Annual Clothing Budget

MKcurly

I'm curious how much money you expect to spend on clothes and shoes each year. What to you have to buy every year or every season?

I have to buy new work shoes every 6-9 months. My dress pants only last about a year before they start to look bad but I buy three pairs at a time and wash every week. These things aren't fun to shop for so I notice them more. Jeans last 2-3 years and I have no idea for tops. Every summer I buy new flip flops.

This year I'm going to track my spending.

CurlyCanadian

After years of being a bit of a shopping addict, I buy very little now. If I'm spending money, I have to LOVE it, otherwise it's usually just cheap tops.

All my boots seemed to fall apart last winter after years of wearing, so I bought 3-4 pairs this year that should keep me going for awhile.

I have been diligent about keeping seperate clothes at my parents (mostly outdoor wear) as they're on a farm and too many times I left with horse slobber on my good wool coat & dirt on my boots.

spiderlashes5000

I'm afraid to try to actually put a dollar amount on this; it would be very high. But I try to buy good quality stuff, esp for work and I try to not gain or lose too much weight so the stuff continues to fit. Good quality adult clothing shouldn't wear out IMO, unless you have a very physically demanding lifestyle (manual labor job, etc.). I generally buy wool and wool blend pants and jackets..Moths have destroyed a few items but wool lasts forever...or until I get sick of looking at it and just want something else.

I wear lots of camis and tank tops and lightweight t-shirts under stuff. Usually black but I have a variety of colors. These eventually fade in the wash or sometimes get stained or damaged. So I have to replace those often. But I usually don't spend a lot on them so I don't care. I have to replace bras often.

I buy very good quality shoes but I am also extremely hard on my shoes! Shoes don't stand a chance with me. I will dog a pair the first day I wear them, esp thin, high heels. Invariably, the heels will slide down thru a crack in the pavement or a space in the sidewalk as I'm walking and the leather will get torn off the heel. I bought three pairs of new heels this fall and all three pairs were damaged that way the first day I wore them. I will also stub my toes and scuff the front or drop some kind of food or hair product on them and permanently stain them (if they're any other color than black). Most of my ~right~ high heel shoes are stained slightly on the heel from resting on dirty? damp? floor mats while I'm driving. I've scraped up more pairs than I care to remember just from walking down the outside steps to my parking garage at work (the steps are too short and if I want to keep my foot on the tread, it will sometimes scrape up the riser). I love suede and nubuck boots and shoes but they won't last a week with me, so I've all but stopped buying them as I've ruined too many pairs almost immediately. Plus, I have bad feet so sometimes I think a new pair of shoes will be fine but after one or two whole days of wearing, I realize they're hurting my feet too much to be able to keep them but it's too late to return them (sometimes) so I'm screwed. Ugh, why did you get me talking about shoes!? I love nice shoes but they are the bane of my existence. :confused3:

I could keep most of what I have for years and years but I get bored. Also my weight has fluctuated. And occasionally things get damaged (rubbed against a nail, fell, spilled something, accidentally washed it, etc.)

MKcurly

I buy fairly good quality clothing but not super high end and I find my things do wear out. My work pants are from Banana Republic and Talbots. They are polyester blends that I put in the washer and dryer per the tags instructions. Should I not be drying them? I have one pair of wool pants that I rarely wear because they have to be dry cleaned. Do wool blends also need to be dry cleaned? I like being able to wash my close at home due to cost and convenience.

Right now I'm spending 80-100 per pair. Is it worth it to spend more for better quality? Can I expect them to last longer?

juanab

MKcurly, I never put my pants in the dryer. I always air dryed them. Also I had at least 10 pair of pants, the same with skirts, sweaters, long and short sleeved blouses, so I could mix it up and give the garments an opportunity to rest. I would buy on sale after the season for the next year.

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butter52

Too much... good I moved and I gave 80% of my lothes to charities. I will try to be more responsible about buying clothes after seeing how much stuff I had hoarded.

juanab

I miss shopping, CC.

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Dedachan

I don't plan out how much I'm going to spend. If I see something I like and the price is reasonable, I go for it, provided I have the money. Maybe not the wisest way to go about it, but at least I'm picky enough that it isn't always I'm tempted to buy clothes.

Fifi.G

Like Spider, I would be afraid to put a price on it. I love clothes and have a shopping problem but it's not as bad as it used to be and I try to hit sales. I no longer wear a lot of dress clothes for work but when I did I normally purchased 3 or 4 pairs of pants, wore them until they fell apart or I needed a new size. That is 3 or 4 for the summer and 3 or 4 for the winter. I went with a thicker dress pant then. I normally had cute skirts so no worries there. My other big concern was shirts. I liked having standard white dress, a few other dress shirts/blouses in color and I would buy sweaters when need be. I am a jacket hound so I always have those on hand. The right jacket or blazer can work with anything, dressy or denim, and I have had some for years. I also always keep a suit on hand. At the moment I have a navy blue pant suit and a tweed 2 pc. suit with a jacket and skirt. It's very Jackie O and better for early spring. * I bought it at Bannana Republic Outlet 12 years ago and it's still in perfect shape.

Like Juana, I always try air dry my dress pants (and jeans). It does help them last longer.

Shoes... Whatever was cute, comfortable, on sale and appropriate for the season.

spiderlashes5000

MKcurly wrote: »

I buy fairly good quality clothing but not super high end and I find my things do wear out. My work pants are from Banana Republic and Talbots. They are polyester blends that I put in the washer and dryer per the tags instructions. Should I not be drying them? I have one pair of wool pants that I rarely wear because they have to be dry cleaned. Do wool blends also need to be dry cleaned? I like being able to wash my close at home due to cost and convenience.

Right now I'm spending 80-100 per pair. Is it worth it to spend more for better quality? Can I expect them to last longer?

I think you should consider Dryell and the Woolite version of Dryell and make your own at-home dry cleaning solution to be used w/ your dryer. Dry-clean only doesn't necessarily mean "dry clean only." Legally, manufacturers can only put one set of fabric care instructions on a garment and they choose what they consider to be the safest.

BR makes nice wool pants that cost $98. If you are OK spending $100 on polyester pants, def try wool ones (2% spandex). And look for dress pants that are machine washable; wash on gentle or handwash and lay flat to dry. (I try not to buy polyester anything.)

It's the agitation of the washing machine and the dryer that do more to tear up clothes than the water, in most cases (unless it's silk satin or silk charmeuse, etc.