Ask the Readers: How do you manage your clothing expenses?

As a mostly stay at home mom, I have very few clothes for myself. But for my kids, I do admit I buy lots of clothes, mostly items that were purchased on clearance. It keeps me from having to stress over laundry.

For the boys, I pretty much have maximums, and those are pretty low numbers. I like to spend $5 on pants and about $3 on a shirt. Sweaters are $10, although I rarely buy them and just wait for (sarcasm alert) those terrible and rude relatives to gift them at the holidays.

How do I get their clothes so cheap? I buy new clothes off season. This means that I often don’t have a choice of style or size. I buy WAY ahead. For instance, I already have clothes stored away for my 5 yr old for when he is 7. It takes some organization and sometimes I fail and buy him too much (3 pairs of brown cords?? What??) But in those instances, I can content myself that I paid very little AND I have another boy that is younger. If boy #1 doesn’t get to wear it, it is likely #2 will. That’s another reason I have more. The more you have, the less they get worn out.

I know as they grow I will have to raise those minimum numbers. I’ll probably raise the shirts to $5 and the pants to $7. I think I can do it.

And I don’t feel bad if my son owns 20 shirts, because I didn’t pay very much. Plus I donate what doesn’t get trashed by active boys.

My biggest conundrum are shoes. I’m cheap and it’s hard to find cheap shoes. I know this will only get worse. Any suggestions from more experienced parents on what a good deal for kids tennis shoes are? Is it crazy to shoot for under $20?

Probably when they get in their teens I will give them a budget and let them shop. But I will show them how they can get more at Goodwill and on clearance.

I think this is a fantastic article about finding balance. It really goes beyond the concept of clothing, and should get people to thinking, “What and where is ideal on the financial spectrum for me and my family?” I brought this up on an episode of my podcast, and one comment I received was that even with children, even with the wear and tear we sometimes put on our clothes, it’s about instilling the importance of good stewardship. If we can hold on to that shirt, or that pair of slacks, and take the best care of them we can, it reduces the need, and eventually the innate desire, to want to buy more of what we may not need at the time.

Daniel

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/financialrebirthlive

I rarely buy new items, and I am a firm believer in the one-in, one-out rule. A new pair of shoes replaces an old, rarely-worn pair of shoes, a new top replaces an old, rarely-worn top. This not only helps me keep my clothes manageable, but makes me evaluate my purchases not only on price and looks but also on what it will replace in my closet.

I wonder for the reader in the post when the last time the closet was purged? How many of those 55 shirts have been accumulated over many years? My BF has T-shirts from high school that he still owns (he’s in his late 20s) not necessarily because of sentimental value but because they work as lounge or work out shirts. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it (although finding space for 55 shirts would be a struggle in our place…)

There used to be a stigma attached to buying used clothing at thrift stores or garage sales. Now with the economic downturn, more and more “regular” people are turning to thrift store shopping to supplement their wardrobes. I’ve shopped thrift stores since WAY before it became trendy. My daughter used to hate the time it took to sift through the hodgepodge of items on every single rack. Now she appreciates the investment of effort when she scores a find and discovers a $60 top in like-new condition for $3-4. Who can argue that logic?

I don’t have kids so I can’t comment on that, but I can comment on adult clothes.

Now that I’m out of college, working in an office where biz-casual is the norm, my wardrobe has expanded and continues to be more of a “rotating” scenario… compounded by the fact that I’ve been gaining weight (trying to work on that). But it’s hard to let go of some of the more casual parts of my wardrobes – I find some old tshirts have meaning to me and are therefore impossible for me to let go.

The way I keep it under control is to very strictly say, one half of our walk in closet is mine, and the other half is my partner’s. My half is pretty full of clothes – his of course is relatively empty. But it helps force me to put clothes that no longer fit or look good into the “donate” bag. I don’t do a straight 1-1 ratio of buy/donate, but close to it. When I find I’m running out of rack room, I get rid of a few items. My rule is to never put a piece of clothing into a box and put it somewhere for a season – even though I live in a 4 season area. My entire wardrobe lives on one rack, and that give me a sense of control over what the entire collection looks like, and makes it easier to make decisions.

