Clothes. We all need them.
How much money do you spend in a year on clothing, including shoes and outerwear? 2011 was a heavy clothing expense year for us at this little place here; kids needing shoes and boots, both girls needing dresses for the winter formal, some sports related clothing (embroidered warm ups) for school sports teams, and DS2 needing a new winter coat as he headed off to college (something about not being cool to wear your high school varsity coat at college. . .so guess what his Christmas present was, a bit early.) I spent about $1800 on the five of us. That's huge for us. Usually we average less than $1000 in a year. Less than $200 per person. According to info I found on the IRS website, the 'national standard' clothing expenditure for a family of four is $244 per month (so, $61 per person, or $732 in a year for just one person). Even with spending approximately $360 per person in 2011, we were still way below average.
So, how do you save money on clothing? Or, should I say, how do I save so much?
Discipline that you don't need the latest fashion. That, right there, will save you a lot of money. The clothes you wear this spring will work for next spring, unless you've worn them completely out in one season. In which case you should be buying better quality clothes! You don't need a whole new wardrobe each time the seasons change.
Winter outerwear should last you years, if not an entire decade (OK, not high school varsity coats. I guess they have a 3-4 year max). Buy classic tailored stuff, not the latest fad. I've been wearing a Land's End Squall Parka as my going-out-in-public winter coat since 2002. I bought it on clearance for something like $60. You know what? It looks just like the ones in this winter's Land's End catalog. Ten years later! Even the color, royal blue, is still stylish. Compare that to DH, who insisted on getting a cheaper quality winter coat at a local store, in season, for $50. Three years later, he had to replace it because the zipper broke, and he'd worn holes in the elbows. Quality is always worth paying for. But don't pay full price unless you absolutely have to! Catch it on sale, or wait for end-of-season clearance, which is usually only a few months into the season.
Give clothing as gifts. The new winter coat that became a Christmas present did double duty: gift and needed clothing at the same time. I should say that is how all my kids have acquired their varsity coats, which run up over $300 by the time you get all the stitching, letters, and patches put on. DH and I made a deal with the kids when they each started high school: they earn their varsity letter (and/or academic letter) and we would pay for their varsity coat. BUT, the coat would be their birthday and most of their Christmas gift for that year. If there is something trendy that your child is absolutely dying to have, and you know it won't be worn after this season, give it to them as their birthday gift, or as one of their Christmas gifts. They're happy, and you saved money by combining gift expense with clothing expense.
If you have children, or are planning to someday, know that it is perfectly okay for a younger sibling to wear clothes than the older sibling has outgrown. So save those baby clothes if you are planning to have more than one child! Little girls can wear navy and black and red, not just pink, so it doesn't matter if their older sibling is a boy. And little boys can wear pastel blue and green and yellow. It's okay. My girls never had snow pants that weren't black or navy blue. Because they had older brothers, and if the boys didn't wear out their snow pants, they got passed down to the girls. No sense buying pink ones when we had perfectly useful dark colored ones!
When buying "new" (or should I say "new to you") items, it's all right to buy gently used ones. Be a savvy shopper. Check garage sales, consignment stores and thrift shops (aka Goodwill, Salvation Army, St. Vincent's. . .) before hitting the clothing stores and malls. My kids wore Osh Kosh B'Gosh when they were babies and little kids, which was not just fashionable, it was very durable. I handed that stuff down from DS1 to DS2 to DD1 to DD2, and then sold it at our "No More Babies!" garage sale. I think a few nephews may have even worn it along the way. Did I get their name brand duds from the mall? Heck no! I scoured garage sales and consignment stores, never paying more than $1 for a piece (usually overalls or denim jumpers), getting most for fifty cents or less.
If you've been through the garage sales, been to all the consignment shops, been to Goodwill, and still haven't found what you're looking for, then and only then go brand new. Start with the clearance or sales racks. You'd be amazed at the great finds you can get sometimes. I've gotten brand new jeans for $5. Now, those aren't high dollar designer jeans, but I don't care about that. A $20 pair of jeans works for me, and if I can get those $20 jeans on clearance for $5, all the better!
Also, keep your mind open to future needs. You just can't beat a $110 prom dress that you happen across at Goodwill for $7.99 in August! So what if DD1 was just a sophomore at the time? I knew she'd be going to Prom as a junior or senior, and the dress was a classic color and style, not to mention the exact style she'd been drooling over when we'd gone shopping for a winter formal nine months earlier.
Affordable clothing is out there. You just have to know how to look for it, and be willing to spend a little time doing so. Be below average! ;0)
No comments:
Post a Comment