How much to dress a six year old girl?

peachyprice

michaels wrote: »

Following a change in circumstances I decided I really need to work out where money goes - in Martin's budget spreadsheet I had down £200 per month for kids clothes (for DDs 6 and 5 and DS2) but that comes to a frightening 2400pa and I'm not sure that the DW actually keeps to that - every next sale she seems to come back with £300+ of 'bargains' so here is my list for DD1 - does it sound reasonable? Most prices are sale prices and from Sainsburys TU / Next or M&S with some Matalan and Primark, nothing expensive.

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Originally Posted by michaels

School uniform:
Shoes x 2 - £15 x 2 Startrite or Clarks, regular sized feet so finding in sale is easy
Socks x 10 £10
Tights x 10 £20 x5 actually as they don't wear them much as they go through them so quickly
PE Shorts £3
PE t-shirt x 2 £3 x 2
Plimsoles - £3
skirts x 2 - £8 x 2 £4 in sale
pinnafore x 2 - £12 x 2 £7 in sale
school polo x 5 - £8 x 5 - logo so rip off
school sweatshirt x 3 - £9 x 3 - logo so rip off changed everyday but washed during the week and made to last two years
Summer dress x 3 - £5 x 3 tend to wear skirt and polo on PE days
winter coat - £15 Sale price, often bought end of preceeding winter
summer coat - £15
Vest x 10 - £1 x 10
thermal vest x 10 - £2 x 10 x5 but cost £3
Cadigan x 3 - £4 x 3
Sub total £254 £235

Other clothes
Wellies - £5
Boots - £20 sale price from 45 again bought end of season for following year
Sandals - £15
Swimming costume x 2 - £5 x 2
t-shirts x 5 - £4 x 5 x8 may be cheaper in multipack
long sleeve Ts x 5 - £5 x 5 x6 may be cheaper in multipack
Blouses x 5 - £6 x 5 'blouse' being generic male term for a first layer top that is not a t shirt
leggings x 5 - £5 x 5 £3
Trousers/Jeans x 5 - £8 x 5
Fleece - £10
Cardi / sweater / sweatshirt x 10 - £8 x 10 x5
dresses x 8 - £12 x 8 possibly x6 mostly half price in sale but a couple full price for occasions
Socks x 20 pairs - £1 x 20 x15
Tights x 5 - £2 x 5 different colours/styles from school tights for wearing under skirts
Coat x 1 - £20 smart for church, events
Pants x 30 - £1 x 30
Skirts/short x 6 - £4 x 6
Pyjamas x 3 - £8 x 3 probably last more than 1 year
Warm house so no gown needed
crocs/slippers x 2 - £5 x 2

Sub total £432 £450

Grand total £684 £685

OK, so after your DW's 'corrections' to the above list why are you still budgeting £200 per month on childrens clothes and why is she still spending £300 in Next sales when you've demonstrated above that £50-£60 per month is ample?

I'm not really sure what your question is anymore as you and your DW have answered it yourself. £50-60 is a reasonable amount for your family.

Kaz2904

To be fair to OP re the school tshirts, he may not be able to source them cheaply. Our school has green for the kids so I have to buy them from the school. Even so, I bought 2 new when DD started at 4 in the 6-7 size (she was big!) and the same for sweatshirts. I then picked up a couple from the charity box for 50p when they had their table top sales. In the summer she wore the gingham dresses. By the time DS started 2 years later, she needed bigger jumpers so I got her the biggest size and he had her hand me downs (not the dresses as he didn't fancy them!). DH would have preferred him to have new but as I pointed out, they look the same after a month of washing so what's the point?
DD has since gone onto a new school with white tops (YAY!) and has the same grey skirts from last year/ year before, cheap white tops and Asda cardigans. She was given 2 sweatshirts though so wears them on occasion. So in September, I just put her stuff into DS's wardrobe. It looks comical at times because he started putting on a large tsirt with small jumper and looked like he was wearing a dress! He is MUCH smaller than she was (although still big for his age) but is happy to alternate between the small and large jumpers. He lost several jumpers in a short while so I made him buy some plain blue ones from Matalan with his pocket money as it was too cold to not have one on.
Trousers we buy for DS from Asda, I can't get a decent fit for him anywhere else. Not even Marks's tall and skinny range (I know it's not called that!).
Clothes get bought when we tell DS to pull his trousers up 'cause we can see his pants and he informs us he won't because his ankles get cold (how is that possible, he gets thinner and thinner and has never fitted stuff round the waist?). DD doesn't need stuff as often because she tends to wear denim skirts with thick tights, tshirt, tunic/ long jumper and big boots. We knew we were going to have to look elsewhere for her this year for boots as she is now a size 3.5 at 9 so we got them for her for her birthday. They were Timberland and £45. But they fit well, they are comfortable and she likes them. They have a good decent sole too.

We don't bother with wellies, they are awful terrible things. All of us have got good walking shoes. I think DS's are Peter Storm and I don't recall what make DD has now but they are lovely and I secretly covet them. They are warmer, don't rub around the calf and are safe to walk in up and down our hill when we get snowed in.
DD used to love her dresses in the summer, not sure what she'll want this year, it depends on the weather I suppose but I used to buy her cotton ones as they can be scrubbed if they get mucky. They dry quickly too.
Girls knickers and vests I find awful for how quickly they come apart. DS's pants and vests have always seemed more substantial and last longer.

To get your wife to cut down, teach her the lessons of Gok Wan and his capsule wardrobe. It'll make her life so much easier too.