Reasonable clothing budget?

flowerpower

Mon, Oct 22 2018, 9:01 am

thunderstorm wrote:

The Jewish stores are $6 a pair. I purchased one pair for my baby before Yom Tov to match an outfit and was shocked . I think they are made in Italy.

I found 8 pairs of different colored socks all for $6 in Baby Depot/Burlington Coat Factory.
So of course there are different prices. But $6 a pair in the Jewish hosiery stores is the norm.

I get Memoi for $2 and change in the jewish stores. They are a good fit and I get a good few pairs per kid. The condor and zubiis are more expensive though.

gande

Mon, Oct 22 2018, 9:55 am

This year I spent about $450 for my 6 and 8 year old girls this includes fancy robe, 2 shabbos outfits, 3 weekday, coat and fancy shabbos shoes that I dont usually buy but did because we have a wedding coming up. On my 4 year old son I spent under $200. I try to get away as cheap as I can while my kids look good. Also not everything needs to be replaced every year such as coats socks and underwear are still good from last year. Disclosure I shop a lot on Ali express.

amother

Vermilion

Mon, Oct 22 2018, 10:16 am

OP here.

I was thinking more along the lines of walmart for socks, not $6 pp socks.

I see now that my question didn't really make any sense since "reasonable" will depend on lots of factors.

What I had in mind was: What is the least I can spend on clothing without having to spend lots of time on bargain searching but still be able to buy new and not rely on hand-me-downs, thrift shops and gemachs and still have my kids and husband decently and tzniusly dressed?

amother

Tan

Mon, Oct 22 2018, 2:44 pm

SingALong wrote:

I don’t budget clothing per month since I buy by the season. These are the prices I typically spend. It varies by gender/age. For example I can easily dress my little boy for $25 bucks but my teen girl week day out fit could easily be $100. But girls only need 3 weekday outfits in the winter since they have uniforms. And boys don’t have uniforms so they need like 5-6 weekday outfits. Before a season I make an excel sheet wig a different section per person or age group. Then make a list of things we need ie 2 shabbos outfits, 3 weekday outfits, shoes, etc. then I give myself an amount that reflects the prices typically sold near me or what I know of available online. And I wrote in approximate amounts. Then I can print out my excel sheet and keep it in my pocket book and use it as a guide while I shop. Like I go thru a rack of shabbos dresses, and automatically disregard the ones above the amount I had figured in. Or say with my dd I found a shabbos dress for $60 less than I budgeted for, I have some leeway with that amount in a different area on my spreadsheet.

Not all numbers I posted are accurate. I wrote that a little girl shabbos dress can be $100. But this year I found a great dress for $40 so yay me!

Little Boy total $1200
2 shabbos $150
Weekday and shabbos Shoes $150
Tops $75
Pants $60
Underwear $100
Socks $50
Misc $200
Outerwear $300

Little Girl $1500
2 shabbos $200
3 weekday $200
Weekday and shabbos Shoes $200
Uniforms $200
Socks $100
Underwear $100
Misc $200
Outerwear $300

Teen girl $1850
2 shabbos $300
Uniforms $250
3 weekday $300
Socks $100
Underwear $300
Misc $200
Outerwear $400

Baby
Shoes $80
Outerwear $200
8 Pants $70
10 tops $80
Socks $50
Underwear $40
2 shabbos $100
Hats $50

What is all this expensive outerwear??

amother

Turquoise

Mon, Oct 22 2018, 4:12 pm

I don't have a monthly budget for clothing because it's not foreseeable. I only buy on sale and I don't go over a certain amount. Shoes and coats are important to me, so they are more expensive and that's the only thing that needs to be brand name, especially shoes.. but on sale you can get really good deals. So I always but off season, winter stuff in January /February for next winter same with everything else. If there is no money for whatever reason I look for second hand but that's happened only once bh. I feel like with baby or toddlers it's quite worth it because they grow out so quickly. But with older ones I find that there's not much of a price difference between sale and second hand.

You mentioned the effort of looking for good deals. Honestly I don't spend much time on it. If I buy online, let's say h&m or other big stores, they always have stuff on sale. So I just check the 50% off or more box and see if there's anything nice there. Also when I'm in tj Maxx I look for clothes that don't fit now but will for next year. If for whatever reason it doesn't fit.. I have enough nieces and nephews, it won't go to waste! But I wouldn't say that it takes more time than if I bought for regular price..