How much have you spent on clothing this year?
I like random questions like this because it gets you to stop and think about your spending habits. It's also fun to see how you compare to your peers :)I know some who spend $300+ a month, while others have gone an entire YEAR (or three) without wearing anything new. I seriously don't know how they do it. Blogger Mapgirl just just calculated her amounts and she's only spent $373.98 this year! Incredible. I know we all have different shopping goals and all, but she's a GIRL! How could she beat me? haha...
I don't consider myself a hardcore shopper or anything, but I've def. spent more than $370 for the year. I don't have the patience to sort through all my c/c statements and add them all up, but if I had to guess I'd say I've handed over at least $600 this year. And compared to previous years of $1,000-$2,000, I've surely come a long way.
I have a shopping budget of $100 every month, and about $75 of it is set aside for clothes and accessories (man jewelry and all). And to be honest, I really haven't had the desire to go out and really look for stuff since I gave shopping up last year. The only times I end up looking around is if I have time to kill at the mall or I'm perusing some hot sales at Express or TJ Maxx or somewhere. And even then I usually only buy t-shirts since I wear them to work everyday with a pair of jeans. Luckily, spending $10 or $15 here and there will hardly get me into trouble. It's when I start looking for jeans or shoes that I end up dropping more than I'd like.
Since I budget everything though (in categories - "shopping", "food", "mortgages") I always know roughly what I'm spending. And all the money saved UNDER budget makes for some great motivation :) Plus, since any extra is sent directly to my savings account, I can look forward to spending it on something really important down the line.
Are you happy with the amounts you've been spending on clothes?
Labels: budgets, money management, shopping, where our money goes
posted by J. Money at
8:11 AM
33 Comments:
Crap. I've spent $1700 on clothes so far this year- but I feel (somewhat) justified because I have lost 60+ pounds so none of my old clothes fit, and I have a job that requires me to dress very professional...
Well...I just figured out that I spent about $1500 at Banana Republic alone this year. It's probably close to $2000 (I hope not over!!!!) on all clothes. Yikes! :/
I'm lucky b/c I get to wear khakis to work every day and no pantyhose. Otherwise I'd burn through the clothing budget pretty fast. I do wear suits, but only once a quarter maybe for client meetings.
I spent a lot more the year before so I don't feel like I need to buy too much more this year. Just those few key items that will get me through till next year.
I just logged into Mint to get the answer. $594 on clothing, and that's for my whole 6-person family! We have a lot of clothing stockpiled. With four kids, one kid is always growing into another kid's outgrown clothes. And we generally dress inexpensively, as you can tell.
No designer clothing awards for our family. I pick through the racks till I find the marked-down triple-clearance items, too.
I've spent almost $800 so far this year. That seems like sooo much money! And I'm probably hitting the outlets this weekend while I'm at the beach... I will definitely be over $1,000 by the end of the year.
I did the same as 444 and logged into Mint to get the answer. I've spent $191.39. Taking a glance over the transactions it appears some is from thrift shops and the rest is for necessities like daily lingerie. Oh, and one custom sweatshirt that I couldn't resist for $29.00. I still love it! I would probably guess this was my lowest year ever for buying clothes! I've been on a tight budget.
I have spent a good amount this year but that is because I discovered THE WONDER that are brooks brothers no iron shirts. They are a good amount each, but they "pay dividends" since my dry cleaning has decreased double digits each week.
I consider clothing a huge waste of money. I spent less than $300 YTD; just $45 of that was on 3 bras last week; they're quite expensive, but necessary.
Wow, after hearing about how a few of you have undercut me, I feel kind of bad. But then, think about keeping four kids in shoes. Even when you buy "cheap" ones, it adds up. They grow out of them and wear them out.
You guys included shoes, right? ;oD
444 - Don't feel bad. My amount would have includes shoes... had I bought any this year. In past years, I have spent over $191.39 on one pair alone!! (Of course, that is why they have lasted so well and I don't need to replace them anytime soon.) Also keep in mind my number was for just one person - so when you average it out, you are doing WAY better than me!
i have spent virtually nothing this year on clothes. just a few second hand t shirts and the like. i know that i am not the sharpest dresser in the neck of my hood, but hey am not running around butt naked. And anyways, i don't go out so often so i rarely need to dress sharp
I'm like Anonymous and have lost over 40+ lbs and like him/her not many of my old clothes fit very well so I've had to go out and buy new work pants more than once so it didn't look like I was wearing "clown" pants at work.
And as a reward for losing weight I also bought a new bikini (on sale a few weeks ago)...hubby didn't mind me spending that $.
I very very rarely buy new clothes. I use clothes as motivation for my weight loss goals. This past year I think I may have spent about $300 because LUCKILY I have made progress in that department. I never seem to budget for that very well though, so I definitely need to work on that!
Looks like I've spent about $800 on clothing, but a good portion of that is actually for the DBF. I love pick out clothes for him! I can proudly say I didn't buy one lick of clothing for either myself or him last month though! and I've got that same goal this month!
I've spent $464 on myself. Another $904.37 on three kids. Yikes! I know I've spent less on myself than in years past, but I had no idea I spent so much on a 5yo, 7yo and 16yo.
My two keys to saving on clothing (and this is coming from a clothes horse):
1. Thrift stores in expensive neighborhoods. Here in Chicago, the Salvation Army in Lincoln Park is stocked full of Brooks Brothers, Banana Republic, Ben Sherman and more ... all for pennies on the dollar.
