Back to School clothing budget?

[DawnM]

I yard sale year round and thrift store shop year round. I buy as needed and also when I see great almost new clothing for really inexpensive, even if it is a size larger.

I think I spend about $100 per child per year in clothing and school supplies at the most.

But you really can't get the deals when you shop at retail stores in August. They are the highest prices then as stores count on that back to school shopping.

Dawn

 

[Nik's Mom]

Now that my kids don't wear uniforms anymore, I let them use the clothes that they currently wear. If they have outgrown some things, or some things look really worn, then I will replace as needed. This year, both of my ds's had growth spurts so I did have to buy a few things. I always buy new shoes at the beginning of the school year. And in the winter, I will need to buy new jeans for them.

 

[mrsklamc]

As far as not having anyone that gives you hand me downs- ask on freecycle. Might work, might not, but worth a shot.

 

[HLDisney]

I'm with the ones who don't buy specifically for BTS. I buy year-round as I see really great sales (picked up 3 t-shirts for $1.99 each at JCPenney last week for next summer) and I try to keep a mental list in my mind of what my DD needs for the next season and I pick up those items when I see them on sale.

At the beginning of this summer, I took out the new t-shirts for my DD that I bought from TCP last summer for $2.99 each and asked her which one she would want to wear for the first day of school in the fall. I have that shirt put away for the first day of school so she'll get to have something new for that day

Helen

 

[aprilgail2]

50.00?? That won't even cover a coat! I think that is very unreasonable- you should make sure he comes to the store with you to shop to see how the things add up!!!!
My daughter has already picked out her first and second day of school outfits- they are clothes we bought last month but she has not worn because she is saving them LOL...she did a ton of shopping for the summer so most of those are still good to start school...she still needs pants though and of course a few pairs of new sneakers, a coat and then some long sleeve shirts for fall....I usually spent around 600 or so between everything- school supplies alone cost close to 100.00 some years!

 

[bas71873]

Thanks for the replies!

I will go through DD clothes and have her try everything on this weekend. Since it will be warm for at least the first month of school she can most likely use most of her t's and shorts. I will also look it an LL bean backpack so she can have that for a few years.

She will need some new sneakers and socks but that sounds much better than a whole new wardrobe. I will buy a little a time as she needs it. Thanks!

I spent 6 1/2 hours today doing just this (and on top of going thru DD7's closet and dresser, I just tackled the entire room...hence the LONG day!). Anywho, I have learned the hard way not to go crazy buying clothes just because they are cute and/or fashionable. Right now, DD has WAY more than she needs to get started for school with shorts and skorts. Heck, as hot as it's been here in VA and they way it's looking, we may be in shorts 'til Christmas . Thankfully, she still has a lot of fall/winter things from last year that fit too to at least get her started for fall/winter, provided we have no growth spurt which happened to me last year and so clothes I had bought lasted her about 6 months . We do need a new coat, but I will be hitting Marshall's come Sept/Oct where I usually find a "last year's model" for cheap.

Some advice. Take her shopping with you. I made the HUGE mistake of not doing that last year and who knew DD didn't like jeans? She HATED them and it was a battle on days where I made her wear them. It's so much easier to spend a day shopping with her and letting her help decide than to fight all year. Lesson learned. DD wears a lot of those velour track suits and leggings w/tunics. She's comfy and happy and that's fabulous!

I was just at Old Navy yesterday and ALL of their clearance stuff is an extra 50% off. I got a few things....some for now and some for fall/winter and didn't pay over $4 for anything. Had to dig around some, but it was worth it. I know the first weekend of August Justice is having a storewide 40% off sale and here in VA it's also tax free shopping that weekend.

I will say that $50 won't get you far. Heck, just socks, undies and shoes will knock that out pretty quick! Good luck.

 

[3boymthr]

My back to school clothing budget - $0.

I don't buy back to school clothes.

The kids get new clothes when they outgrow them, so this year they're all going back to school with last winter's clothes (they changed sizes in February).

OTH - when they do need new winter clothes I'll spend a minimum of $400 per kid. For the oldest my budget is about twice that because when you have to outfit a kid top to bottom and from the inside out in adult clothing it's very expensive.

My budget does not include winter outerwear (last year about $175 for my oldest including his winter boots - which were $80) nor does it include shoes nor the special stuff my kids need for boyscouts for which I just paid $40 just for two pairs of socks.

 

[Mom2Ben02]

For all of you mentioning winter coats (which I can barely make myself type in this sweltering weather)...Macy's has a day in (I think) March that every winter coat is clearanced for $14. Every year I go and buy the next size up. I then sell the old coat - most of the time I make money on the deal, even after they get used for a year.

 

[ctinct]

I know this thread is mostly about littler kids, but I did see two replies about older kids.

