To think £100 a month should be enough for clothes?

[SabineUndine]

I don't have to wear formal suits for work, so I'm always in smart casual, with emphasis on the casual. But £100 doesn't seem to go that far. What do you spend (inc shoes)?

Hmm. I honestly don't know how much I spend on clothes. I wear things right down until they're no good anymore and then I replace them as and when they get too old and tatty. Most of my things I've had for years. I try not to waste money on non-essentials. As standard I like to have 2 x skinny jeans, 2 x bootcut jeans, 2 x black leggings, and a variety of tops/jumpers/skirts/shoes to fit the season. I have one winter coat, one raincoat and one lightweight jacket for the warmer months. I dislike clutter and I don't buy for the sake of buying.

Recently I've bought:

Maroon cord skirt £20.00
Black suede skirt £16.00
2 x thick black control leggings £32
Green jumper £18
Black fine knit jumper £10.00
1 black and 1 white longline vest £10
Black Chelsea boots £30

All of these have replaced older items that I've thrown out. I had a night out this month and nothing suitable to wear (first night out in years!) so I spent £85.50 on a new dress and some heeled pixie boots that I can dress up or down to wear again. I desperately need to replace my winter coat and black knee high boots, as they're looking super shabby and have had several years of hard Scottish weather wear. It's a lot of money when I see it all written down, but I think it's possibly the only money I've spent on myself this year so far. My summer things were still good from previous years so I bought nothing this year. Everything else is still going strong.

£1200 a year sounds quite excessive to me. Having said that, I wear a uniform for work so I'm not wearing out my own clothing and shortening life span I also don't follow trends that end up in the charity shop next season. Both, I would imagine, would drastically increase a persons clothing budget.

I probably spend £100 a month of kids clothes but no way do i spend that on myself 😯

Yes I spend a load on kids clothes.

£80 every 6 weeks for DDs shoes.

If I could I would spend that but I don't have the time or money for clothes shopping. New winter clothes for the kids have to take priority. When I do buy stuff especially for work I try to get something half decent that will last. So this year I have bought
Work trousers £65 boden
Work blouse £30 Zara
2x work cardies £10 each, Zara kids (exactly the same as adults half the price).
A couple of t shirts Zara I guess £20 total
Casual top Zara kids £8.
A pair of toms £30
I can't recall anything else except some socks (kids again).
I am going to treat myself to some Chelsea boots from Russel and Bromley, kids again they go up to size 5. £75. A steal compared to adult version.
So if u are short with small boobs and small feet kids stuff is the way forward!!

I could spend a lot less than £100 - my wardrobe is well stocked. I love clothes though, so probably spend a little more most months on 2 or 3 quality items.
I recycle on eBay and always look out for offers but if something comes along I love, I'm fortunate enough to usually just be able to get it.
I work hard and the dcs have what they need so am perfectly happy with my spend.

I bought dd a gorgeous leather look skirt and silver lurex roll neck top (with under crotch poppers) for £40 yesterday. And had to whizz to get her a little black frock today for £70 because she refrained from telling me she's singing two solos at a concert tomorrow. Her old black skirt and top won't do!

I hardly ever buy clothes for myself yet my wardrobe is overflowing. Do all you people who shop every month throw away loads of stuff as well?
Am quite astounded at anyone spending £100 a month on clothes. I probably spend less than £200 in year.

I feel v guilty from this post. I easily spend that. I'll go a month spending nothing but then drop a few hundred quid one month. I seem to have spent the past few years pregnant then breastfeeding constantly and throughout the seasons so have required all new wardrobes for them. I don't look good in cheap clothes though, and don't like the ethics of cheap stores and am lucky to have the consumer power (read money!!) to make that choice. I feel so much better when I look how I want to, I'm not a beanpole and know what suits me, and often it's expensive. I suppose that makes me shallow, but I don't think I fixate on it, judge others, etc.

I just worked out that I spent £380ish in September. Haven't bought anything since and won't until the jan sales, so works out at just under 100/month. All of that was for work stuff - a suit, blouse, 2 jumpers and tights from m&s, 3 dresses from cos, flat boots from Clarks and heeled boots for going out.

I'm a lawyer and need to look smart for work. Mostly shop mid-range high street but not averse to primark and charity shops from time to time!

bonbon yes I do a cull a few times a year, usually when swapping my winter summer clothes (I only keep half in my wardrobe at any one time - out of season are under the bed)

I'm shallow as a puddle and have the principles of Boris Johnson. My interest in clothes is the deepest thing about me

higgy why the guilt? As long as you can afford it and as long as all essential expenses and bills are paid for, its no ones business but yours.

