how do you usually buy / budget for your childrens clothes?

pinkparrott

Hi all
i have a 2 1/2 year old boy and a 6week old girl and i have just been having a clear out of there clothews (obviously not many for the 6 week old !) and it got me thinking, how do most people buy their childrens clothes?

i mean do you set aside an amount each month for their clothing, or budget a certain amount, or do you just buy as and when they need them.

Or do you have set times a year e.g seasonally when you do a big spend?
I supose once they start school there will be a big outlay in september.

As i'm on maternity leave (and as suh skint )and a fairly new parent, i'm trying to be more organised, also i've noticed that my little boy has loads of stuff that are similar and some he hasn't even worn before he has grown out of them as i've bought stuff without thinking first.

any tips would help us to be more organised thanks.

Pooky23

I put aside £100 per month to cover clothing & shoes for my family of 4 (2 adults and 2 children, both under 10). That goes into a separate "jar" of my bank account so it cannot be spent unless I physically move it to my current account. The amount in my "jar" will vary, depending on how much we have needed to spend that month. This month for example, there is little left as both children have needed new school uniform. Next month will be easier as we don't anticipate having to spend much.

We usually buy childrens clothes from Tesco, Next, Asda or M&S. Occasionally I will buy nice stuff from Mini Boden, but usually I will get that off Ebay and then sell it on Ebay when they have outgrown it. Likewise, any other clothes that are in good condition get sold on Ebay! School uniform gets passed down between the children and then given to the school as "spares" when both have outgrown.

I never used to budget and just spent whatever I wanted on whatever I needed but I ended up going terribly overdrawn. This way, I can see how much I have to spend and don't go overboard.

Congrats on your new addition btw!

Spendless

My child benefit and tax credit money goes into a seperate account. This is what I used for 'children's expenses' including clothes.

shazrobo

i tend to buy clothes as and when they need them, always look in the sales now to buy the next size up for next summer,. and also in january sales, look again in next size for next winter, i have twin boys, and by getting their clothes in the sales, has made it much cheaper to clothe them.

BernadetteN

My eldest is now 12 and the others are 10, 6 and 3, 2 boys and 2 girls. I have bought the majority of their clothes well in advance and mainly from La Redoute/Vetbaudet by using discount clothes and sales. I limit each child to about 10 changes of clothes for each season and try to spend no more than £10 for an outfit in the smallest sizes up to £15 in the bigger sizes. La Redoute went through a period of issuing discount codes such as £10 off per order plus free postage, ordering each item inidividually, which meant I got several hundred pounds of clothes for less than a tenner as only a few items cost just over a tenner each and most came for free. It appears you just can't do this any more though.

MiasMommy

I buy a lot in the Next sales would spend around £150 each season. Her birthday is in Nov so she gets a fair bit from that and christmas, when she was first born I had bags of hand me downs now she has hardly any.

I tend to really buy from Next as the stuff will resell for the same ammount on ebay, I dont actually think she needs any more clothes I just like to buy and usually it will be a new item each week Shes 21 months btw.

foreversomeday

When I turned 16 my mum gave me the amount of child benefit she got for the "Second child" (Though I am the first child!) as a clothing allowance. She decided to do this as when I turned 16 if I had left education she would not have got the amount for the second child, only my sister who would then have become the first child.

I just used to save it up (she kept it in an envelope so it didn't burn a hole in my pocket) and I'd notice when I was getting short of tops, trousers, underwear etc and would ask for some of my clothing money and go shopping. At other times if I was out with friends etc if I saw some clothes I liked I'd pay out of my other pocket money and ask for the money back out of my clothing allowance when I got home. I was sensible so she never refused although I did start saving up for an £80 pair of trainers I never got because I didn't save enough and she said they were too expensive and I could only have half from my clothing money!

elainew

My little girl is clothes from carboot clothes at the moment. I only buy good stuff, pay no more than £1 for it and then I usually sell it on ebay when she has finished with it. People comment on how lovely she always looks.
Other times of the year i pick up bits and bobs from tesco and asda and for special occasions I go to H & M. I certainly dont set aside any money each month.

pinkparrott

hi thanks for the replies, i have had some success on ebay both buying and selling, but dont get as much time to look at the moment.
I think i will put a smallamount though in to a seperate account each month, as i can go for quite a while withour buying anything but then buy loads at once, e.g in the sales,so i would feel better if i knew i had some money put buy.

EssexGirl

Spendless wrote: »

My child benefit and tax credit money goes into a seperate account. This is what I used for 'children's expenses' including clothes.

That's exactly what I do. My friends think I'm mad as I still call it "baby money" even though ds is 10!
I tend to shop seasonally both new and second hand, with top ups as and when he grows out of things.

inkie

I buy stuff as its needed - and I never pay full price for stuff. The only things we buy new are undies/PJs/Shoes and school uniform. Everything else is either passed on/freecycle or carboot stuff. I don't budget - I get it when we need to as it's so cheap.