This is what I have been doing with my teen-age daughter for several years now, with great success. I sit down and come up with a figure for ALL her school clothes. This year, for example, it will be more than last year because she needs sneakers, flats, and dress shoes, along with a new winter coat. It's a fairly substantial sum. (Oh, how I long for the days when I could buy jeans for her for ten bucks!) Anyhow, once I hand it over, it is HER money to spend as she wishes, but she gets not a dime more. If she wants to spend seventy dollars for a pair of jeans, I bite my tongue and she can spend it. It just means she will have fewer pairs of jeans. The funny thing is, when it is a finite amount of "her" money, she tends NOT to buy the most expensive stuff, to look for sales to stretch her money, and to really think hard about her purchases. She hasn't bought those expensive jeans in several years. This summer we discovered a Plato's Closet consignment shop about 45 minutes away, and she loved it. I'm sure she will be asking me to take her there again. In the meantime, she is learning budgeting and planning ahead-gotta save some money for a coat, even if it is 99 degress out now.

 

[Kriii]

I didn't read all of the responses but I'd suggest having dh go with you to shop! Last summer, dh wanted to spend a large sum on an item and I said to wait because I had to do the back to school shopping first and it would be at least X amount of dollars. He laughed and said no way I'd spend that much! Guess who had to take money out of savings to pay for school clothes since dh spent the money in the checking account on his item? He won't make that mistake again! I started back to school shopping yesterday because I found out last year that if I wait until August the uniform pants will be picked over. Bought 6 pair of uniform pants at Hollister and one pair of Sperries for about 350.00. Need a few more pair of pants and a larger book bag plus supplies and then I should be about done. Luckily last years uniform shirts all fit and look great. Dd still has nice looking shoes and I can get other shoes as needed throughout the year.

 

[eliza61]

This is a general question.

We live in Southern NJ, when my kids go back to school in early September it's still 85 degrees outside so generally why should I buy them new clothes when the summer dudes are what they are wearing.

Maybe they will need a new pair of sneakers at most. When it turns colder arount October than we'll hit the stores for new jeans and the prices have gone down considerably.

Do people shop for new clothes "just because"? I'm not trying to be rude, my dh is European and I find they don't celebrate small things with buying an entire new wardrobe like we do here in the states.

I could never understand the concept for vacation also. I read about people droping 100's of bucks on new "vacation" clothes/ My SIL will drop boat loads of cash when we go to DW. We go in August when their summer clothes are what, 3 months old at most?

 

[r&kmommy]

This is a general question.

We live in Southern NJ, when my kids go back to school in early September it's still 85 degrees outside so generally why should I buy them new clothes when the summer dudes are what they are wearing.

Maybe they will need a new pair of sneakers at most. When it turns colder arount October than we'll hit the stores for new jeans and the prices have gone down considerably.

This is what we do, though this year we'll be picking up a few polos and non-character/sayings t-shirts because we seem to have a ton of them and they're not allowed in school.

Do people shop for new clothes "just because"? I'm not trying to be rude, my dh is European and I find they don't celebrate small things with buying an entire new wardrobe like we do here in the states.

I could never understand the concept for vacation also. I read about people droping 100's of bucks on new "vacation" clothes/ My SIL will drop boat loads of cash when we go to DW. We go in August when their summer clothes are what, 3 months old at most?

Depending on what the climate is, I agree that many buy tons of new stuff "just because" it's back to school time. We don't, because the school is warm and ds wears his summer things for a while, and often his jeans/khakis still fit him in October. We buy clothes as we need them, not because it's September 1st. (Though when he entered first grade we DID spend about $200 on stuff because he had outgrown all his summer stuff that he was wearing - because it was all from the summer before lol - so we had to buy TONS!)

I am buying myself some new clothes for Disney. But that's only because my kids come first when it comes to spending money on clothes, and I've only got 2-3 presentable shirts for home (I do laundry every other day lol) and I don't want to look like a ragamuffin on vacation...

 

[2DisPrincesses]

Don't want to think about how much I'll spend when I'm done!!

DD is going to K, so I'm excited to buy her school clothes. Growing up, I always had school clothes and play clothes and I plan to do the same with her. I love Gymboree and GAP for their coordinating outfits. The good news is a lot of her shirts from last winter will still work this fall, she just needs new bottoms to go with them.

New shoes for sure: tennis shoes, brown mary janes, and brown boots.

Here in MI, we have to buy new clothes every Fall anyway becuase pants, shoes, etc from last fall are definitely too small.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

I know this thread is mostly about littler kids, but I did see two replies about older kids.

This is what I have been doing with my teen-age daughter for several years now, with great success. I sit down and come up with a figure for ALL her school clothes. This year, for example, it will be more than last year because she needs sneakers, flats, and dress shoes, along with a new winter coat. It's a fairly substantial sum. (Oh, how I long for the days when I could buy jeans for her for ten bucks!) Anyhow, once I hand it over, it is HER money to spend as she wishes, but she gets not a dime more. If she wants to spend seventy dollars for a pair of jeans, I bite my tongue and she can spend it. It just means she will have fewer pairs of jeans. The funny thing is, when it is a finite amount of "her" money, she tends NOT to buy the most expensive stuff, to look for sales to stretch her money, and to really think hard about her purchases. She hasn't bought those expensive jeans in several years. This summer we discovered a Plato's Closet consignment shop about 45 minutes away, and she loved it. I'm sure she will be asking me to take her there again. In the meantime, she is learning budgeting and planning ahead-gotta save some money for a coat, even if it is 99 degress out now.