You don't get much for £100. Tops can often be £40+. Admittedly, I did buy a jumper in H&M that cost £15 but I think this is a rarity. Jumpers in most high street shops are £50+. Winter boots are easily £100+ and if you only have one pair they will probably only last a year.

That's a LOT for month-to-month, but mine goes up and down, depending on what I need. I tend to buy very little, but all of it good quality, so it depends on whether I need anything in a particular month.

Last month I spent maybe 70 pounds all up. This month I don't think I'll spend anything. But the month before last I had to buy new shoes, so that was an expensive month.

I have actually been keeping a tally of all of the maternity clothes I have bought while being pregnant. It's totalled about £525, spread over the last 6 or so months (so under £90 a month). That includes workwear (smart dresses and trousers/skirts with blouses) but no suits.

However, before getting pregnant I had probably spent the same amount spread over the last 4-5 years since working at my current job (plus 1-2 pairs of shoes each year, including work shoes/sandals/trainers/etc, probably totalling another £100 per year).

I just can't imagine finding enough things I want to buy to be able to spend £100 a month most of the time. But then I just don't enjoy clothes shopping, so I spend more money on other things, e.g. books, music, nice stationery. If I liked shopping, I suppose I would spend more money doing it

Nothing to feel guilty for Higgy, as long as you can afford it (which it sounds like you can.) I'm not a beanpole either ( i look like I ate the beanpole!) and cheap clothes generally aren't all that well cut for me. Business smart especially is a nightmare as very few suits are friendly to bigger women IMO - the bottom half is almost always not very well made pencil skirts. You know when you see those pictures of a snake that's swallowed a small dog? That's me in most pencil skirts, they're never cut right!

Vinotime I think wearing a uniform makes a massive difference to expenditure. My office is business casual (bordering on smart casual) and day to day I wouldn't wear a suit to the office but I travel for work and when I'm travelling it's business smart. That's a lot of work clothes.

I don't spend £100 a year on clothes lol. Although to be honest I am flat broke and every penny I have goes on the kids. But for work I like to trawl through Charity shops and find me a bargain! I bought a gorgeous Monsoon suit that would have cost me over £100 that I got for a fiver, and its perfect! Much more fun than picking something everyone's wearing at the mo. :-) But if you can afford it, do it! x

I don't know why anyone feels guilty (or thinks that some of us explaining how little we spend are the clothes equivalent of the mythical mumsnet chicken). If I had the money I would spend a shitload on clothes. But I don't have the money so I can't, and my spend is very low because of where and how I shop. That's just how it is- no moralising from me.

Stolen? Doublechocolatecake

I'm intrigued

Yes ReblendaStunner STOLEN, a few years ago I bought three coats totalling around £700 from Zara and Reiss respectively, I bought them all in the sale so spent about £450 as opposed to £800 full price.

I was super happy with my purchase as it was a long term investment and because the quality of all theee coats were exceptional, I banked on not having to buy coats for many years.

Anyhoo after carrying tiles out of my car January this year, I forgot to lock my car overnight and all of my coats were in the boot on the way to the dry cleaners. Woke up in the morning for work to find all my tampons on the seat of my car and all three coats stolen from my car boot.

That's awful

I've had coats stolen off the pram before in shops, DD and I had our super dry ones stuffed on the hood, turned around to find them gone and the handbag still hanging off the handle ... The police frankly didn't take it seriously but that was a couple of hundred pounds worth

Aww , I know it ducks to have your stuff stolen (last year my IMac got stolen from my bedroom while I was out !) but just think , it might have been homeless people who stole it as their only source of warmth. Sucks I know , but might help to think of it like that?

I guess, if a homeless person asked me for a coat id give it to them you know, more likely they were on eBay before you could blink

I never feel guilty for spending money on clothes or grooming. I bought some shoes last week for £135...and that was with £30 off. Why? Because I can't find shoes to fit on the high street. They are quality Italian leather and will last me for at least 5 years.
I balanced that by buying a devore top in Tesco for £20 and used £12 club card vouchers.
If I was stock size I wouldn't need to spend a fortune on shoes.....I'm also tall, and you look at the average prices in Long tall Sally or other specialist clothing companies.