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)

[Herja]

A few hundred a year on normal clothes, couple of hundred on school uniform, couple of hundred on sports gear. Each, so it all adds up.

I could spend less, but only by doing it all second hand. This is all supermarket/primark/h&m other than necessary sports kit. Still brutal amounts every year. I'm looking forward to them slowing down their growth!

[BelfastSmile]

We don't spend much; we're fortunate to get loads of hand-me-downs, and the kids (6 & 3) are happy with whatever we put them in. DS has about 3 tops that he just wears in rotation - he's always been like that.

We spend about £20 on shoes, plus £50 for DS' school shoes, and then pants and socks a couple of times a year. We maybe spend about £20 each time the Next sale comes around, on things like swimming stuff etc that we know we'll need but might not get given, or if we see something one of them would really like, but that's about all.

We do spend approximately £1000000 on hair clips, though, as DD seems to be always losing them.

[MsIrrational]

I've just bought my DC's Autumn/Winter wardrobe with items from Asda George, H&M, Next and Sainsburys which amounted to £250 per DC. This includes pyjamas and a jacket for Autumn plus a few very warm jumpers/hoodies etc.

This doesn't include new Winter Coats and Boots however which DP will buy.

It'll be the same come Spring/Summer but considerably less as less layers are needed!

I do feel it's too much because they don't actually need as much as they have.

[FranklyDearIDontRiverdance]

For DD (13) I seem to be forever buying - she’s going through puberty and seems to be growing and changing shape constantly. Luckily, she’s of the age where Shein, PLT, New Look ans Primark, with a few branded sports leggings and trainers, are more than enough for her. The shoes are never ending though - I could cry some months when she has outgrown another pair of trainers.

DS10 is far less fussy and my nephew is a couple of years older than him and so we get some brilliant hand me downs, usually the more expensive stuff like jeans, coats, hoodies etc. So he often just needs t shirts, underwear etc.

Between the both of them, I think I probably spend around £2000 a year, which includes school uniform.

[kitschplease]

I get things from the charity shop as and when I see them and then get everything else from H&M. Money is tight and although my kids are older (junior school age), they are often outside and fairly hard on their clothes. I wouldn't be happy watching them get Joules/Boden stuff covered in grass stains or holes from climbing a tree.

It was cheaper this year as they wore last year's slightly too small or slightly stained clothes from the year before as we weren't going anywhere!

I have two 'sinking funds' for their clothes- one for normal, one for school shoes and uniform (either m&s or tu).

[Brown76]

About £350? £100 on shoes, £50 on school uniform, £30 on socks, pants. Always buy coats and rain stuff on eBay or decathlon so £50 max on that. £70 on actual clothes and pjs. We also do get hand me downs from cousins and buy second hand school jumpers etc.

[AshenQueen]

I’m very fortunate in that my mum is always at the shops and picks up lots for my two, which saves me a lot.

DD13s clothes are getting more expensive now as she’s after particular things, so maybe around £300 including shoes and coats but excluding uniform.

DD4 isn’t so much because I’ll put tights under culottes, or jumpers over tops in the winter so her summer clothes can still be worn when it gets colder. She does have nice things but I’d never pay a lot for it at that age.

It’s bloody shoes. Esp for DD4. I spend a little more as I think decent shoes are important but my god, they sometimes last a month before I’m buying another pair.

[SFCA]

A shameful amount on my 2 and 3 year olds 😂

In my defence their additional needs mean that they go between 2 and 4 sets of clothes a day and have clean pjs on every night. Then my lovely mum does all their washing and ironing as life is hectic so they need 2 weeks of clothes.

After reading this thread I will both try and buy second hand and sell after use. We donate insane amounts of clothes in really flood condition to charity shops at the moment. Toddlers grow so fast.

[Khajit]

Probably £250ish a year for dd1 who is 3, including shoes. She's always playing outside and is really hard on her clothes so I don't spend too much.

I buy a lot of second hand stuff and sometimes people buy clothes for bday Xmas.

Dd2 gets her sisters hand me downs and new vests etc

[Equimum]

I mostly buy their things from H&M and supermarkets, with a few FatFace sale bits thrown in, and it still comes to £200-300ish each, not including shoes and school uniform.

School uniform alone has just set us back around £200 each, including shoes & PE kit, and that’s for primary!

[user1487194234]

When they were younger about 1k per annum each but now they are teenagers I don't even want to add it up!

[sqirrelfriends]

I have no idea, all in for the year is probably about £800. I buy mostly in the sales but he goes through SO MANY SHOES.

[ivfbabymomma1]

I do 2 huge shops a year (winter/summer clothes) for my DC which leaves little to buy throughout these 2 shops and they are perhaps £500 each?

