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)?

I love clothes and would easily spend that in a month. If you are a fan of mid-high end High Street (Whistles, French Connection, Jigsaw, Karen Millen) etc thats 1-2 items per month.

However I am 27 with no dependents and my weekly spare income is £150. If I had a family I suspect this would change.

It's all relative anyway; its a lot if you can't afford it and are putting it on credit cards or something else more important is missing out. If your spare income is 1000's per month then no its not a lot at all.

I really don't think £100 goes that far on the high street, most clothing items must average £30 at a bog standard high street shop (ignoring charity shops, and the cheap end eg. primark, h&m).

I just spent c. £80 at M&S on a few basics eg. tshirt, leggings, a hat, a bra and 2 pairs of knickers! I don't think I got a lot for my money!

Typically I would rather spend £18 on a Boden tshirt that lasts 5 years, than a £2 primark t shirt that will last 5 minutes.At the end of the day these questions are all about financial priorities and disposable income! Whether you earn £10k or £100k everyones answers will be different.

YANBU necessarily, as this us a totally feasible amount to spend when you really need things as you've described. Especially if buying at full cost.

Personally, I wouldn't feel comfortable spending that. I budget £15 a month for clothes from charity shops and ebay. I've got a great wardrobe full of Topshop, Whistles, Zara, &otherstories, All Saints etc pretty much all bought for less than £10.

Could spend much more, but I'd prefer it to go into my savings account tbh.

I spend maybe £200 a year on my clothes.

£100 a month is our clothes and shoes budget for the family (me, DH and 5 yo DD). I am a SAHM though so live in jeans & H&M tops and some big jumpers. Only own one pair of walking shoes, one pair of wellies and 2 pairs of sandals. If I had a work wardrobe it would cost a fair bit more I'm sure! That said it's been an expensive year for us as I've had to buy maternity clothes.

I can't think of the last time I bought clothes. I got an M&S voucher for Christmas, which I think I spent on a jumper and some underwear, and I got some new socks from Sainsbury's in their 25% event a few months back...The rest of my wardrobe is in fairly good condition so doesn't need replacing. I reckon about £200/year, plus £60 on either shoes or trainers if either are worn out. I'll need some winter maternity wear soon, though - no way is my current collection of floaty tops going to cut it in the cold!

I have a €50 budget per month to buy all clothes for myself, DS, DH, and anything for the home.

I thought that was quite a lot but clearly not I do ok for DS's stuff out of that and DH very rarely buys clothes but it's hard to fit things in for me and I often end up with crappy things. Most of my clothes are terrible quality and don't last so it's a false economy really. I also have hardly any smart clothes which I could really do with. I think when I start earning more I might increase this budget.

I spend that easily. The last few things I bought were for work though. It's hard to make the same things last and last indefinitely and be appropriate/smart/stylish/ fit don't feel guilty for spending £100!

I look quite simply dressed.

The Swedish Consumer Agency has 600 SEK a month for clothes and shoes in their model budget for an adult female. Which is under £60, fwiw. And their model budget isn't terribly generous really as a rule. 😉 That does give you a margin for saving up for the serious winter clothing we need here though.

Depends where you are in your career as well. When I started in an professional role I was spending a lot every month just to build up a wardrobe. And the stuff I bought at the very beginning had to be replaced more quickly as it had seen harder wear.

Fast forward a few years and it is much less.

And I never go anywhere so my non work wardrobe is years old.

Agree that if you are buying work clothes, £100 doesn't go very far - particularly if you are larger and the cheaper clothes don't sit as well.

Can you get by for a couple of months and save up? I would say buying 3/4 smartish dresses at around £100 each and rotating them with different cardies and boots or shoes would be easier than trying to match lots of separates. (Not sure how well this would work on your figure, if you don't look good in dresses, perhaps focus on some skirts/trousers then lots of plain tops).

Depends on your budget and what is affordable for you. I couldn't afford to buy clothes every month and I couldn't afford to spend £100 a month on nonessentials, that's my council tax bill. Also I have limited storage space, wouldn't things get cluttered unless you also swap them out regularly? I have the basics and update as I need something, for example recently I bought new winter clothing as I've lost weight and last year's didn't fit, or when I see something I like cheap. I buy clothes mainly in charity shops or on sale. I haven't counted but I estimate that I spend about £100 a year on clothes. But to each their own. TBF I am self-employed and can wear what I want to work so I understand it would be different and more difficult if I worked in an environment with a high maintenance formal dress code for example. Different people have different priorities.

Don't often buy clothes. Wear same clothes every day although I have changes to wash them. It saves time. I don't go to the hair dressers. I don't use make up most of the time so buy some perhaps every 5 years (I am not joking).

This month I have bought a pack of tights for about £6.
I earn a fair bit.

However we all have different interests in life. I might spend a bit on a new pen knife or I am about to spend £150k on the twins at unviersity over 3 years next year.