So my philosophy of clothing shopping is that there are things where quality really matters and things where quality matters less.

Things I’m willing to spend extra on to get exactly what I want in a form that should be durable:

* my “level 2″ winter coat (i.e. the one I wear most of the time in winter here)
* my everyday handbag
* my everyday shoes/sandals (usually one pair of sandals I reach for most often in summer, and one pair of durable black flats that are my default pair for the rest of the year)
* my everyday bras
* snow boots, for both me and the kiddo

I start keeping an eye out for sales on those items as soon as it becomes clear I’m going to need a replacement soonish. I don’t necessarily go super expensive on them, but I want those things to last for a very long time, because I know I can’t just go without them, I’ll use them an awful lot, and because those are things where I’ve found buying high-quality makes a difference (unlike, say, pantyhose or T-shirts). I’m likely to start needing more professional-type work attire in the next few years, so I will probably put one black and one charcoal suiting set in this category, because I’ll be able to mix and match those with anything.

Other stuff I’m more than happy to go to a consignment store and be choosy about what’s available, or to go somewhere inexpensive. Kids’ clothes in our house are mostly hand-me-downs supplemented with consignment & sale finds. I’d probably shop for kids stuff differently if I had several kids to pass things down through, however — still using hand-me-downs and whatnot but sticking to brands like Hanna Andersson that wear like iron for new.

The only major clothing expense I’m likely to have this year is a good pair of hiking boots — I’ve been getting by with sneakers for day hiking but hiking is something we’re looking to do a lot more of this year.

Our family is on a one salary income, in a 4 season climate, with an hour to the second hand store. We have an ongoing clear recycling bag for clothes that our 3 children outgrow (if a sibling does not fit nor want) and they have learned to sort this themselves. Twice a year we go to the second hand stores (eg. church basement sale, Amity, Salvation Army) and top up the wardrobe of each person in the family, while handing in our clear bag of out grown clothes. When one hands in clothes, a 30% discount is given to us for our purchases in one store. The nice thing is, you can buy clothes to paint in, or brand new clothes that the store has just received as overstock from somewhere else. It works. A visit has never cost us more than $200.00 for 5 , and usually costs around $125.00. We aim for enough clothes to last 7 days, as we are on smart metering for electricity and only do laundry on weekends. Our children have never had comments on looking anything other than in sync with the rest of their classmates. It is also alot of fun to see what is there, and how a person can jazz up an outfit!!

Hope that helps!!
Antoinette in Canada

We live in an old home. I have a single armoire for my clothes, so I need to be ruthless in my wardrobe (I’m not a clothes horse so doesn’t bother me). Same thing with my 2 kids; they each have an armoire for their clothes, and a bin for their shoes, and that’s it. I have to constantly review what is in their wardrobe, to cull the items that don’t fit, or they no longer wear. My oldest is fine, because she basically lives in a few favorite outfits, and doesn’t really care about clothes. My youngest I fear, will end up with a walk in closet with emelda marcos shoe section when she grows up; her wardrobe is stuffed but doesn’t want to get rid of anything, and simply LOVES clothes.
but- I have to say- 55 tshirts is insane. My husband has about 2 dozen tshirts (less now since he has since culled) but even that I thought was excessive.
I actually used to do more thrift shopping when I was in my 20′s than now. I just don’t have the time to go to multiple places to shop, and usually just have 1 or 2 specific items I’m looking for (for example, oldest kid needs a zip up hoodie, and new pair of sneakers). I don’t have room for fun or experimental items. Until the kids want to shop for clothes for fun, thrift shopping is a relatively rare event in our household (because it takes up too much time, no guarantee will find what need).

My wardrobe follows a few rules, which keep it cheap and stylish. Here are the short versions of my rules:
Buy classic styles, as they will be in style for many years to come. Buy clothing that matches as much of your other clothing as possible, to allow for fewer overall garments. Buy quality clothing, not quantity, so you don’t have to constantly buy new clothing when your old wears out. Take care of your clothing – be gentle with it. Buy clothing a bit more plain – nobody cares if you wear a white dress shirt every day, but just try that with a red paisley shirt…

I do have a fair amount of clothes (not a lot, just fair), but most of what I have are classic pieces that I’ve had for a while. When I went for a size 16 to a 4/6 I had to completely revamp my wardrobe and that took a few years since I didn’t to be buy the cheapest items possible. I’ve that mistake in the past and most of the items didn’t last more than a year.

