One of the first items to be taken off a tight budget is new clothes for mum. To survive on one wage, clothes suddenly become a luxury than a need and it can be hard to justify spending money on mum when her clothes get covered in all sorts of wonderful body fluids from their kids.
But new clothes shouldn’t be seen as a luxury. If there is a general need for new items because of a change in size or a mishap from being placed in the washing machine or whatever the reason, there needs to be funds available to make new purchases.
I was talking to a Kindy mum last week who made a decision not to buy anything new for a year. She said it was hard and after the full year, her jeans ended up splitting at the crotch. But it gave her an idea of what items she wore the most as a mum and what items needed to be invested in for good quality.
In this constant fashion changing world, there is always going to be cheap options in clothing choices, so it’s wise to invest money in good basics that you wear day in and day out.
But if you can’t afford to do that right now, Target, Kmart and Big W will always offer a range of basics at extremely affordable prices.
So how do you afford new clothes when you’re a stay-at-home mum?
Firstly, I always do a wardrobe edit before I do a shop to know what I need. I’ve been slowly culling pre-children clothes that I had kept in the hope that I would fit back into them again. Some I have fit into again but they just aren’t me anymore or just don’t flatter like they used to. I made a big pile and last week placed a lot of the items on Ebay to make some extra cash to put towards some new purchases.
I noticed a lack in long sleeve tees, a casual jacket that had a bit of extra warmth, but not too warm for our Brisbane Winters and some long sleeved winter dresses.
I had been eyeing off a few long sleeve dresses from Bohemian Traders so their spend and save promotion came just at the right time for me. Here is one purchase.
I also made use of the clickfrenzy sale that happened online a few weeks ago where I got 2 long sleeved tees for $10 each.
Despite not specifically having a budget for clothes, since I’ve started to earn some money, I put this in a separate account to use towards clothes and shoes purchases. Even if you don’t earn any income, putting a small amount like $10 away each week or even $5 can accumulate to quite a bit.
We are now coming into the mid-season and end of financial year sales, so it’s going to be a great time to purchase some of those much needed items on your list.
It’s best to start thinking now about what money you can put aside to invest in some clothes for yourself if you’re a mum. Some ideas may include getting a grocery shop down one week so you can have some funds to go shopping, or sell some clothes on Gumtree or Ebay and use that money to purchase the new clothes.
Another way, if your department store will allow it on sale items, is to put the clothes on layby and pay them off each week. We often live in a “I need it NOW” mind frame and in most circumstances, we can put off our purchases if we saved or paid them off in small installments.
If you live on one wage, how do you afford to buy new clothes? Do you have any tips you could share with us all?
I’m linking up with Essentially Jess for IBOT.