Clothing Budget for a Teen Girl: Advice Needed - Page 2

Here is what I do with all 3 of my kids I think its important for them to feel good about their look and themselves so if clothes can do that I'm all for it. At a fair and reasonable amount. I think clothes can do wonders for self esteem.

Wardrobe for 7th Grade Girl

Jeans: How many pairs? 4 pairs How much to spend per pair? Heres where I would bargain and say you can either use your money to buy the miss me jeans or I will and you have to pay half of the other 3 pairs. This might force her to really bargain shop on those 3 pairs if you shell out for the expensive.

Tops:  How many? This is where I would spend the bulk of the budget what ever that may be becuase you can re-use pants with out notice and just change out the tops Average price each? This price would very because on sale you can score shirt from anywhere from $2 to $30

Sweat pants/Yoga Pants: How many? 2 pairs Average price each? it really depends on where you get them and if they are on sale

Sweat shirts: How many? 2-3 Average price each? this is an area where I like to get a decent sweat shirt

Shoes:  How many pairs? for a teen girl one tennis shoe one boot a flat or two Average price each?

Bras: How many? 4 Average price each?

Underwear:  How many pairs?  a weeks worth How much to spend per pair?

I think price really depends on what sales you can come across the brands you want to purchase ect.

Kim is there a consignment store that gives store credit near you? She could turn in the clothes that she no longer wears and if they sell get money off a purchase there. 

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kim 

My daughter really needs clothes.  She has been wearing a handful of things this summer that are getting worn out, and we almost need to replace her entire wardrobe moving into the fall.  Unfortunately for my budget, her growth spurt this year just happened to coincide with her blossoming into a mini fashionista.  I want to give her the freedom to splurge on some things and shop wisely for the rest.  I feel managing a back-to-school wardrobe budget is a good lesson for her, and it's something my mom did with me.  The question is:  how much?  She is pretty good at shopping places like Plato's Closet (resale) and TJ Maxx for deals, but also likes the $90 Miss Me Jeans.  So, I need your help with a couple of things:

 

1.  How many of these certain items (listed below) are necessary? (For example, she says she needs 20 tops. Yeah, right.  I say she needs 7-8.  What is reasonable?)

2.  How much would you budget per item?

 

 

 

Wardrobe for 7th Grade Girl

Jeans: How many pairs?  How much to spend per pair? We tend to buy these at Forever21 and they cost about $10 per pair but we've also picked some at the Aero outlet for only $4.99.  They generally have about 10 pairs each.  Some of them are hand me downs and this year a few of them are the colored jeans because that is the huge style thing here for this fall. Also got them each a pair at the Abercrombie outlet for about $15 each.

Tops:  How many?  Average price each?  They probably have about 10 tops each.  Most of them cost around $4.99 to $12.99 because we shop the clearance racks pretty well.

Sweat pants/Yoga Pants: How many?  Average price each? They each have about two yoga pants and the same number of sweatpants.  Some of them cost $3 on the clearance rack at Aero, I picked up a couple at the Hollister outlet for $12 and my older dd used her own money to splurge on a $45 pair at Abercrombie.

Sweat shirts: How many?  Average price each?  They each probably have 3 sweatshirts plus their required gym sweatshirts.  The sweatshirts cost about $10 each.

Shoes:  How many pairs?  Average price each?  Shoes this year were a splurge item for us.  Grandma took them to the Reebok outlet and they got Zigtechs which cost about $60 each.  I took them to the Uggs outlet and them Uggs for their birthday presents.  Typically we try and spend about $30 to $40 on sneakers and about $20 on other shoes.

Bras: How many?  Average price each?  My girls have a lot of bras and underwear because they go to summer sleep away camp.  They need about 10 bras and at least 14 pairs of underwear.  I hit Rugged Wearhouse and Ross, etc for the bras and pay about $5 each.  Underwear I try to keep to about $1 to $2 per pair.

Underwear:  How many pairs?  How much to spend per pair?

