[PoetryMom]

I just spent about $600.00 on spring and summer clothes (including shoes) for DD1 (5 years old) and DD2 (1 year old). Even though I made an inventory of what they needed before I shopped, this still seems like a lot of money to me. In the past, I have not been as organized and spent even more, but I am curious as to what other people spend on their kids' clothes. I spent $400.00 on DD1 and $200.00 on DD2. Usually, I have hand-me-downs for DD2 but I gave away all DD1's size 12 to 18 months clothes when I thought I would not have another baby (I still have the other sizes).

I'm just curious (and want to do better). Is this too much?

:

 

[AlwaysByMySide]

If we're talking gross - I probably spend $50 per kid on clothes for the entire year. Shoes are getting harder to find secondhand for my DD, so I probably spend another $30-$50 on shoes for her for the entire year (one pair of sandals, one pair of sneakers, one pair of boots). I shop only clearance and the thrift store and yard sales. I have a 3 year old DD and a one year old DS.

If we're talking NET, because I do resell some of their clothes (whatever survives!), I usually get everything for free or close to it.

ETA: For the record, they both have enough clothes to not wear the same thing for 2 weeks, easily, and I think that's way too much. (I always overbuy...) Only one week's worth of pajamas. I need to pare it down to maybe a week's worth of clothing, but never seem to be able to.

 

[bmcneal]

I usually spend around $300, for DH, DD, and I. With having DS, I may spend closer to $350 or $400. That's for the entire year, though.

 

[JamieCatheryn]

If you have the money for it and found high quality clothes you and your kids loved, that's reasonable. We don't have that much, so we shop very frugally and selectively, and spend under $100 per year per child including shoes and underwear etc ($200ish each on me and DH). 2-7% of your budget could go toward clothes for the family according to some recommendations.

It all depends on where you shop mostly, whether some of it's secondhand, whether you scour the clearance racks for good stuff, and so on.

 

[Amylcd]

That's too much for me. My 2 years old new Spring and Summer clothes were right around $100 (including shoes).

 

[SunshineJ]

Around $600 is maybe what I spend for the year on the kids clothes. The biggest expense is shoes since I'm VERY particular about the brand and will never buy second hand (I worked selling shoes through college and saw too many horror stories I guess). I just got all of their spring and summer clothes. They both jumped sizes, so there was very little I could reuse from last summer. I did a lot of thrift store shopping and a little bit of wal-mart shopping and think I spent less than $200 - but I still have to buy sandals for both and new tennis shoes for DS, so figure in another $100 or so. In the fall it will probably be around the same amount, other than an occasional "non-necessity" but I like it purchase (seldom but they happen).

 

[annethcz]

I don't keep exact numbers, but I'd guess that I spend about $250-300/year on clothing and shoes for each of my kids (for a total of $1000-1200). I buy some items new, but we also get a lot of hand-me-downs and I sometimes shop thrift stores and ebay. I also buy some items large, so that they can be worn for more than one year.

For example, this year I bought two of my kids winter coats, the other two kids were able to wear last year's coats or hand-me-downs. Of the two coats I did buy, I bought one off ebay and another one at a department store on sale. Both of those coats were bought a size larger than the child is wearing now, so that the coat will last for two seasons. I didn't have to buy ANY snow pants this year because I'd bought ahead last year.

If I see a good deal on an item, I will buy ahead and store the clothes for a year or two. So when seasons change, the first thing I do is pull out the bins of clothes and figure out what we have that fits. Then I go shopping or search ebay. I've never bought an entire season's clothes in one fell swoop. My kids always get clothes for Christmas/birthdays, so that helps. I've found that the most expensive items for my middle-elementary age kids are shoes and winter gear.

 

[avendesora]

I average $200/year on kids clothes. Lots of hand-me-downs, consignment stores, thrift stores. Kids are 4.5, 3, and 16 mo.

Aven

 

[Chicky2]

I've never kept track. Seems like every other year I spend more, because the kids' sizes change like that. They can usually wear quite a bit of their clothing for more than one year. Except jeans. My kids wear them out COMPLETELY, lol.

My 2 yo dd will be able to wear quite a bit of what she had from last summer this year. My 8 yo ds will be able to wear quite a bit of his. My 10 yo dd is growing sooooo fast (she wears a size 7.5 ADULT shoe!) that she'll need quite a bit this year. *I* need clothes this summer, and so does my dh. I guess this is our year, lol! My 20 yo dd can fend for herself. She lives here, but she is perfectly capable of working and buying her own. Ugh. I forgot my MIL needs clothes this year, too.....

