Clothing budget

exlibris

Do you wear scaves? A light weight scarf in the neck of a coat or jacket protects it from the grime you get from sweating, makeup etc. This should extend the time between cleans. Often a coat only needs cleaning because the neck is grubby.

MATH

The way you explain your spending seems quite frugal but if you only buy the clothes you 'need' I can't understand how you are wearing out £50 worth of clobber a month Mrs MATH worked in London for over 10 years an always had to be suited and booted some little tips she employed were:-

Al cheapo 'fashion' tops look just as good as pricy ones if put with good jacket, skirt/trousers.

Metal cap stilletto heals they last longer. Although she did once go base over apex on a wet floor in King's Cross and had to be stretched out:rotfl:

Pop Sox/knee highs are cheaper than tights and brill for trouser/long skirt wear and much better for your 'tail ends' confort too;)

Dry clean labels are rife but a lot of stuff will tollerate a cool, gentle wash. I used to work in clothing manufacture and I know dry clean only is often a load of old bobbins!

Befriend someone who can sew, alter and repair clothes. Mrs MATH married her tailor but you don't have to go that far LOL:D Maybe someone in your church is a dab hand with a needle and would just luuuurve some nice HM cake or bread as a trade.

Failing all this get a job at Stringfellows and crash your clothing allowance on cheap plonk instead. LOL

melt71

I am mad about fashion and managed to look quite smart on a low budget. I honestly can't understand how you are spending £50 per month though! Unless you are purchasing very high quality suits and averaging out the cost over many months.

My tips would be;

Make friends with cheaper shops such as primark (cheaper than my local charity shops), tesco, asda, new look etc. Buy basics at Primark as they are often as good a quality as more expensive options. For example I got all my 100% cotton tshirts from primark last year, from memory they cost £2 or £3 each. They wash brilliantly and the £9 tshirt I bought from M&S shrunk after the 1st wash. Another example is the thin fitted jumpers, personally I hate acrylic but can't afford cashmere and don't trust myself to wash wool! Primark sells them for £5 or £6 depending on the style, Next are more than double that price and exactly the same! I buy 3 or 4 in autumn and they pretty much last all winter (you may have to shave the bits off them as acrylic goes fuzzy but so would the more expensive Next ones).

I hate wearing the same clothes month in month out anyway so I'd rather buy the cheaper option and when it gets worn out I don't feel guilty about having to replace it. Obviously for more expensive items like suits/jackets this may be false economy.

It sounds like you are doing all you can to keep costs down so other than buying cheaper in the first place I honestly can't think of anything else that will help you.

shetitasatic

As far as I know Woolworths still do 'stick - a- soles' - stick on soles for shoes which you can either stick on yourself to brand new shoes or later as a repair

I have used these for years -I've never had a pair professionally re-soled.

I also invested in a full length leather coat -£200 from M&S (you can get cheaper) Ive been wearing it every year for the past 5yrs, and it's still got a long way to go! - It can look smart or casual, doesn't need cleaning and is windproof and doesn't mind a shower of rain.

When I was working my 'court suit' - jacket ,trousers and skirt were from M&S and were all WASHABLE - a great saving on dry cleaning bills!

HTH!

Bargain_Rzl

That's the thing MATH and melt71 - I can't figure out how I manage to spend so much on clothes either (that's really why I started this thread)! Maybe I have a distorted perception of what I "need" I don't really go shopping very often but rather make a list of what I need and then pick up some high-quality items when the sales are on. (MATH - the Stringfellows comment - was that a reference to my bra size by any chance? Shame on you :rotfl: )

I think I'm going to have to do myself a little analysis spreadsheet and "rationalise"

As I said before, I'll respond to the more detailed points later.

This being representative of most of my working wardrobe, today I am wearing:
- Suit (jacket and trousers) - bought January '05 in the Allders Closing Down Sale. Don't remember how much - about £60 altogether for a jacket and 2 pairs of trousers? Trousers have since needed repairs due to poor quality of original stitching but at least they are machine washable. Very nice, versatile grey pinstripe suit.
- Shirt - one of only 2 I own, both were about £30 from Bravissimo (not in the sale). Fits everywhere (this is the only shop that sells shirts which fit me everywhere).
- Bra (basic white underwired seam-free bra) - £23 from Bravissimo. Paid for by my housemate who had wrecked some of my previous bras by putting my washing in the tumble dryer without removing the bras first :rotfl: :mad: :rotfl:
- Pants and Socks - from George at Asda multipacks.
- Shoes - very nice quality Gabor boots bought in the Clarks Jan '06 Sale for £40 (down from £60). Will need to take them in for new soles and heels this weekend. (I have several pairs of work shoes, all bought in sales for between £15 and £40.)
- Silver (fake silver actually) crucifix necklace £6.99 from Southwark Cathedral gift shop.
- Handbag (the only one I own) £30 reduced from £60 in the Jones Bootmaker Jan '06 sale. Very good quality and I should not need to buy another for several years.

