How much do you spend on your DCs clothes a year?

[5050not]

Just had to do some online shopping for DDs (2yo) winter wardrobe as she’s outgrown her last year stuff obviously. As always I have a serious bout of anxiety over how much I’ve spent (200, but that includes winter coat, rain coat and rain overall things) and wonder if it’s excessive. Probably do it 3 times a year (Early spring, summer and then winter) with some small bits in between.

I however probably spend less than £200 a year on clothes and shoes for myself (praise Depop)

[Mrsdoubtfireswig]

Forgot H&M - that’s a favourite shop too

[AriettyHomily]

Far too much. Just bought a set of leggings / tops for gym for dts and it was £60. They need new winter coats, we did an H&M shop a couple of weeks ago, new school shoes and now need tights and thermals for school.

They definitely get more expensive as they get older.

[MyNameForToday1980]

I had absolutely no idea. But thinking about it, I do 5-6 middle sized shops for her a year (£70ish each) so maybe £350-£420 per year.

Plus the odd bits and bobs she needs ad.hoc (pack of pants, socks, a dress for a party, whatever).

Plus 3-4 pairs shoes @ £45-50 each.

[MyNameForToday1980]

Should say, she's nearly 4.

[DipSwimSwoosh]

I think shoes - £30 for school, £10 for wellies, £10 for Summer.
Coat - £15
School uniform - £10 trousers/dresses, £20 jumpers, £10 tops and vests
Nice outfits - £30
Supermarket top ups - £30
Specialty stuff (swimming, holiday etc) £20
I buy a lot on sale. My kids are small and not too demanding so far.

About £200 each I would guess.

[Subordinateclause]

I think for my 2 year old I've spent around £100 in the past year and would guess both sets of grandparents have spent about £50 each. We get a massive amount of handmedowns (dwindling now at the toddler stage) but I also send child in v cheap stuff to nursery a few days a week. And they tend to refuse to wear clothes around the house! Could easily afford more but it's not necessary yet.

[kittykat35]

I can never understand the mentality some women have of not being able to spend money on themselves!! If you don't look after yourself and value yourself then how on earth can you expect your dh and dc to value you!! If I need/want clothes etc then I will spend the money on myself.

[Shmithecat2]

I tend to bulk buy from H&M about 3 times a year, usually about £100 at a time for most of DS' clothes. They're nice enough quality for the price. Occasionally, I'll browse through clothes at the supermarket whilst I'm there - I buy the 'girls' jeggings from Morrisons, they fit him so well and there never seems to be anything like them in the 'boys' section.

Shoes tend to be more expensive, I think its really important to get GOOD shoes - I love Bobux for every day wear. Usually Clarks for school shoes, and I get his wellies from Warm Wellies - £30+ a pop, but they're great and we live rurally plus he goes to forest school when he can so we do get their money's worth out of them.

His school uniform, including coats, bag etc. cost about £250 this year (reception). I'll have to buy more in the new year I think as it fits him now (not really any gro room) and he's growing like a weed at the moment.

MIL also likes to buy him clothes (usually from JL) and sends him a package about 3 times a year too.

In all honesty, I've never totted it all up. Fortunately, we don't really need to.

[TeachesOfPeaches]

Hardly anything, he is 4 and just dress him in tracksuit bottoms and multipack tops from Matalan. Shorts and t-shirt in the summer. Most expensive thing is school shoes which were nearly £50.

[Shmithecat2]

I've actually got an H&M delivery due next week. I'm very excited, I love buying him clothes 😂

[SushiGo]

When they were younger I kept things as cheap as possible, accepted all hand me downs and charity shopped etc, then would do a stock take every few months and use discount codes at nice brands or cheaper clothes shops to fill in the gaps.

As my oldest daughter gets older the handmedowns have really dried up, and not much available second hand either. The last few years we started setting a specific clothes budget to help keep us on track, and give her some choice over what she wears.

Our max has to average at about £400 per person, but doesn't have to be exactly per person. Most of that went on DD1 this year as she started secondary school and the uniform was not cheap.

[LeafyPark]

New school uniform (prep) nearly £700! Its gorgeous though. Shame I cant put her in it at weekends too .

Otherwise probably about £600 a year on everything else. Love the John Lewis sale. Next, Sainsburys, Marks, H&M is gorgeous. I find branded designer clothes on children a bit cringe.

[Annabanana455]

I’ve also just completed a new autumn/ winter wardrobe for a 2 yo.

Didn’t add up the total - I sold a few bits on eBay & used the profits to buy new stuff.

I was also given a bag of hand-me-downs by a friend and picked a few bits up in charity shops. But we are very lucky as charity shops round here are full of barely used JoJo/ Boden / John Lewis.

So I probably only spent around £50 and she’s kitted out for the next year (all seasons) except for shoes.

[GeorginaTheGiant]

@kittykat35

I can never understand the mentality some women have of not being able to spend money on themselves!! If you don't look after yourself and value yourself then how on earth can you expect your dh and dc to value you!! If I need/want clothes etc then I will spend the money on myself.

Agreed! Of course if money is v tight we would all prioritise our children’s needs over our own but I really don’t think it’s healthy to set up this dynamic of the mum martyr who walks around in second hand scruffs while buying the children brand new lovely things. Kids should see their mother valuing herself!

