Of all the questions I receive, the one I get the most is “How much should I budget for clothing?” I’m sharing suggestions on how to decide for your own budget today!
As many of you may know (or may not, who knows) my husband and I paid off all of our debt between November of 2015 and October of 2017! It was over $57,000 in student loans, credit cards, car loans, personal loans, and medical debt. It was an incredible journey and we made a LOT of sacrifices during those two years in order to make it happen. One thing that I gave up almost completely was buying clothes.
I never bought a lot of clothes before we started our debt free journey, but that was partly because we were not managing our money the way we are now and I simply couldn’t. We also had Jett who was constantly growing out of things, so any clothing I did buy was mainly for him! But one of the goals I made for myself while we were on a very strict budget was that when we were done, I wanted to have a clothing line item in our budget.
When we were done paying off our debt and started to make more room in our budget for things again, it was quite a big shift for me on social media and people took notice, understandably so. I tried to make a slow transition from “we aren’t spending a dime on anything, and you shouldn’t either while you’re paying off debt” to “here are some jeans I’m loving and where you can buy them.”
To be quite honest, making that change scared me, because I did not want to come across as hypocritical or … I can’t think of the word. This is the first time I’ve ever really addressed this publicly but I know it had to be confusing and maybe a little off-putting. People started asking me “how can you afford to buy all these clothes if you’re on a budget?” and they had a right to ask. But my answer was, and still is today, that I can buy all these clothes BECAUSE we are on a budget. We are able to do many of the things that we are doing these days because we have a budget and we make a plan with our money every month.
How Much Should I Budget for Clothing?
So after two years of being debt free and exploring this new venture into “fashion blogging” (which I hate to say about myself because I’m much more than that), I thought it was high time that I just put it all out there for you guys and teach you how to budget for clothing!
Disclaimer: For starters, I need to give you a little insight into the world of fashion blogging. I never, ever expect a-n-y-o-n-e to shop like I shop. I have a set monthly budget for clothing and I buy, return, buy, return, buy, return in a crazy cycle – but I try to never exceed that budget. Right now it is $500/month, and that money does not come out of our personal budget. It is part of my business budget and I take it out of my business income every month before I pay the rest of my income into our family budget. And let me also say that I’m small – tiny – in the grand scheme of things. $500 is what works for me and my business and while that might seem like a lot of money to some, when you compare my expenditures to that of other fashion bloggers, it is miniscule. Like I said – it works for me. and that is part of what I am going to talk about in today’s post.
How often do you need new clothes?
The first thing we need to get out there is the reality that you might not even need new clothes. While shopping and having “new” stuff is fun, the reality is that nobody needs new clothes every. single. month. In fact, I would guess that you might have a closet full of things you’ve bought but still never worn. (If that is the case, you might want to read this post).
Regardless of the financial side of things, start by having an honest conversation with yourself about what your true needs are as a person and as a family. Perhaps Mom & Dad should shop for something new every other month so that growing children can get the clothes that they truly need because they grow like tiny, loud weeds.
Whether you want to shop every month, every week, twice a year, etc., I encourage you to really address your clothing needs from an honest perspective first..
How much should I spend?
There are plenty of ways that you could address this question – I’ll cover a couple of methods to determine what is the right amount for you. Because personal finance is just that, personal, budgeting is a deeply personal and specific process. I suggest just using these as guidelines to help you decide what is right for you and your budget.
Find a percentage: Many “experts” and “theys” out there say to set aside 5% of your monthly take home pay to clothing. So if you bring home $3,500 each month, that would be $175/month on clothing. This is most certainly a reasonable amount of money for clothing. The catch here is that as your income increases (because that is a goal, right?) that makes that amount increase, so I would just keep a pulse of what you actually need vs. the amount of money you set aside. If you’re making $20,000 a month, do you really need $1,000 worth of clothes every month? If so, you do you boo. If not, maybe bump it back to a smaller percentage!
Set a specific amount: The other suggestion I would make is it just pick an amount each month and stick to it. If you have a higher income or less expenses that eat up your monthly income, this might be a good method for you. This is also a good way to create a sinking fund method as well – maybe you take $100 of your budget every month, regardless of whether or not you need anything that month, but you set it aside and save it up for when you will need a new blazer or a pair of shoes.
What should I do with my clothing money?
I have found it to be extremely helpful to have my clothing money completely separate from the income we use for our monthly expenses. I have an Ally Bank account set up that I drop my clothing money into each month and I have a debit card for that account so that I can do all of my insane shopping without ever touching the money we will need to pay things like our rent, utilities, or what is going into our savings account.
Another benefit to having a separate account (an in our case, a completely different bank) is that it protects that money from being tapped in to from identity theft or credit card fraud. I shop online A LOT and since we no longer use credit cards, I have to use a debit card for it. I know that freaks some people out, and if you’re trying to eliminate credit card usage like we were, having it away from the majority of your money can give you a little more peace of mind.
If you prefer to shop in person, another way to keep your money could be in cash. I have found using cash is extremely helpful in sticking to a budget because it helps you feel your purchases. (I have lots more about using cash in this guide to getting started with cash). When you use a card, you hand over the card and the clothing, and you get the card and the clothing back. When you use cash, you hand over the cash and the clothing, and you get the clothing but they keep your cash. You see an actual monetary exchange occur, and your brain registers that you have just given up cash, m-o-n-e-y, in exchange for these clothes. If you’ve never used cash before and are struggling with staying within a set budget, then I highly recommend it!
Only buy clothes that you can afford.
This is probably the most important point of this post for me. DO NOT GO INTO DEBT FOR CLOTHES. No accessory single piece of clothing is worth going into debt for. I don’t care if it is is a Louis Vuitton Neverfull bag or a pair of jeans at Target – if you cannot pay cash (or use a debit card for it), please don’t buy it.
Like I said earlier – shopping and new clothes and new stuff is fun! I GET IT. But I will never encourage you to buy something that you truly do not need, especially if your budget is telling you that there is no room for it.
That being said – knowing how much you can afford and setting it aside is key to knowing where you can afford to shop. I do most of my shopping at Old Navy, Target, and Amazon (sometimes at Nordstrom when I find a good deal) because that is what my budget allows. Do I care what other people think about where I buy my clothes? That would be a big, fat, no. I buy what I like, what flatters me, and what fits into my wardrobe and my style. The name brand on the tag means nothing to me!
At the end of the day, I have to remind myself often that having the ability to buy clothes at all is a privilege and one that I need to handle accordingly. I want to be a good steward of what we have, respect our budget, and show Jett how to be responsible with his money, so all of those things come before jumping on the latest clothing trend.
I am curious to know if you budget for clothing and if so how? Does your method look similar to mine or completely different? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
