clothing budget for teen

[Anonymous]

DD will be a freshman this year. We are a little out of practice with back to school shopping after all the time at home, and her body and tastes have obviously changed. For those of you with kids who don't wear school uniforms, what's your seasonal budget for clothes? My plan is to set a number and for anything over, she pays from her own money. But I'm honestly not sure what to budget for a teen fall wardrobe in 2021. would love some perspective from other parents here.

[Anonymous]

It’s too hard for me to do that. They are still growing and need clothes at times or need something for a certain occasion. Instead, I stopped doing seasonal of back to school shopping at once. I buy a few things at a time as they need them. If they want something unreasonable, I say no. Within the next couple of weeks DD and DS will look at their clothes and see if they have enough to start the year with that fits and in decent condition. Then they will likely pick out more online a month or so into the school year. It’s still hot when they start so they wear summer clothes at the beginning.

The biggest decisions and sometimes cost can be with shoes. They will want to see what others are wearing even though they don’t admit it.

[Anonymous]

So to add, if they wanted that super expensive pair of sneakers or jeans that I refused to buy, that’s what they would pay for. Maybe I’d give a certain amount towards the shoes but they need to put in the extra.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It’s too hard for me to do that. They are still growing and need clothes at times or need something for a certain occasion. Instead, I stopped doing seasonal of back to school shopping at once. I buy a few things at a time as they need them. If they want something unreasonable, I say no. Within the next couple of weeks DD and DS will look at their clothes and see if they have enough to start the year with that fits and in decent condition. Then they will likely pick out more online a month or so into the school year. It’s still hot when they start so they wear summer clothes at the beginning.

The biggest decisions and sometimes cost can be with shoes. They will want to see what others are wearing even though they don’t admit it.

Same here. Size changes are hard to anticipate. I would instead say “you need X number of shirts, shoes etc., and we will get them from target or h and m, and anything above that you will pay for.” Something like that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s too hard for me to do that. They are still growing and need clothes at times or need something for a certain occasion. Instead, I stopped doing seasonal of back to school shopping at once. I buy a few things at a time as they need them. If they want something unreasonable, I say no. Within the next couple of weeks DD and DS will look at their clothes and see if they have enough to start the year with that fits and in decent condition. Then they will likely pick out more online a month or so into the school year. It’s still hot when they start so they wear summer clothes at the beginning.

The biggest decisions and sometimes cost can be with shoes. They will want to see what others are wearing even though they don’t admit it.

Same here. Size changes are hard to anticipate. I would instead say “you need X number of shirts, shoes etc., and we will get them from target or h and m, and anything above that you will pay for.” Something like that.

Yep, too hard with size changes. It depends how much they need.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DD will be a freshman this year. We are a little out of practice with back to school shopping after all the time at home, and her body and tastes have obviously changed. For those of you with kids who don't wear school uniforms, what's your seasonal budget for clothes? My plan is to set a number and for anything over, she pays from her own money. But I'm honestly not sure what to budget for a teen fall wardrobe in 2021. would love some perspective from other parents here.

that depends on your overall budget. There are teens with thousands to spend and teens who rely on donations. I don't understand how you could crowdsource a budget for a wardrobe because every situation is unique

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s too hard for me to do that. They are still growing and need clothes at times or need something for a certain occasion. Instead, I stopped doing seasonal of back to school shopping at once. I buy a few things at a time as they need them. If they want something unreasonable, I say no. Within the next couple of weeks DD and DS will look at their clothes and see if they have enough to start the year with that fits and in decent condition. Then they will likely pick out more online a month or so into the school year. It’s still hot when they start so they wear summer clothes at the beginning.

The biggest decisions and sometimes cost can be with shoes. They will want to see what others are wearing even though they don’t admit it.

Same here. Size changes are hard to anticipate. I would instead say “you need X number of shirts, shoes etc., and we will get them from target or h and m, and anything above that you will pay for.” Something like that.

I like that idea

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DD will be a freshman this year. We are a little out of practice with back to school shopping after all the time at home, and her body and tastes have obviously changed. For those of you with kids who don't wear school uniforms, what's your seasonal budget for clothes? My plan is to set a number and for anything over, she pays from her own money. But I'm honestly not sure what to budget for a teen fall wardrobe in 2021. would love some perspective from other parents here.

that depends on your overall budget. There are teens with thousands to spend and teens who rely on donations. I don't understand how you could crowdsource a budget for a wardrobe because every situation is unique

OP here. Good point- I guess I was looking for overall approaches on how people budget but if there are others in a situation specifically similar to ours, some more info might help. NOVA suburbs, public school, dual income >$700K. Affording stuff for DD and DS is generally not an issue. Trying hard not to raise spoiled kids though, so striking a balance between how much we can vs how much we should spend on stuff, activities, etc is always on our minds.

