Yearly Clothes Budget

[boefixepa]

I was wondering what peoples yearly clothes budget is...

I know there lots of great ways to save money by buying second hand, garage saleing, and buying at clearence sales. As much as I would like to say I do that, I don't. I've always hated clothes shopping, until recently. So I've only done it one way. I just go and get it over with all at once. Generally I drop a chunk of change really quickly and then don't go again for quite a while....sometimes years. I rather enjoyed it this last time, but still I don't think I'll go again for quite a while. I have a good stock in my closet now.

Right now I put $50 aside a month for clothes. So that's $600 a year for one person.

What do you guys do?

[Kris10Leigh]

I can't remember the last time I bought clothes for myself. Somehow I manage to get hand-me-downs that I actually like! I helped a friend move once and she gave me all of her cast offs. Another friend cleaned out her closet. My mom is housebound and she shops online only. When things don't fit her, rather than return them she gives them to me. Bad for her- good for me.

As for my kids, I probably spend around $100 for both of them in a year's time and I am rather proud of that! They are 4 and 6 years old and I shop exclusively at the thrift store for them. For the most part, I only buy name brand clothes for them. To get even more for my money, I go to the thrift store on holidays when everything in the store is 50% off. My kids look great and $1.50 is pricey in that store! LOL!

My husband gets clothes as needed. I'm not sure how much he spends, but it is minimal. He buys a shirt here, pants there.

[Ima saver]

I buy clothes from QVC mostly, but I have cut way back. I tend to wear jeans and shorts out because I do a lot of walking. I probably spend $100 a year. When we get clothes, we usually give them to each other for christmas. My dh doesn't spend much either. He lost 40 pounds, so we did have to get him some new jeans and dress pants.

[sakigt]

I dont have a budget, per se. My clothes money comes out of my fun money. Usually if I go out looking for a specific piece, I either cant find it, or cant find it for the price I want.

Instead, I go to Ross and Marshalls for clothes. You have to go to those places often, but youll find deals! I rotate two pairs of jeans throughout the week and wash them often. Theyre my favorite pairs so theres no need to buy more

[Ima saver]

I don't work, so I don't need a lot of clothes. I have 2 or 3 pair of jeans and shorts that i wear all the time. My husband gets his work clothes and jeans from wal mart usually. We have no stores around where I live.

[Broken Arrow]

$0, but I'm a guy so....

[kealina]

i get a lot of hand-me-downs because my oldest sister and my SIL are both my size and both like to shop... also, i've had the occaional friend give me clothes, one in high school, another in college, and now another friend wants to clean out her closet and give me the extras...
plus i have yard sales which i love because i can get good clothes affordably secondhand...
i almost never buy retail unless it's clearanced, difficult to find at a yard sale, and i have store credit...
being very generous with the amount and including clothes, shoes, accessories, etc i would say maybe $100 a year? of course, i think it might be that high because i have been trying to add more "adult" pieces into my wardrobe since i graduated from college last year...

[getforfree]

I spend around $200 a year on clothes for 2 kids. But I think, the later it's going to be better, because they won't grow as fast, and some clothes will last them for 2 seasons instead of 1. I have boy and a girl, so they mostly can't wear each other's clothes. I usually buy their clothes a year in advance when it's 75-90% off.

Most of my clothes are 7-8 yrs old and were bought by my parents when I was still in high school. Since my kids were born, I bought myself only like 5 pants and 7 shirts, and some shoes to replace my old ones. Dh has plenty of clothes, so I buy him only when I see something really cute at a really good price. Most of his clothes is less than 3 yrs old.

[Bookie]

Clothing is a sore point with me. I'm of average height and very slender. More and more I find clothing in my sizes to be cut so generously (?) that I'm engulfed in fabric. What ever happened to tapered styles? A friend in the trade tells me the expansion accommodates the developing American waistline. She recommended I look in the young men's department, but that's not exactly the image I normally hope to project. (Rant over)

Anyway, when I do find something I like that fits, I buy for the future. Currently, I'm set for shirts, slacks, and shorts for the next few years. Averaged out, I probably spend less than $150 annually on clothing.

Note that I'm semi-retired, and that brought a major change in my wardrobe spending. It also saved me a fortune in dry cleaning and professional laundry bills. Formal business attire is expensive to buy and ruinous to maintain.

[lrjohnson]

Last year I spend $458.90; that includes $197.20 on a splurge for two pairs Dansko shoes (I fully expect these shoes to last me at least five years each if not much longer). Year before that $746.34. So I've made progress.

I hate shopping for clothes so I do a similar thing: run to one store, but some stuff, and call it good for a long time. I'm trying to use thrift stores, hand me downs, garage sales, and freecycle this year to break that pattern, and find more flattering, higher quality clothes for less. I've spent $97.52 so far in 2006; just counting when I've been on The Challenge, March forward, it's $27.30, and that includes a $10 shoe repair.