I guess if I had to toss out a number, it'd be somewhere around $800/yr for all of us. That does not include shoes, though. My dh's work shoes are $$$. I need to get better about thrifting, but there is only one thrift store in our town. I do alot of Old Navy online shopping.

 

[PlayaMama]

i shop thrift stores for most everything and co-op groups for the really high-end super duper expensive boutique stuff i could never afford otherwise. i also do shoes on co-op groups so i get nice quality for a lot less. i did get soft star shoes this year on sale from their website, 60% off.

i also buy sizes at least one year ahead so i get a LOT of wear out of everything thing. i'd say, maybe $100- $150 per kid per year?

my mom also shops her local thrift store for me and she's gotten me bunches of hanna andersson and under the nile organics for seriously $.50-$1.50.

 

[PlayaMama]

i have to say $600 for only two seasons seems really high to me. that would dress my kids for two years....

 

[SeekingJoy]

I pay about $50 per child per season and end up with a ton of clothes name brand, well made clothes. I only shop the 50% off day of our consignment sales, garage sales, etc.

But, I end up spending almost that on shoes per kid per year. Sneakers and sandals in each size.

 

[4evermom]

I usually just pick things up here and there when I find good things cheap. But I realized ds had no shorts so I went out and bought 5 at a thrift store, today. The cheapest was $1 and the most expensive was $4. T-shirts are between $1 and $4, as well. I bought him new shoes at $26 (googled for a code and came up with 20% off). Ds has hard to fit feet so I sometimes can't find shoes so cheap. I did buy him some new stuff last fall; 2 pairs pjs at $10 ea, fleece lined sweatshirt at about $35, a couple pairs of long pants at about $15. So that's about $150 for the past year.

 

[mtm]

Our thrift stores aren't that great but I shop end of season the year before with good success.

 

[Ellien C]

I buy new a lot of the time and that seems like a lot of money to me. I spend about $100 3x a year for one kid. This does not include shoes. We tend toward the cheap on shoes, but we end up buying them every few months.

 

[Pumpkin_Pie]

I am really only estimating here, but I would say I spend about $100-200 per year. I buy nearly everything at thrift stores or yard sales for DS. I do buy a few things that I really love new though. If I really tried, I bet I could keep his clothing budget below $75 per year. He is a skinny 2 year old and will definitely be able to wear a bunch of things from last year this summer.

 

[USAmma]

That does seem really high!

I shop Gymboree and Children's Place for my dd1's clothes but I make a rule that I *only* buy stuff that's super sale priced. At Gymbo I can often find $30 items marked down to less that $10. The trick is to go in often and check out what they have, and make sure you buy matching stuff (top and bottom). It's often out of season. Then I go across the mall to the Childrens Place and do the same thing. I think I spent about $250 for dd1's winter and summer combined. Dd2 gets dd1's hand me downs.

I want to invest in higher quality clothing so it last through 2 active kids. Before that I bought Target clothes, which didn't cost as much, but they would shrink and wear out so badly that dd2 couldn't wear them.

 

[UberMama]

For us, that is HIGH! We don't spend that much on our family of five in a year.

We shop second hand stores as well as CraigsList and eBay and sometimes Target or Old Navy and the like. A lot of the clothes are worn a lot and DD even wears some of my DS's clothing. I don't know why, but even with a lot of wear, we don't have many clothes that "wear out" before even DD could use them. We turn around and sell a LOT of clothes on CraigsList in big lots as well.

With how fast kids grow, I just can't allow myself to spend so much on their clothes (yet, since I know eventually they'll get picky on me, lol).

 

[rose angel]

That seems like a LOT to me.

I wouldn't buy in a fell swoop. Clothes are most expensive at the beginning of a season. If you absolutely needed something, I would have gotten a few outfits to tide you over, and then watched out for great sales/clearances on the rest. Those hand me downs will help in the future. Ditto on the buying thing like jackets with some room to grow.

 

[A Mom's Love]

We spend $400 on me, dh & dd (4) for the year. We get dd's shoes on eBay, which allows us to get good quality shoes for the same price as the junky ones at Walmart. We get clothes at the thrift store & I also sew them myself. We save $$ by turning pants into shorts/capris at the end of the season if we don't think dd will fit them next year or for dh & I when they get holes in the leg/knees. I often do cutoffs for myself but sometimes hem them. I always hem them for dh. When we buy clothes at the store we pretty much only shop clearance unless it's affordable to begin with. I like to get clothes at Target & Costco, but I always get my jeans on eBay. HTH.