I work with a few people who are convinced that the clothes they've been wearing 15-20 years is as good as new... Actually, they are dated and actually it shows. Not that it matters much in my industry but I do wonder if they're fooling themselves and if they would update if they knew that their clothes DID look dated.

On average I spend about 20 a month. I'm at home with dd though, so I'm not buying work clothes as well as casual.

If you can afford it, I don't think £100 is a lot to spend on clothes. But clothes are my big weakness. At times when I've had the disposable income I've definitely spent more than that per month. Obviously during leaner times I've had to cut back.

Agree with PPs that it's quite a personal thing. I have friends who don't spend much on clothes at all but do spend a lot on cars/travel/food/days out/their house etc etc. Some spend huge amounts (IMO) on Christmas and birthday presents. And there are some who don't spend much on anything as they are on a strict budget/saving for something specific.

These threads always a attract a lot of "I only spend £20 a year and it all comes from supermarkets/charity shops" type posts.

A month! A £100 a month. I havent spent £100 over the two years on clothes for me. Mind you when i was working i think i spent £200 a year on clothes. Think i need to go shopping!!

seems to me if you're spending £100 a month on clothes you're being ripped off

I don't think for me looks matter too much so if something is dated so what? I have a uniform which works for me and I wear it every day as I think the head of Apple did too. It saves thinking baout that and concentrate on your career and earnings. Most of my work is behind a desk and by email and telephone anyway so what covers my body is irrelevant.

The only thing that matters is that women spend the money they earn and don't spend more than they have and don't get debts and stick things on credit cards and get over drawn. If you are not doing that then spend what you like on clothes but do consider my principle of trying to get rid of 2 clothing items for every new on bought as that works quite well.

I think looks are more important for some people (male and female) than others. That's fine. We're all different.

I think in general vanity tends not to make people happy which is why most religions have it down as a sin actually but I accept I have a minority view these days.

A lot depends on lifestyle. I work so need smart work clothes. Sometimes I have to accompany DH to stuff like Glyndebourne, the odd race meeting, the occasional black tie function. I can't wear a £20 cheap frock to those things but I do try to buy understated stuff that can be dressed down for work or more ordinary occasions. Also, I like clothes, I work hard, I earn my own money. If I see something I like I buy it. I reckon I also spend about £1000 a year on my 18 year old dd. A new coat, pair of jeans, trainers, leggings, Cpl of tops, easily comes to £300. Add in the occasional dress, jacket, pr shoes, shorts, etc, and it's easily done.

I spend about that.

A coat for £400 every 5-10 years, work dresses £100 each, 5 of them, last about three years, chinos, 2 pairs, £80 each, to last about two years. Couple of suits, £500 each, to last about 5-10 years. Couple of jumpers and cardigans, £80 each, lasting 3-5 years. The rest are annual brogues, sandals, shirts, t shirt, pyjamas, underwear.

I've never thought about it before, it's good to know, thank you, OP.

It is certainly more than enough if you need to budget- use sales, charity shops, supermarkets- but I easily spend that so I don't think it's unreasonable! Last month 2 x new shoes (boots and work shoes) came to £85, this month £22 on new pjs, just ordered £50 stuff from new look (hoping to find a party top that suits), I need new tights- if you count the DC I just bought a north face jacket for ds2 that was almost £100 even with a dofe discount!

I've not brought myself shoes or clothes for 18 months apart from a cheap Halloween outfit. All spare cash goes on clothes for kids or for stuff for the house - if I could afford it I would spend £100 a month on stuff thou. But I don't go out, nor do I work so get by on my old clothes. If I start working again (hopefully soon) I will need to bulk out my office wardrobe, still have some stuff that would fit but it would need bulking out quite a bit.

Being an unusual bra size I'm looking at £50 for a bra and then struggle with most high street brands as I'm not straight up and down.

I hate shopping but replacing worn out things add up - the only trousers that survive are the cheap supermarket fabrics, everything else just gets chewed up by thigh rub.

If you're starting with a decent wardrobe of staples, averaging £100/month is probably realistic for smart casual (which would probably expect to be more expensive that suits tbh). If you are starting from a student wardrobe or have changed size then it's a whole new kettle of fish!

My clothing spend through a year would probably average out at that but rather than a set amount each month I prefer to buy a few times a year, often in sales. I work in an office and dress code is that vague "smart casual" which generally translates as doesn't have to be suits but needs to be smart so trousers/skirts/dresses/blouses etc.

I see some posters are shocked but for many people working in an office environment it means an entirely different set of clothes to what you'd wear at home or in some other jobs. For example my sister works in a shop and can wear the jeans/tops/leggings etc she would wear on her non work days. I definitely can't!

I suppose you can get lucky with charity shop buys, I get the impression lots of mumsnetters have amazing ones in their locality! I really don't and to be honest I haven't the time or inclination to trawl around charity shops in the hope of finding something suitable for work. I realise I'm lucky that I can afford to spend what I do though.