A typical weekend outfit would be:
- Per Una jeans (my only pair) bought from Scope for £5.99.
- Gap cotton/lycra T-shirt bought from Oxfam for £2.99.
- Poloneck jumper £20 from the January '06 Next Sale.
- Timberland shoes bought in the July '05 Jones Bootmaker Sale for £25 (half price).
- Underwear and handbag as before.

The only really expensive item I have is a suit from Bravissimo - jacket and 2 pairs of trousers cost £170 :eek: :eek: but this is a perfect fit and will last for years, and was bought last year before I started trying to cut back, so doesn't really explain why I'm finding it hard to reduce my expenditure on clothes now.

Other than a £15 charity shop trip last weekend, I haven't spent a thing on clothes for three months (edit: sorry, that's a lie, also spent £6.50 on a non-essential top in the Next Sale last week), but as I said before:

Bargain_Rzl wrote:

There's £190 in my kitty at the moment but all four of my pairs of work shoes/boots are in urgent need of new heels (and in one case new soles), I need a new Spring coat (I have had no luck in the charity shops so might be paying the Debenhams sale a visit at the weekend!), all my bras need replacing :eek: as do all my pants and socks, and I haven't yet stocked up on tights for this summer...

Think I might have a little look in Primark for the Spring coat though.

catherineblack

Hi, hope I can help just a little, the advice so far has been great!
I love Primark for bargain clothes but find that their t-shirts/tops are not as good quality. I've wasted money on these items - now got holes in and look cheap very quickly. On the other hand, in Primark I've bought a beautiful jacket for £3 and all my summer skirts for £8 or under. They are currently selling lovely knee length shorts ( and i think have a jacket to match) that are the equivalent of an office skirt, so they are smart and trendy.They also have lovely pencil skirts.
Dorothy Perkins have lovely suits and smart clothes, dearer, but good quality and i think are machine washable.
I also like H&M for staple clothes - plain t-shirts and shirts that are good quality for less.
Personally, I've been a fan of bargain clothes for years. Then I spent an afternoon last week going through all my clothes and realised that most of these bargains were unworn. They either didn't fit me, or didn't match anything I had. So I'm determined to spend a reasonable amount on stuff I like and WILL wear as opposed to clothes that are cheap just for the sake of it. I worked out that there was around £40 worth of cheap tops that are bad quality and not wearable - wasted money. So sometimes it is better to spend a little more.
Really do try out Primark for your Spring coat, they have some lovely stuff just now. Good luck!
Catherine

Lil_2

Have just been to M&S sale in Glasgow.Got beautiful well cut suit jacket at £7. Will be able to wear it with jeans or with a decent pair of trousers. Also got very dressy Mulberry coloured jacket to wear with black trousers. The Sales at the moment are excellent. Fortunately I am retired and have time to trawl the shops for bargains. If I don't have money for clothes I stay out of the clothes shops!!

bommer

I have had some really good t-shirts from Matalan for about 3 years now. They have lycra in them and so don't shrink (unless you put them in the tumble dryer) I have just bought two more in different colours and the were £5.00 but well worth the money. I'm lucky as our office is fairly casual and I therefore am able to wear these with both suits or casual stuff both to work and outside. I agree that Primark are worth having a look at.

Philippa36

I can't live without my M&S t-shirts but then I can buy them for £3 from the outlet store not far from here. I do understand the problem that when you are working all week the last thing that I want to do is trawl through the shops looking for 'bargains'. Primark and H&M may be cheap but they both seem to me like giant jumble sales, the clothes tend to be scattered everywhere and the sizes are erratic.
Jackets and stuff I can try on quickly without having to queue for the changing rooms aren't so bad though!

heroicnich

My suggestion would be to avoid Primark for the spring coat (fair enough for cheap replaceables, but I'd recommend paying a decent amount as you'll wear it a fair bit) - try la redoute online, they have a sale section (les avantages) which discounts up to 60%, there's quite a variety of classics (e.g. pea coats, trench coats etc) which are reduced because they are 'last' season. When does a spring coat go out of fashion?! Also, I buy short and long sleeved t-shirts from tesco - very stretchy, and can happily go in the tumble dryer. Finally, I want to make my own clothing complaint - buying really SMALL bras is no fun either! I always end up in the 'teen' section being directed to a white crop top... no!!!