A reasonable budget to spend on clothes??

[mumtoelliot]

Hi all, i am trying to curb my spending a little - especially on clothes and beauty products as i realised i've never given myself a budget to work towards, and the bank balance has definitely suffered for it!
So, for next season's clothes -(Autumn/Winter), i've given myself a budget of £500 and wondered what were your thoughts on this??? Plenty/Unrealistic?
ive been spending lots on beauty products also - been using expensive cleansers and moisturisers such as Eve Lom, Lancome etc. i'm not sure if these products really make a difference or whether its just knowing they are a bit of a luxury that makes me feel better- i'm starting to wonder if i should make do with cheaper products. Does anyone think the more expensive brands are just a waste of money?

I think expensive cleansers are a waste of money.

I buy a good, but not mega expensive moisturiser (day/night and eye)such as Nick Lowe/ Neutrogena, and they are fine.

£500 is fine...it's not as if you are starting from scratch.

For me, £500 for Autumn/Winter sounds a lot. However we are on a fairly tight budget. Would that mean £500 for each season, i.e. £2k per year?

Re the beauty products, I think that for some items expensive things are better, but not ten times better (or however much more expensive they are than more basic items). For example I buy No7 moisturiser when on promotion, so instead of £11 I spend about £6, but for me that is a luxury product. For more every day I would use something like the Simple range.

Re clothing, I can't afford/justify to buy an entire new wardrobe every season. So for example this summer I have bought 4 new tops. (£80 approx). At the end of last summer I got some dark linen trousers, light jeans, and (in a clothes swap) some dark cut off jeans, so these are being used this summer.

All of this depends on your work of course. If you are a solicitor in a posh office and need to buy a lot of suits then your budget isn't much.

In my work we are fairly casual (not jeans, but not suits either). The rest of the week I am hands on with the dcs so expensive clothes would be a waste.

it really depends on your lifestyle and your income. is £500 a week or several months disposable incoem? Do you have it in cash or are you putting it on a card?

plus other things like if you have recently lost weight / been pg you might have to start your wardrobe from scratch eg if you have no winter coat or boots then £500 could go quite fast

ok, here's the thing....at the moment i'm a student at uni and paying tuition fees as well as nursery fees for ds. my partner works, and we are living with parents to save money for a house. so i guess none of my income is disposable because i'm not the one earning it.
thanks, think ive definitely got a spending problem and now i feel incredibly stupid and guilty .

£500 seems a lot to me. What do you actually need?

Don't feel stupid or guilty. . Could you work out exactly what you need and then have a discussion with your dp? I think in the circumstances you describe then £500 probably is a bit much. Good luck with your course, hopefully in a year or two it will all be worth it and you can spend what you like on clothes etc.

i suppose i dont buy clothes because i need them, but because i love clothes and find shopping fun. i will definitely be more careful and spend more sensibly. plus, will find a cheaper hobby

dont feel stupid. it would be stupid to know you have an issue and ignore it and run up debt.facing up to things isn't stupid

you know yourself that this is too much to spend on clothes etc when you are on a tight budget.if you are at uni you probably dont need many new clothes this autumn. and MumsNet has threads on bargain beauty products that perform well

as to a hobby........i don't really know how you fit one it, if you are uni full time, have a child and a partner and presumably help your parenst run the house. maybe you need a p/t job if you are bored rather than a new hobby