Hola! This is the third post in my Annual Expenses series. If you didn’t see the introduction post that summarizes all of my expenses, check it out here. I plan to go into detail on every category with a post on one each Monday. Over 2017 and 2018, I spent an average of $700 per year on clothes and I believe I could spend a reasonable minimum of $100 per year if I had to.
Clothing is in a seemingly unique position amongst expense categories. That’s because there is so much of it in the world that even very poor countries have all they need and then some. So theoretically, you could spend next to nothing in this category. That would probably involve shopping at places like Goodwill or the Salvation Army. You might not get exactly the style or fit you wanted, but it would be adequate to serve the purpose of covering the areas of your body our overly puritanical society deems necessary to cover as you went about your day to day activities. I’d estimate that would cost about $100 per year, per person. But for just a little bit more than that “bare bones” budget, you can have your cake and eat it too.
I only buy high quality clothes that are always in style but not necessarily “fashionable.” My closet contains mostly polo shirts (mostly Ralph Lauren and Calvin Klein), long sleeved button shirts (both dress and casual), jeans, and khaki pants. I also have a handful of suits I almost never wear (if I did, I would probably go out and spend a grand or two on a couple of really nice ones to replace what I have and leave it at that) and five total pairs of shoes that give me every option I need. I also have some winter clothes in case I ever visit Wisconsin in the winter (that’s October through April, or sometimes May) again – which is very doubtful. I’m trying to be better about only buying clothes I love that fit exactly as I want them to and returning them if I decide I failed with a particular purchase.
Over the last couple of years, I’ve done more and more of my clothes shopping at Costco to the point where now it’s fairly rare for me to buy something anywhere else. I’ve mostly stopped buying Ralph Lauren stuff because I hate the “tennis tails” on their shirts, their quality control seems questionable (I have over a dozen of their shirts, all in the same size and in one of two styles, but they are a fairly wide range of lengths and fits), their stuff is overpriced unless bought at an extreme discount (which is, of course, the only way I ever bought it), and finally, I already have their polo shirts in almost every color I want and they last about a decade. These days most of my polo shirts come from Costco and are both high quality and cheap like almost everything else the store sells. That’s where I started buying the Calvin Klein ones for about $15-20 each. I also have some of the 32 Degree Cool brand which is great for southern weather, decent quality, and even cheaper. I buy all my socks, underwear, undershirts, etc there now. I even buy most of my shoes there – usually for $20-30 a pair. So far I have yet to be disappointed with any of this stuff.
I’ve just about finished my obligatory post divorce closet overhaul, which took about three years. So now I’m transitioning from that phase to a “one item in, one item out, upgrades only” phase I expect will last for the foreseeable future. As a result, my spending will likely decline to probably $2-300 a year or maybe even less. And again, these will be only high quality, great fitting purchases to replace either lower quality/worse fitting clothes or worn out ones.
I don’t really do anything revolutionary in this spending category but my spending is low and getting lower. I do acknowledge that things will almost certainly be more expensive for women. Not only are they judged more on their appearance than men are, but they have much more unique bodies, which makes getting clothes that fit well into a much more complicated process. Plus, their clothes are much less durable in most cases. But what can I say? If you want the fun of a sports car, you have to accept the realities of paying for premium gas, nearly constant repairs, high insurance premiums, etc, that all come with it. However, there are ways to moderate those costs and still have your fun – with both cars and women. The same general concept of buying more high quality, timeless styled clothes and less “fast fashion” or very outfit specific items would probably also help women. My ex-wife was pretty good at doing things that way and she certainly always kept herself looking good. And gentlemen, that is a very rare and valuable quality. Almost every woman I’ve dated since has spent much, much more to accomplish the same feat. But I feel like we’re blurring the lines between this topic and a totally different one. Anyway, have an awesome day, folks! Kick some ass out there!
