Whats a reasonable clothing budget?
ThePinkSuperhero nailed it. What I personally spend on clothes: about $25 a month. If you really wanted to lower your clothes budget you could always buy the same amount of clothing, but look harder for deals. Check Target for cheaper shirts, for example, instead of the Gap. There might be a quality difference, but for things that go in and out of style, it might not matter much. The bigger issue might be the 100k you have in savings. The vast majority of people never see that kind of money in their lifetime, and considering your taste in clothing, I’m going to guess that you and your boyfriend come from different class backgrounds. That might be a persistent issue when it comes to money–even if you’re not being irresponsible, he might think of you as overprivileged or spoiled if you spend money that he, personally, wouldn’t spend. I’m not saying it’s accurate, just that it’s something to watch out for. I have this issue surrounding going out–my partner and I spend the same amount of
I really don’t know how much I spend on clothing in a year. Here are some thoughts, echoing what others have said. (1) If clothing makes you happy AND you can meet your financial goals at the same time, buy clothing! Some people spend on travel, some on dinners out, some on very high rent/mortgage, some (hint hint) buy lunch every day; your major expense might be clothing. We can’t tell you how much you “should” be saving. And frankly, if you’re only spending $1,000 on health insurance and cell phone, then you’re doing a LOT better than many of us in those categories. (2) You would expect to spend more on clothing if you are building your professional wardrobe from scratch than if you are just buying additional things as pieces wear out or just for fun. I am only a few years out of college, and so I definitely spend more on clothing than I hope to later. You say that you’re a student, so maybe you are in the same boat.
Budgeting is all about keeping your expenses reasonable so that you have money to spend on the things you need and on the things you want. You and your boyfriend seem to have differing opinions on what is reasonable to spend on clothes. And you see clothes as more of a necessity worth splurging on and he doesn’t. I have some friends who are really scrupulous about what they spend money on [or sometimes other things, what they eat, how much they use the heat and etc] and at the same time have these off-limits areas that completely contradict whatever their other push is. So maybe they’re really thrifty with their water usage [and talk a lot about their three minute showers] but still water their garden because that’s important. Which is fine, it’s their life, but it’s weird to listen to it over and over and think “well you could water the garden less and then have nicer showers…. this is sort of a hardship you’ve chosen, not a necessity” My point being that in my universe, it’s fine t
