Grocery Shrink

My husband and I have different opinions about buying clothes, but we both spend about the same amount. He would rather pay a lot for high quality stuff that he really likes and then wear it for the next 15-20 years. I would rather buy something inexpensive that I really like, wear it out in one or two seasons, sell it in a garage sale for almost what I paid for it, and then buy new.

For example, on our honeymoon, 12 years ago, Darren purchased a $300 Columbia brand coat. It had a zip-out liner, NASA invented thermal liner, tons of pockets and more. He wears the liner as his spring jacket, the shell for a rain coat and when it’s cold he zips it together and wears the whole thing. I nearly had a heart attack when he bought the coat, but so far it’s only cost us $25 a year to use it and he’ll be wearing it for quite awhile longer.

I bought a Columbia brand coat (without so many bells and whistles) at a garage sale this summer for $5. I wore it all winter, am tired of it, and will put it in our garage sale for $5. I’m on the lookout this summer for something about that price in another style.

A few months after our honeymoon, Darren purchased a pair of Johnston and Murphy black dress shoes with leather soles for about $175. The first soles lasted 6 years and he has had them resoled 2 times at $35 each. He polishes them faithfully and keeps them looking brand new. The cost per year (including new soles) has been about $20 a year and they are still going. On the other hand, I love shoes. Shoes with ruffles, straps, and heels. Black shoes, silver shoes, red shiny shoes, pink shoes with black trim…I’d be sad with just one pair of dress shoes. So I buy my shoes at garage sales for $1-3 or at Payless for around $15. They last a year or two before wearing, or I’m tired of them, put them in the garage sale and take the money to get something different.

While Darren’s shopping style makes me uncomfortable since I personally can’t commit to clothing like he can.  It hasn’t cost us a lot of money through the years.  There’s nothing wrong with buying nice stuff, if you can pay for it, and you know that you will wear it often and long enough to make it worth the price.   I look for quality too, but I prefer to buy used quality items.  Clothing drops in resale value faster than a new car, but when you buy used, you can generally sell your clothing for what you paid for it.

So which are you? Do you commit to quality higher priced items over a long period of time?  Or do you prefer to buy used  more often?

I make a food menu to help me use the food I have on hand, purchase only what is useful, and save time and money.  A clothing menu will do the same thing!  I make a unique menu for each person in the family and include on it the person’s sizes and basic measurements.  I shop with my menus with me and use the measurements to make sure the pants will be long enough and the waists will fit. A retractable tape measure in my purse makes it easy.  This helps since there can be a large variation in actual garment measurements within the same numerical size.

Here’s a free download of a blank menu to print and use for your family:  Blank clothing menu

And to help you get started, here’s a list of items and amounts that might be on a woman’s spring wardrobe list.

The next  5 days are dedicated to the second largest place to save money in the family budget, clothing.  I think about my clothing shopping the same way I do food!  I make a “menu” (wardrobe plan) for each person for each season.  Then shop at the lowest prices avaiable, stocking up for the future when there is an especially good deal. 

Just like a menu plan saves you from not knowing what to fix for supper, a clothing menu saves you from having nothing to wear!

This type of careful planning is designed to keep our closets  and drawers from being too full, while still giving us everything we need to wear.  We save money by not buying more than what we need and also by buying used or at deep discount when possible.  I’ve found that the least expensive clothing options are (in order from best choice to last best choice):  Church garage sale; family garage salel; clearance racks at deep discounts such as found at Old Navy, Target, and Sears; Thrift Stores; Consignment Stores; Clothing Store Sale Prices.

It’s late and I’m tired, so we’ll dive in deeper tomorrow–starting with how to build a clothing menu and use it to shop to your best advantage.