I work from home, but I do go out often and I’m not as casual as the average Portlander -you’ll never, ever see me in tennis shoes unless I’m at the gym. T-shirts are for yard work (for me) and so on.

I also work out most days of the week so I have quite a collection of exercise gear since they have to be washed after each use. Though my gear gets a lot of use, they do last a very long time, especially when I buy premium brands (i.e. Patagonia, Nike, etc).

Bras can take a bite out of a clothing budget if you’re a bit larger (and a woman, LOL). I’m not super large in that area but I find it is harder to find comfortable, supportive bras in a 36DD cup than if I was a B cup from places like Ross. For that reason I tend to buy my bras from department stores and from the individual brands online on clearance. It still costs about $100+ per year though.

In terms of shoes I take certain ones to a cobbler to get the most use and life out of them.

I track my clothing budget and purchases on Mint.com.

I don’t have kids.

I have two boys and I probably have it pretty easy. My older one just turned 18 and is on his own. He and I would go to PacSun for school clothes. They always has ridiculous sales and we got enough stuff to last all year. He loved expensive shoes, so I would give him what I felt was reasonable for shoes and he would fill in the rest to get the crazy overpriced ones he wanted. He probably had, at any given time, 5 pair of jeans, 8 t-shirts, a hoodie, a coat and 5 or 6 pairs of shoes. Don’t get me started on all his hunting gear, though. Camo coveralls, boots, jackets, gloves, waders…

My younger boy is 13 and doesn’t really care what he wears. He generally gets attached to a few of his t-shirts and I have to demand that he give them up when they get way too small. He outgrows pants like crazy, so there’s a lot of turnover. That means around 6 or 7 pair at a time (half thanks to gifts). He does his own laundry and tends to wear jeans twice before washing and everything else just once, except for jammies. He also has a hoodie, a coat and a new pair of winter boots every year.

We live in a 4 season climate, but the kids just wear long sleeved t-shirts under their coats. I wear tons of layers cause I get COLD. I have an armoire instead of a closet. One side is business clothes, shoes, light jacket, winter coat. The other side is everyday clothes. I don’t really have storage space, so it’s sleeveless, short-sleeved, long-sleeved, sweaters, cardigans, jacket, heavy coat, hoodie and jeans. I have two pair of yoga pants, one for summer jammies and one for winter jammies. My jammie tops are any comfortable shirts that got stains or little holes.

I’ve also been gaining weight steadily for the last 3 or 4 years. This has caused an overabundance of clothes as I tell myself I’ll lose the weight and get back into the last size. I finally realized I’m a size 12 and got rid of (almost) everything that doesn’t fit. I couldn’t part with my Monkees or Hello Kitty shirts.

I don’t often wear t-shirts, but I make things out of them as a hobby, so I have probably 50 or more on their own shelving.

I do that trick where all the clothing you’ve washed (and therefore presumably worn) gets hung up on one end of the closet or put in one side of a drawer. So, eventually, everything on the other side has been identified as being unworn. I get rid of those things a couple times a year, usually as the seasons change or my closet gets full.

Aside from business clothes, I generally shop at the thrift store. When I get rid of clothes, they either get donated or thrown, depending on the condition.

Oh, shoes! I didn’t talk much about shoes. I have business shoes: 1 black, 1 tan, 1 multicolored. Then I have other shoes: 1 western boots with the soles worn all the way through to my socks! 1 black high-heeled boots (need replacing), 1 brown high-heeled boots, 2 pair flats, 1 pair of sandals with heels, winter boots.

We also have a wicker basket full of misc winter stuff: gloves, mittens, hats, scarves, a ski mask. Frankly a lot of our possessions are clothes but I don’t think it’s excessive.

Oh yeah, my cat has a t-shirt he NEVER wears.