 

Any advice and feedback is necessary!

I guess that my girls have more clothes than most girls.  I usually buy them what I think they need and then often their grandmother takes them shopping again so they get more.  We also live in a very high income area and the girls at middle school will pick you apart if you don't wear the right things. I know how that feels because I was always the girls who never had the right clothes in junior high school.  It makes your life much harder right at the time are want to fit in the most.  It is hard to balance need vs. want also.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kim 

 

We did that with her first and only pair of those Miss Me jeans she wanted.  She found some cute ones at Plato's Closet (it's a resale shop here).  They were $50 so I paid half.  We were both OK with that.  Just be careful at Plato's Closet,  The two times we've been there, many of the clothes were priced higher than we could buy them for new at the outlets or shopping the sales at the department stores.  We saw a pair of used Uggs for about the same price we paid for new ones at the Uggs Outlets and the same for many of the jeans.

Excellent question!  I have an 8th grader and a 10th grader. AND, I am looking for a steady part time job, partly to keep up with the expense of clothing them!   Plus the expenses that come with high school.  Jeans, $20 max.  Bras, $10 max.  Other than that, we play it by ear.  If they want something pricey, like Ugg boots, they can ask for those for Christmas.  We shop Marshalls, TJMaxx, and Target mostly.  They can use their own money for other stores. 

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kim 

 

I know!  It's crazy, right?  I've seen a lot of Aero hoodies marked $12-$15 and that's what I pay for them new on clearance.

 

Does anyone know where to get Miss Me jeans on sale?

Yes, you definitely have to know your prices to shop at Plato's Closet.  There isn't one very close to us so we've only been there a couple of times when we have to do other things near where one of their stores are located.

I don't know about Miss Me jeans.  Did you google them to see if they have an outlet anywhere?  That's how we found the Uggs outlet.  Have you looked on ebay?  Sometimes you can pick up some name brand items like that for a decent price.  That brand doesn't seem to be the "in" thing at my girls' middle school.  Although who knows what's coming up next.  I've also had very good luck on certain items at 6pm.com.  That's where I bought my girls their North Face winter coats.

Love this post!  Wish I had seen it before school clothes shopping with dd (who is also a seventh grader).  We shop with a similar system - we decide what and how many of each thing she needs, set a budget, and go; but I have never turned it over to her.  She really needs to learn how to work within a budget.  That child is very generous with her money, buying things for others, etc.; but then she is out of money, and can't buy things that she wants.  We are really starting to get strict with her, but since we provide all of her NEEDS, there are no really bad consequences for her poor money handling skills.  Maybe letting her make all the decisions about how it is spent will force some money handling lessons with REAL consequences.

Here is an approximation of what we do:

If purchased all at once, that totals cose to just over $700, but usually we don't have to get it ALL every year.  For instance, this year, dd needed NO hoodies; she only has one pair of sweats, but we didn't get any more; she still had a couple pair of nice pj's; she still had two nice pair of jeans that fit; she still had 4 nice tops; she didn't need any new fun print socks - just a package of white.  This I budgeted around $400 for (not counting shoes - she still needs brown, but might be getting Uggs for Christmas, so I'm waiting), and we spent every penny.  I usually figure up he total allowed for what she needs after assessing what she has, and that is what we work with.  If we get good deals in one area, we usually end up having to spend it in another area; but it all averages out. 

I really do try to be reasonable as far as letting her get a few nicer things, because I know that is important in the tween/teen scene. On a different thread on here, I read where some people spend no more than $300 PER YEAR for an entire FAMILY. I really hope I don't find myself in the boat where I have to do this, because honestly, I don't know if I could. Scares me to even think about it. 

I agree with your budget then she foots the bill. I know that Plato's Closet carries tons of name brand clothes. Another great place to look are high end thrift shops or even Goodwill in the more expensive areas of town. The closer to Atlanta I visit and the bigger the houses the more "mall-type" clothing I find.