This was one area in which my spending did go up when my income went up. Since I disliked shopping I "threw money at the problem." When I was broke in 99, I spent $155.58. Much more reasonable.

[getforfree]

I usually shop 2x a year for clothes. And for kids clothes, I shop a year ahead, sometimes a few years ahead. So, I make a list what clothes we need and wait for the special sale. Usually stores have good clearance in January-february for winter clearance, and August-september fpr summer clearance.

[shengmei]

I spend $100 a year. I am not sure how much hubby spends.

Hubby insists on dressing nicely for work. Since he had been getting raises every single month for the last year I cannot complain.

I have to dress professionally for work also, so I have to be extremely careful. I usually buy clothes from the mall 75% off. I cannot buy used clothing because a lot of times the cleaning instructions are cut off by the owner.

[BCHGRL]

My budget for work clothes is $80/mo. Otherwise, it comes out of my fun money.

I spend 923.10$ on clothing for the past 7 months... I'm spending too much, although I usually buy a lot of clothes around the 5$ - 30$ range. I need to find a way to stop spending too much money on clothes alone, but it will be hard because I'm surrounded by people who wear nice clothes.

[getforfree]

I found page with some tips on buying kids clothes:
http://www.stretcher.com/stories/03/03aug25k.cfm http://www.stretcher.com/stories/03/03aug25k.cfm

I watch a lot of Home and Garden Network, and shows where they declutter the house to make a room or two livable. What I have noticed in all of these shows, the ones where people have big walk in closets - is the massive amount of clothing these people have. There is no possible way anyone needs that much clothing, or that they could wear it all.

I know when I used to shop for clothes as a hobby in my 20's, I never wore all the clothes that I bought, and I didn't have a walk in closet.

[Dido]

My budget is the same as yours, $50/month. That includes 3-4 pair of good quality running shoes at about $80 each because I do a lot of walking and am a bit overweight, and I figure a little preventive care by making sure I have lots of support will help avoid injury and related expenses later.

I do look around in thrift stores and buy there occasionally but have not had great luck with my clothing size. My S.O. who is a more average size routinely shops and finds LOTS of stuff at the thrift store.

[jodi]

My rough budget is $20/month, but there are many months I don't spend anything. If I do go over budget, it's never by more than $10 or $20. I have certain limits on how much I will pay for items:
Shirts, pants, shorts, etc.: $5-6 per item at thrift stores, $2 at garage sales. Rarely bought new unless it's a great deal or something I need but can't find used.
Shoes: $10-15 pair, will buy these used for $1-2 but it is hard to find my size
Childrens clothes: $.50 per piece regardless of where I buy - and I can always find enough items in this price range. I will spend $1-2 for pajamas though since they are very hard to find used (I have had good luck on Ebay).
Undergarments: $1 per pair of underwear or socks, no specific range for bras (but I will not buy any of these used)
I truely enjoy shopping the thrift stores and garage sales, which is why I give myself a monthly budget whether I need clothes or not. Sometimes I just like to hit the stores and I can always find a few neat things for under $20. I also ask for clothing or gift cards for birthday/Christmas when I am asked what I want. Then I can update my wardrobe with a few classic pieces, but I rarely buy anything too trendy.

[kealina]

Originally Posted by Bookie

Clothing is a sore point with me. I'm of average height and very slender. More and more I find clothing in my sizes to be cut so generously (?) that I'm engulfed in fabric. What ever happened to tapered styles? A friend in the trade tells me the expansion accommodates the developing American waistline. She recommended I look in the young men's department, but that's not exactly the image I normally hope to project. (Rant over)

lol... young mens department? that's pretty funny...i find it difficult as well, especially on a budget... i am so small and short (5' tall size zero petite) that i can shop in the childrens section and wear the larger modern sizes... as you can imagine it is difficult to find other adults my size willing to sell their clothing cheap... i'm debating just saving my money up getting some suits/other clothes tailor made the next time i go to vietnam, which will hopefully be in the next 5 years or so...
in the meantime, i will of course shop clearance sales and thrift/consignment stores for a few quality pieces that should last me... stuff like ann taylor petites is great...

[tgavin71]

The best clothing investment I well actually hubby made was to buy a book called "What Not to Wear". The authors have been on Oprah a few times. Since using their techniques I have saved a heap of money. Usually I hate shopping for clothes but now I know exactly what types of clothing look great on my body shape every time I go shopping its like being a detective. Before I would look at a couple of shops in frustration and then get to the next one and just buy a few items. Most of the time they would pass but now I get compliments on what I wear. All the clothes I buy are from thrift stores. The only new stuff I own are given to me as presents.