1. It’s all about
The Clothes
and
The Budget

2. Income
According to most financial planners, you should spend 4 to 6% of your take-home pay on clothing. This should include any alterations needed on the clothing you purchase. Keep the alteration cost in mind when making a purchase and factor that into the price. For quick reference, take a picture of the pricing guide from your tailor.
Some jobs require that you spend more money on clothing. Careers where the quality of your clothing matters will require you to spend more. Jobs with uniforms can save you serious money! Also, the more casual the job, the less you have to spend. Some careers, like hair dressing, require constant replacement due to spillage and splatter incidents.

3. How much of your take-home pay can you spend on clothing?
Question 1
How much of your take-home pay can you spend on clothing?

4. Question 2
What are alterations?

5. What will you chosen career require you to wear?
Question 3
What will you chosen career require you to wear?

6. Buy for Opposite Seasons
We buy most of our summer clothes in early fall. We buy most of our winter clothes in early spring.
The reason’s pretty obvious. In early fall, retailers are getting rid of their summer stuff and there’s often a ton of sales with incredible markdowns on pretty high quality garments. The same thing is true with winter items in early spring and for spring and fall items at the end of those seasons.

7. When is the best time of year to buy a swimsuit?
Question 4
When is the best time of year to buy a swimsuit?

8. Start at Low-End Retailers
Consider starting at thrift stores, consignment shops, yard sales, and the like. There’s a simple reason for that – people with more money than sense tend to basically give away much of their stuff unused or barely used, so why not take advantage of it?
Sure, you might browse through a thrift store and find absolutely nothing that works for you. So what? You spent fifteen or twenty minutes searching for a bargain and came up empty. Move on.
However, if you find even one or two items that work for your family’s needs at a thrift store or a consignment shop or a yard sale and save 75% or more off of the original cost of the item, then the stop was well worth it.

9. What clothing items would you NOT buy at a low-end retailer?
Question 5
What clothing items would you NOT buy at a low-end retailer?

10. Buy Quality Clothing Items
Unless it’s practically free, you’re better off buying clothing items from good brands with a reputation for well-made items. If you give me the choice between a $10 shirt that’s falling apart after 10 washings or a $100 shirt that still looks good after fifty washings, I’ll take the $100 shirt any day of the week.
So, how do you identify well-made items?
Check the SEAMS and CLOSURES
Are strings dangling off?
Does it look like you could easily rip it apart with a tug?
Is the stitching straight?
Do patterns line up?

11. What are the benefits of buying quality clothes?
Question 6
What are the benefits of buying quality clothes?

12. How will you determine quality of a piece of clothing?
Question 7
How will you determine quality of a piece of clothing?

13. Use Clothes Sales, But Don’t Fetishize Them
One healthy approach for keeping your clothing spending in check is to limit the size of your wardrobe. Keep only a certain number of each clothing category, then agree to only add new ones when old ones need replaced.
This leads into clothes sales. The best way to use a clothing sale is to fill a slot in your wardrobe to replace an item that’s on the way out. That way, you have some time to look at a number of clothes sales and patiently wait for one on items that you actually want.

14. What is the purpose of waiting for a clothing sale?
Question 8
What is the purpose of waiting for a clothing sale?

15. Buy Current Sizes, Not “Goal” Sizes
Sometimes people are tempted to buy clothing that’s a bit smaller than their current size and use it as some sort of motivator to get in better shape.
Focus your clothing dollars on items that are useful, not aspirational. It’s not an effective use of your money to buy something that has a significant likelihood of not being worn. Keep your money in your pocket and seek out other motivations.
Not only that, if you actually need to return a new item because it doesn’t fit well, it’s going to feel a lot better returning something that’s too big than returning something that’s too small.

16. Why should clothing sizes NOT be used as a motivator?
Question 9
Why should clothing sizes NOT be used as a motivator?

17. Approach Baby and Toddler Clothes Differently
Babies grow so quickly that they only need their clothes to last for a few months before they’re on to the next size.
The best way to save money on baby clothes is to buy them cheap. You don’t need to worry about ensuring a long life for an outfit for your three month old because they’ll likely only wear it a few times before they outgrow it. This holds true until they’re roughly two years old.

18. Question 10
Why is it appropriate to buy cheap clothes for a child and not for an adult?

19. Practice Appropriate Clothing Care
SORT, PRETREAT, CLOSE
Wash whites with whites. Wash similar colors together.
Use detergent to pretreat
Close buttons, zippers, etc.
WASH & DRY
Follow the directions on the tag
Check the settings
Add detergent as the washer is being filled
Use bleach and fabric softener dispensers, not directly on fabric
Wash jeans and sturdy garments less frequently
Use a clothes line, then fluff in the dryer

20. TOMORROW
We do LAUNDRY!