[Anonymous]

I allot $150 in the fall for fall/winter and $150 in the spring for spring/summer. This does not include shoes or coats, but those don't get purchased twice a year either.

[Anonymous]

Fast-fashion? The environment?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DD will be a freshman this year. We are a little out of practice with back to school shopping after all the time at home, and her body and tastes have obviously changed. For those of you with kids who don't wear school uniforms, what's your seasonal budget for clothes? My plan is to set a number and for anything over, she pays from her own money. But I'm honestly not sure what to budget for a teen fall wardrobe in 2021. would love some perspective from other parents here.

that depends on your overall budget. There are teens with thousands to spend and teens who rely on donations. I don't understand how you could crowdsource a budget for a wardrobe because every situation is unique

OP here. Good point- I guess I was looking for overall approaches on how people budget but if there are others in a situation specifically similar to ours, some more info might help. NOVA suburbs, public school, dual income >$700K. Affording stuff for DD and DS is generally not an issue. Trying hard not to raise spoiled kids though, so striking a balance between how much we can vs how much we should spend on stuff, activities, etc is always on our minds.

I’m 10:59 and 11:00. We are similar except our income is 500-600k, so a little lower but similar. We can afford to buy them what they need but that doesn’t mean I’m dropping $100 on new shoes or jeans whenever they want. I still think those type of things are luxury items they can buy for themselves with money saved if they really want them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Fast-fashion? The environment?

OP you probably already know this, but PP makes a good point. You will obviously want to be sure that the shirts your daughter buys are good quality (and you can get good quality shirts from target and H and M, you just have to know how to tell if something is poorly made or not. But of course if you make a ton of money those ten shirts your daughter gets could be from places that sell exclusively quality clothing and you wouldn't have to worry about it).

But I think just having a limit on how much clothes you can by, like OP is wanting to do, is a good step toward discouraging fast fashion.

[Anonymous]

I have spent about $350-$400 getting stuff for my 8th grader— doc Martins, 2 pairs of jeans, 3 jean shorts and various tops. She has stuff from earlier in the summer and has plenty of clothes now. She’s good until winter.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DD will be a freshman this year. We are a little out of practice with back to school shopping after all the time at home, and her body and tastes have obviously changed. For those of you with kids who don't wear school uniforms, what's your seasonal budget for clothes? My plan is to set a number and for anything over, she pays from her own money. But I'm honestly not sure what to budget for a teen fall wardrobe in 2021. would love some perspective from other parents here.

that depends on your overall budget. There are teens with thousands to spend and teens who rely on donations. I don't understand how you could crowdsource a budget for a wardrobe because every situation is unique

OP here. Good point- I guess I was looking for overall approaches on how people budget but if there are others in a situation specifically similar to ours, some more info might help. NOVA suburbs, public school, dual income >$700K. Affording stuff for DD and DS is generally not an issue. Trying hard not to raise spoiled kids though, so striking a balance between how much we can vs how much we should spend on stuff, activities, etc is always on our minds.

My kids go to one of the wealthier suburban schools. I hate school shopping so send kids out on their own (when younger, went with nanny/grandparents). All in, they have $500 which includes winter coat, fall coat, winter boots, shoes, etc. They aren't allowed to buy warm-weather clothes, but only fall/winter clothes. Assuming they have outgrown last year's clothes, I tell them to buy at least 6 pants (skirts) and 6 tops. They often don't spend the whole thing, but they do if the coat/boots/shoes come in high (by middle school they tend to buy expensive versions of these things).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s too hard for me to do that. They are still growing and need clothes at times or need something for a certain occasion. Instead, I stopped doing seasonal of back to school shopping at once. I buy a few things at a time as they need them. If they want something unreasonable, I say no. Within the next couple of weeks DD and DS will look at their clothes and see if they have enough to start the year with that fits and in decent condition. Then they will likely pick out more online a month or so into the school year. It’s still hot when they start so they wear summer clothes at the beginning.

The biggest decisions and sometimes cost can be with shoes. They will want to see what others are wearing even though they don’t admit it.

Same here. Size changes are hard to anticipate. I would instead say “you need X number of shirts, shoes etc., and we will get them from target or h and m, and anything above that you will pay for.” Something like that.

+1

We do the same. We talk over what they need, and how much I am willing to spend. If they want something more expensive than that, they pay the difference (and I offer extra chore opportunities to earn the extra $$). It isn’t an affordability issue at all...as someone else said, we don’t want to spoil our kids. As they’ve gotten older, more expensive clothing items are also often put on birthday/Christmas lists.