2. When you need something new: H&M. I love this store a little too much, but when you can get brand new, stylish corduroy pants for $20 they're tough to beat.
I saw the subject line and panicked, J!!
I've lost a lot of weight in the past year, and dropped several sizes. I gave up on the old wardrobe and decided to replace things. Then I went a little overboard, because being able to fit into nice clothes is a good feeling.
So... *ahem*.. I'm probably on par with you.
You guys are awesome :) Im in Boston and pretty drinky right now but just wanted to say 2 things: 1) I love you and 2) my total is now $620 - bought $20 worth of t-shirts and necklaces and man bracelets @ H & M :) yeehaw.
Thanks for asking - I've been populating Mint for about six months and not really looking back - mostly just looking at monthly averages. This year I've only spent $296 on clothing - not including cycling gear, I put that under sporting goods.
J, you know, Mint would be a lot easier for you to use than your sextuple spreadsheet... they now allow budgeting to the future rather than just the past.
Tho, I admit, I still have a spreadsheet but it's mostly for tracking my income since it's variable.
I think it all depends. If you are a wall street broker than you will probably be spending quite a bit. But I worked for a financial firm at the home office and probably spent $200 tops a year. As for my regular clothes, I buy everything online and wear it for 3-4 years. I actually wear out my clothes. I know quite the concept huh.
Dave
LifeExcursion
I've spent exactly $0 on clothing last year, which makes me happy.
In fact, I think my clothes spending can be considered negative for the previous year, since I bought nothing and donated a few. ;-)
I have probably spent less than $125 on myself. :D
Went to my Quicken...year to date, I've spent $1,456.35 on Clothing. That's an average of $182.04 per month. Last year, I spent $1,734.33. That's an average of $144.53 per month. Looks like I'm spending ahead of last year...not a good sign. BUT still a lot better than yesteryears.
There are two good things to this, though:
1. I shop a lot of vintage and thrift stores (brick & mortar and online) so I pay less than I would otherwise.
2. I work in the industry so I get to write my purchases off.
BTW - I will most likely post this on my blog soon, but yesterday I was in LI visiting the parents and we went to Marshalls. I bought 3 items (1 dress, 1 tee, 1 top) for $3 each. That's quite high five worthy, yes? My mom won though, she got 3 pairs of pants for $1 each. WHAT?
www.donkeehouse.com
I did a quick calculation of my spending on clothes this year, and I can count my purchases on one hand... I spent $2 on a pair of shoes at Payless (they were ugly, discontinued and clearance but lasted a good 6 months) and when they wore out I splurged on a new pair of tennies for $11 at Walmart. Aside from that I did buy 4 shirts this year, totaling $28. That brings me to a whopping $41 plus tax for the year...
Including absolutely everything that could be construed as "clothes," including a pirate outfit to wear to Pirate Weekend at a Renaissance Festival, I've spent $171.21 on clothes this year. Over $108 of that, I'm not ashamed to say, was spent on bras and underwear. Of course, I've spent most of this year A) un-or-under employed and B) knowing that I was going to move four states away, so not wanting to buy anything at all, knowing that anything I bought would be one more thing to pack.
And I've never really been a big clothes-spender. I don't have any girlfriends who really like to go clothes shopping, and I am leery of buying clothes online because of my height (as J Money puts it, I am "taller than he expected"). Clothes I order can be pretty hit-or-miss as to whether they fit me!
J. Money, are you a metro? I mean you spend more than this lady on clothes. if you wear jeans and t-shirts to work, how do you spend that much! Just kidding.
I spent about $500 this year so far; but the first six months I wasn't budgeting so it's estimated.
I know I have spent a lot, but I feel that I am doing better...partly due to my money not being able to cover all my bills. I really have to get a hold on my spending. I'm going to guess, around 600.00
Bear in mind that my "work clothes" are yoga pants and t-shirts...
Bridesmaid dress + shoes = $92
All other clothes = $234 ($110 of that on unsexy bras, blech)
TOTAL = $326
Ha!! I was thinking I'd spent WAY more... turns out I've spent just $441 this year, which is really awesome considering I'm a girl who looooooves pretty shoes. Thanks for making me look that up.
It's great to see all the different amounts here! A whole bunch of variances going on - and much less than I actually thought some of these would come in as, so well done :)
@adriene crimson - You know, it actually has been a while since I last tried Mint, I might have to look into it again. I've been pretty happy using USAA's site along with my budgeting spreadsheet, but it never hurts to review, right?
@Bucksome - Some have called me "metro"...if you can count mohawks in that category ;) I just like feeling good in my clothes - and I luckily found a way to do so without spending thousands on it.
Something else to factor is in when one is unemployed or strictly working from home (and I'm one or the other depending on whether I have a current freelance gig or not), clothes don't have to be expensive and there is no social/professional pressure to buy more. In fact, for the summer, I exist on three pairs of shorts. If I hadn't had to attend a professional conference this year, my expenditure on clothes would have been $6. Instead, it is $120. Except for a new pair of sneakers to come, I'm done for the year.
Yes, good point for sure. I can pretty much wear whatever at my gig - thus in jeans and t's all the time - but when I worked at a more corporate place it was all about dress pants, a crisp shirt, and a tie. I'd be in a lot of trouble right now if I went back to that ;)
Your $120 ain't bad at all! $6 is just plain crazy...haha...
This has been a very good post for me. I knew I was overspending (about $200 a month, just on ME), but now that I read it in black and white, I have a new motivation.
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