How much do you spend on clothes & toys

Pepperoni

per child?

Trying to put together a realistic budget...!

SmlSave

We spent £40 on DS (4yrs) Christmas present this year and £20 on DD (2yrs)

So I'd guess with the £2 toy from grocery trips and 20p from their charity shop visits we spend £200-£300 on toys a year. I'm sure when they start asking for particular gifts or need a bike then the amount will go up.

We are very lucky with clothes as both children have thus far been given hand me downs. I'd imagine we currently spend roughly £200

Again, as they get older no doubt this cost will rise.

Spendless

Per year? How old are the children? When mine were little, it was easier as I bought the next size up when sales were on.

hickles69

Spendless wrote: »

Per year? How old are the children? When mine were little, it was easier as I bought the next size up when sales were on.

Me too. Just bought 3 pairs of jeans, a pair of chinos and a jumper for £14

mish

i think it depends on where you shop too, and how quick your children grow. my 2 children only need school clothes bought once a year, same with shoes as they dont grow too quick right now. I tend to only buy them normal everyday clothes when they really need them, mainly jogging bottoms for kicking about with etc. t-shirts they always have about 14 new ones from our holiday in october. Toys are mainly birthday/christmas presents although they do get throughout the year. i think they had about £400 each for christmas and about £50 present for birthday plus a party at £150-180 each. everyones situation is different so hard to give an estimate i think

HappyMJ

Pepperoni wrote: »

per child?

Trying to put together a realistic budget...!

The new games console each year will cost at least £300. If you alternated years in which you purchased one you could budget £150 each year towards the console...then you've got games to buy. I'd say 3 months between game purchases at around £40 per game. Selling the old one could save £10. So that's another £120 per year.

Children need tablets as well....and at some stage a laptop computer. An extra TV in the middle room. I'm against TV's in kids bedrooms unless there is a real lack of space in the house.

Clothes...they could survive quite easily on charity clothing but they will demand some new clothing.

The way I did it is to allocate the child benefit to each child £20.50 for eldest child per week, £13.70 for the younger children they'll be the eldest at some point and get £20.50 for some time or you could equally divide the child benefit between them £17.10 each and used that money to buy things they use themselves...their wants.

Their needs such as school clothing and food comes from our salary and wages and well that costs whatever that costs in your area and based on your child's tastes and dietary requirements.

Lunar_Eclipse

Hmm, I have teenagers. Toys/gadgets have always been bought at Christmas and birthdays, so spending budget is personal choice.

Clothing also varies hugely, depending on where you buy clothes. A t-shirt in a supermarket is about £4, but more like £30 from more expensive brands.

I would say that kids cost as little or as much as you allow or can afford. The early years can be done very, very cheaply. They don't tend to want for much and it can usually be bought cheaply, including second hand.

That said, I realise this might not be the most helpful reply without any numbers, so ...

For the first 10 years or so, we spent less than £150 a year on birthdays/Christmas combined. It was more like £20 for the first two years! We bought second hand bikes until they went onto adult frames they still have, when they were 8 (they're both tall.)

I would guess that I spent about £300/year on clothing per child, plus shoes. I don't spend much more now actually on the child that still (just!) wears school uniform: she gets a couple of pairs of £50 jeans, a few tops, some cheap Summer outfits and 2/3 pairs of footwear. The child that doesn't wear school uniform goes through more clothing. BUT I choose not to buy the cheapest brands and we are definitely not operating minimal wardrobes.

I don't think children are that expensive in terms of toys and clothes. Most kids also have far too many toys, which inhibits their creativity and ability to play. And makes an average family home look a mess! We have always been fortunate in having space for a playroom if we wanted one, but I find the whole idea too extravagant, so we never had one.

GwylimT

I have a toddler and a six year old.

We tend to buy our childrens clothes during end of season sales which they then wear the next year. We bought our son a winter coat with a removable fleece from m&s for £6, the original ticket price was almost £40. This will only work until they start choosing certain clothes, but it will always work for basic things.

We just bought our daughters next winter wardrobe for £96, a coat, new tights, jumpers, hoody, vests, jeans and a pair of fitted joggers. We probably spend around £200-£230 a year on her, less on our son as my nephew is a few months older so we get lots of hand me downs.

Toys, well where we can we buy wooden toys which can be a bit more expensive, although we got our daughter a big wooden pirate ship from asda recently which was very reasonable. Maybe £150 per year max, if we can we also buy some boot sales, charity shops etc.

Shoee maybe £100 per child as we only buy decent quality proper fitted shoes.

Towser

There are budgets and then there are budgets. I would say that kids cost as little or as much as you allow or can afford. I don't actually know what ours is but I would say we definitely spend all the child benefit plus more. I have two boys 9 and 10.

I would also buy in advance (the next size up) on the sales. Whenever I see something really cheap I buy it in one or two sizes up because one thing is guaranteed is that they will grow. My kids have everything only because I have been clever planning ahead with ebay, charity shops, sales, carboots and Primark. If you mix secondhand with new who will tell? Buying and selling being really savvy knowing when you have a bargain and how much to sell for. Everything gets put by for when it is needed. I would feel bad if they wanted for anything.

When they are teenagers I am guessing they will be more choosey but will need less. My mother used to give me the child benefit and allowed me to buy my own which I often did on the January Sales. I got used to living within my means then.

We also only buy decent quality proper fitted shoes. They have all the gadgets too.

You just have to find out how to do it by coming MSE and knowing how everyone gets through it. That is why I am here I love threads like this. Always learning how to be a MSE.

wendz86

It varies but probably an average of about £25 a month. Buying all her school uniform cost about £100. When the little one needs proper shoes I expect this will all go up. I re use my first daughters clothes for my second daughter. They also get a lot of clothes as gifts.

Toys only really buy at Christmas so around £50 at birthday and £75 at Christmas per child. I also use doubled up tesco vouchers towards this.

TwinnyD

Interesting as I didn't think I spent a lot on their clothes/shoes but last year for 2 children aged 4/5 £450 each. This was up from £400 each the year before.
Toys was £250 each but included new bikes for both, was £200 each the year before.