a negative position.
"The only point of flex in the budget is grocery shopping and I think anybody will tell you it’s not easy to do that on the cheap either. At the start of the year, there were also the added costs that included sports fees and stationary that further ballooned the expenses."
It was not just beneficiaries or single parents facing the issue.
As an educated professional, she found herself in a terrible position.
She said the argument that uniforms prevented bullying because everybody looked the same did not solve the equity problem.
"It’s really easy to tell the difference between a new uniform and an old uniform.
"It’s also easy to tell the difference between kids who have Doc Martens and the kids who got their shoes from Number One Shoes."
At Logan Park High School, year 13 pupils did not need to wear uniforms, pupil Ava Brown said, looking forward to wearing her own clothes this year.
She had autism and the senior uniform in year 11 and 12 was very restricting for her when she was overwhelmed with sensory overload.
She said wearing uniforms also limited individuality.
Logan Park principal Peter Hills said another key difference at the school was year 9 and 10 pupils had the option to wear a traditional uniform or what was essentially a physical education (PE) kit — about 70% of the junior school chose the PE kit.
He said year 11 and 12 still had to wear a formal school uniform because it was important for them to understand some jobs required it.