[kittykat35]

@GeorginaTheGiant yes I agree completely...if money is tight then it's a different issue without a doubt!

[sherbetlemony]

Approx £800-1000 I'm guessing. Buy in sales and with discount codes from boden, joules, mintie, Abercrombie. Odd bits from next, Sainsbury's, Tesco. Shoes from bobux mostly.

Dd2 gets hand me downs which are usually in perfect condition if I spend a bit more on them to start with. Probably only spend £250 on new shoes and occasional bits for her.

[fitzbilly]

For ethical and environmental reasons I only buy second hand things, and stick to brands that I know have good track records for cotton farming and sustainability so my children get all their clothes and shoes from eBay and charity shops. We live in a small house too so I keep on top of quantity.

This year I've spent about £80. The younger DC only ever needs shoes and a few bits as the rest are hand me downs from his older siblings.

I love shopping for their clothes on eBay, I take my time and find really nice hardly worn clothes at very good prices. There are always lots of options.

A recent find was lovely petit bateau pyjamas for each child, cost me £20 including postage for four pairs (sold as one bundle). Amazing bargain!

[Ragwort]

My DS is 19 now and has been buying his own clothes for the last couple of years (using part time job earnings, birthday and Christmas money etc) but I never spent much on his clothes. We had him much later than our friends had families so we were lucky to always get very nice hand me downs and I never minded buying stuff from charity shops etc.
I manage a charity shop now and you would be amazed at how hard it is to sell children's clothes, we have really nice stuff at very good prices (Joules jumper £2 for example) but not much sells, as if there is some inverse snobbery about buying second hand clothes for children).

[ShesMadeATwatOfMePam]

This thread shows how wasteful the clothing industry is i guess. Yes i know people can buy what they want. Do your kids really need so many clothes though? Do they actually wear all this stuff more than once or twice? All this over consumption of new clothes is causing massive harm to the planet. It takes 10,000 litres of water to make a single pair of jeans. The average person uses only 150 litres per day, to put it into perspective. The fabric industry is driving parts of the world into drought that they may never recover from. But sure, it's more important that your kid looks nice in his brand new £1k wardrobe. I know loads of people will get all defensive and say they don't care, but maybe it'll make a couple of people think. Buying secondhand is way better.

[Jimdandy]

For winter:

My 7 year old daughter has a multipack of leggings and tops, then zippy hoodies or jumpers for casual - £150 - trainers were £40

2 posher outfits for best - they cost me about £150 all told, boots were £40

Winter coat £40, rain mac £25, wellies £12

Then there’s her knickers, socks, tights, underwear and bedclothes maybe another £100.


So I spend maybe £600 per season so £2400 a year. Bit less

[Waxonwaxoff0]

Not that much. He wears school uniform 5 days a week so I don't see the point in buying loads of clothes that he'll only wear a couple of times before he grows out of them. I always buy good quality shoes but most of his clothes come from Asda or Tesco. He's 7 though so he has no interest in clothes at the moment. If he wants certain brands/labels when he's older I will buy him them if I can afford it but not while he's young.

[Lockdownseperation]

I think winter is always more expensive especially when you add in waterproofs and good quality coats.

I tend to look out for Sainsbury 25% off sales and why her next size up wardrobe then. It when the biggest next out grows shoes I dread, school shoes, wellies x2, trainers, PE shoes and slippers all in one go.

@ShesMadeATwatOfMePam do you have young kids? I spent about £350 a clothes and shoe size from cheap shops and they are all worn. Various shoe types, leggings, joggers, tops, under wear, shorts, a couple of summers dresses, warm waterproof coat, waterproof trousers, hats and gloves, thermal base layer, swimming costume and one party dress and now school uniform. It all gets worn many times. My toddler has DD1 old clothes plus a few bits which need replacing, she regularly need a new outfit several times a day as she is covered in mud or soup opposed to a little messy.

[Killpopp]

£1000 a year, 5 kids. They’re small and don’t grow much so they get two summers and two winters outs of each clothing haul. This is why we don’t mind spending out on nicer stuff and good lasting shoes (DM’s for school etc).

[Thierryhenryneedisaymore]

I often buy stuff ahead in sales and get good quality well priced sruff usually. I also get passed a lot of excellent stuff from.a family member and i use it all. I would never spend 60 to 90 on a pair of trainers for a six year old.
And armani? That just makes me cringe 🙄

[HathorX]

For DS (a toddler), probably £150 a year, of which I recover about half from reselling on eBay. You can get amazing bargains on eBay or local Facebook bundles - for example right now, not many people will be bidding on summer clothes so I'll pick up some great bundles, knowing DS will fit age 2-3 years next summer. Luckily I can afford to shop ahead and have space to store the clothes!

Probably more like £250 per year for DD, age 10, as it's harder to get nice quality used items for her age group. I usually shop in online sales at end of season, predicting her size for the following year, and buy numerous items together to make the most of P&P, or get free P&P.

I very rarely pay full price for any items of clothes except school uniform. I always buy brand new footwear, socks, underwear, school uniform and new school coats as it can be hard to get used items that aren't worn out, but often these items are in multi-buys or sales if you shop around.