This is a great idea and teaches kids value of $$ and budgeting. We apply same philosophy to souvenir shopping in WDW. We give kids say $50 to buy what they want for the trip. I keep an index card for each child. You want that $5 lollipop? It comes out of "your" bank. Suddenly, they start saying, "Wow, this toy is NOT worth $30!!!"

Back to original topic: We don't run out and buy lots of clothes for "back to school". This is when prices are highest. As they outgrow things, we replace and since we have 2 boys, #2 gets lots of hand me downs and so far doesn't mind one bit and even says it's silly to get rid of perfectly good clothes. It's usually Christmas by the time they've outgrown clothes and by then things start going on clearance. fwiw, we don't give them clothes for Christmas. Giving boys clothes for Christmas is like giving girls a wrench. What a let down.

Our schools give us a shopping list for each grade at the end of the year so we can pick things up here & there when we see them on sale. We bought back packs a month ago and try to reuse these and lunch bags when possible. We try really hard to not pay full price for anything from spiral notebooks to vacations.

Dh is probably very unique: he loves to shop and will shop some things to death before buying. He does all the grocery shopping & most cooking too. He's very aware of what everything costs. We pool our $ and there's no mine and yours. It's all ours. Keeping things separate would be way too time consuming and confusing. ymmv.

forgot to mention: School supplies usually cost around $100 for 2 kids. This doesn't include back packs or clothes.

 

[Aryanna&BiancasMommy]

It varies each year. This year we spent about 300 on both of my daughters combined, but we still need to buy new shoes. They have lived in flip flops all summer, and will need new tennis shoes and dress shoes for school. Of course we also have to buy new dance shoes for both girls as well. The 300 dollars would have actually been higher, but we hit awesome clearance sales at Sears and Crazy 8. We also managed to get several shirts for 5.99 at Aeropostale for oldest dd, who will be 10 in a month and both girls got a shirt from Justice on sale as well... Lucky for me, while both of my daughters love Justice and Aeropostale, they are perfectly content with clothes from other stores... I have friends who outfit their children from head to toe in Justice or Aero..... I would rather buy a lot more clothes for the amount that they are spending for just a couple of outfits.

 

[mjkacmom]

My kids go back to school after Labor Day, and will wear their summer clothes until the end of September, so I buy back-to-school clothes then, when they're on sale.

 

[Chelley00]

Do people shop for new clothes "just because"? I'm not trying to be rude, my dh is European and I find they don't celebrate small things with buying an entire new wardrobe like we do here in the states.

We don't school shop to celebrate going back to school. Most of my back to school shopping is because my kids have outgrown the clothes from the previous year, or things are just worn out. I don't necessarily buy them an entire wardrobe, but we do end up having to replace quite a few items. My kids are very active and in sports, so they wear clothes a little harder than kids who might sit inside all day. Plus, I have 6 foot tall teens who seem to grow 2 inches at a time. They do keep and rewear as many items from the previous year as they can, but I find sometimes it's not much, especially the younger ones. If nothing, we do have to buy new tennis shoes every summer before school.

 

[gregokdisney]

I don't do back to school shopping for clothes. My kids wear their summer clothes until it gets cool, and then we buy what they need for fall/winter. I have never bought new clothes just for going back to school. This year I do need to buy a new pair of gym shoes for DD to leave at school, but they are both going back to school in the clothes they wear every day all summer long.

For supplies we've spent about $35 and we're almost done. DD needs a new backpack, so I'm still scouring deals. We need probably $20 more of supplies (Chlorox wipes, a pocket dictionary, quart ziploc bags, a 9 x 12 sketchbook) and then we're done!

 

[aprilgail2]

We don't school shop to celebrate going back to school. Most of my back to school shopping is because my kids have outgrown the clothes from the previous year, or things are just worn out. I don't necessarily buy them an entire wardrobe, but we do end up having to replace quite a few items. My kids are very active and in sports, so they wear clothes a little harder than kids who might sit inside all day. Plus, I have 6 foot tall teens who seem to grow 2 inches at a time. They do keep and rewear as many items from the previous year as they can, but I find sometimes it's not much, especially the younger ones. If nothing, we do have to buy new tennis shoes every summer before school.

My daughter finally is growing fast so we can no longer go 2 years with the same sizes! Her pants would all be floods if I didn't buy her new pants in the fall!
She doesn't play tennis so no need for tennis shoes but she now outgrows her sneakers more often so we can't get away with one size the whole year either- plus she doesn't wear two of the same sneakers on any given day- one day its a left pink and a right blue, another day its one yellow right and one green left so she has about 5 different pairs of converse. They are less than 30 a pair so its not like when she was wearing stride rite sneakers that were 75.00 a pair. Those she is outgrowing now so have to shop for all new sneakers in Sept.

 

[aprilgail2]

fwiw, we don't give them clothes for Christmas. Giving boys clothes for Christmas is like giving girls a wrench. What a let down.
.

I don't do clothes for Christmas either- to me that is not a gift-- its my job to feed and clothe my child...I just don't feel like clothes are gifts.