[KenAdams]

@BernadetteRostankowskiWolowitz yes, but her clothes are used by so many kids. My friend sent me a pic of her DD in a dress that went from my DD, my niece, her older DD and now her other DD and is still going!

I can't have any more DC so I only get one chance to do all this stuff.

[RosaBaby2]

Probably too much, maybe £1000 but I buy 90% scandi/ethical/organic and can sell for around 50% of original price. I'm not. Precious with clothes either so they are worn to nursery as well as normal every day.

We also have hand me downs that I've had stashed for years and buy second hand too.

[ANoTail]

Not loads, but I couldn't say how much. 4 daughters, so everything gets handed down, plus a lot of hand me downs from friends and family. There are a lot of good charity shops around here so a lot comes from there. So that would leave socks (fuck, we have so many socks, I think they're breeding), vests, pants. Primary school uniform was pretty cheap but the older two are in secondary now so that adds quite a bit on.

[Trevorina]

I'm flabbergasted by some of these sums. £1000? Wtf. I was feeling guilty today spending £20 on a sparkly frivolous skirt for dd5 to have as an Xmas present 🤣. She's obviously hard done by according to this thread!

[PhantomErik]

I browse charity shops a lot & there are some brilliant ones near me. Childrens clothes for 20p each or 6 items for £1.

Whenever I pick something up I wash it & put it in the top of the wardrobe & it builds up quite quickly. I often find things that are out of season, today I picked up 2 pairs of boys shorts (M&S and H&M) both 20p each.

A couple of weeks ago we went through a pile of jeans that I had collected for DD. 6 pairs, 4 of them fitted really well & were decent highstreet brands so those have gone into DD's drawer & the other 2 that were a bit too wide on the hips will go on ebay as a bundle with a starting price of 99p. That covers what I paid & if they go for more then I put it towards shoes/underwear which I buy new.

However, I will buy new clothes when necessary & last month bought DD a coat from Lands End which was reduced from £55 to £5.50!

[Wincher]

I have always tended to but second hand but now my two are older there is less stuff available. DS1 has now got to the age (10) where he loves having sports branded clothes - Nike, Adidas etc, so he gets those for birthday and Christmas presents (which he loves!). Other than that both my kids are in school uniform all week and they both have football on both weekend days (training and matches) so they don't end up wearing many other clothes! A cheapo multipack of supermarket tops and a couple of pairs of jeans and joggers each is all they need really. My mum knits them jumpers but I suspect my 10 year old won't wear them any more! As others have said, shoes (school shoes/trainers/wellies/football boots) is where the real money gets spent...

[LynetteScavo]

About £2000 per year.

I've been advised on MN to give my 15yo a clothing allowance. Like hell am I giving her at at least £150 per month to spend on whatever clothes she likes.

DS2 is a lot more sensible, but trashes very manypairs of pro-vans. And let's his many girl friends wear his Vans hoodies, then breaks up with the them, never to see the sweatshirts again.
DS1, on the other hand probably only spends £200 per year. He likes very expensive bamboo socks, but otherwise buys from charity shops.

[tempnamechange98765]

Gosh not much really, although I've never added it up over the year so it probably is quite a lot!

Two DC, both boys so DS2 has done very well out of DS1 for hand me downs. Both also get a reasonable amount of clothes as Christmas/birthday gifts.

Including shoes if probably does add up to £200 each at least, but this thread has inspired me to actually keep track.

I don't buy designer for either, I've started buying pricier coats for DS1 so that they last/are sustainable, eg from Joules, Fat Face, Muddy Puddles. But other than that clothes are from supermarkets, H&M, Next and Zara.

[GrubbsGrady]

Oh god i dont even know i buy a lot of his stuff on ebay 2nd hand but then i also buy a lot of scandi so it adds up 😂 about 500 a year ? Rough guess and its probably below that

[2Kidsinatrenchcoat]

@LynetteScavo
I've been advised on MN to give my 15yo a clothing allowance. Like hell am I giving her at at least £150 per month to spend on whatever clothes she likes.

A clothing allowance really doesn’t need to be that much, no one needs £150 of new clothes per month! More like £50 would be fine, I know that won’t get much but surely she’s not wearing through clothes or growing out of clothes fast enough to need more than one or two new things a month. Can’t she stick the clothes she doesn’t wear on Depop or something if she wants more money to spend on new clothes

[LynetteScavo]

I just did a quick add up in my head, and basics including swimming costume, underwear, trainers, wellies etc would be about £1,200. So £100 per month.

I, on the other hand, hardly buy anything new for myself because I don't grow.

[Sirzy]

For things like coats I always keep an eye out in sales for next sizes up, means you can get a great coat for a much more reasonable price.

Ds is 10 now so I buy a lot less than I used to!