More $$ Talk - Shopping/beauty budget

[calips]

Do you even have one?

I have been very busy with work, have two kids, blah blah and my dear husband has decided to help me out by taking over the finances. We are trying to pay down our home (we live in SOCal so our mortgage would make many scream). This is helpful since I have done everything bill-wise etc for 10+ years. BUT, now everything is revealed and I am cursing this favor.

We have set it up so that we each take "personal play/shop/golf/drinks with friends/clothes money per month" and I take more than he does. Because I am a woman and don't use Suave or go to Supercuts.

He has asked (nicely I might add) if I could examine whether I could reduce my monthly take so I am tasked with spread sheeting myself. I've titled it TheCostofBeauty.xls.

I know what my hair cuts, color, etc. cost -- its clothes that are the wild card. Wondering what some of you budget per month. I know this probably varies a lot but it would be helpful to see. THANKS

[birkbop]

We don't set a "limit". I'm just very buyer conscious and check my balance each day to see where we're at. I'm by nature a very thrifty person, so it's not too hard for me to restrain myself. H doesn't even check our statement, he lets me keep up with everything and trusts that I'm being smart about it all.

[mrssavy42112]

For me, clothes isn’t a monthly line item on my budget, it comes out of my play money. My rationale is that it’s not something that I NEED to get every month. I can wait a month or whatever until I have more to get the items I want. So, it doesn’t make it on my budget.

[NachoProblem]

I don't specifically budget for these things... but if I spend more than a couple hundred on clothes/shoes/makeup, etc within a month I feel guilty (unless I have a reason to... like an AWESOME sale... like Black Friday). I don't include my hair appointments in with these costs. Sorry, I am no help.

[marchmom06]

I'm not terribly strict, but I typically spend about $150/month between: hair cuts, pedicures, & clothes. I only get hair cuts about 1x/quarter, pedicures about 1x/month, & clothes as needed. I find that I almost always spend more in spring/summer. I'm in Washington & it rains a TON, so short of needing new jeans or rain jackets, it's a little uninspiring to shop. When they bring out the summer dresses and/or I'm going on vacation, I go a little nuts. :-)

[futurepivko]

No, we don't.

[calips]

Thanks for nothing peeps.

OK, if you were trying to give yourself a realistic limit for clothes, accessories, and beauty products monthly, what would it be??

[futurepivko]

Jun 18, 2012 17:02:00 GMT -5 calips said:

Thanks for nothing peeps.

OK, if you were trying to give yourself a realistic limit for clothes, accessories, and beauty products monthly, what would it be??

It depends on your income and other expenses. It's going to be different for everyone.

[mrst2]

I try to stick to $150 a month. I don't count hair cuts though because it's not a luxury. Everyone needs to get their hair cut regularly.

[calips]

Jun 18, 2012 17:06:11 GMT -5 @futurepivko said:

Jun 18, 2012 17:02:00 GMT -5 calips said:

Thanks for nothing peeps.

OK, if you were trying to give yourself a realistic limit for clothes, accessories, and beauty products monthly, what would it be??

It depends on your income and other expenses. It's going to be different for everyone.

very very true. Although I think probably many of us on this board are "shoppers" and we aren't all buying mega expensive stuff so was thinking I could get a good sample. I'm also curious.

But, I know i just have to set my own damn limits...

[boston340]

We budget $100/month for me for clothes, shoes, and makeup. I wish it were more but there are simply other priorities is our life (saving for new car for DH and to finish our basement).

Note, this does NOT include paying for my running habit, as that would surely make it go over!

[secretlyevil]

This is a discretionary fund. For one month I would track every penny the household spends and then at the end of the month, sit down with H - obviously you have fixed expenses, then you have savings, paying down debt and then comes discretionary funding - eating out, entertaining, gift giving, clothes, make up, etc. Obviously this will fluctuate. Set a goal and then stick to it, it's as easy as that. No one here or anywhere can give you an idea of what to budget, since A) we don't know your income; B) we don't know your expenses; and C) don't know your goals. MM has peeps that live for creating budgets for people. You could post over there and give them all your stats and see what they give you.

[fashionx]

Our budget for this is $250-300/month, but sometimes when we (or *I*) go over it, then we cut back on eating out money. So it's not set in stone. Sometimes it'll be way less, and other times more, so it balances out over the year. I do include my color/cuts in that budget.

ETA: We do not have kids. And I also include other personal shopping in that budget, such as getting a book, or makeup. Our dining/going out budget is separate, and so is my "Starbucks budget" ($40/month is my max where I cut myself off, but usually it's around $30/month). lol

[eclaires]

We actually came up with a number for the year that we felt comfortable with based on our income. Then we divided that by 12 and that is the monthly number.

However, b/c we kept in mind things like sales, or needing to replace or buy things a lot at once, it's a rolling budget. I can save up my budget for several months if I want, and go on a big spree. Or if I go over one month b/c of a great sale or needing something specific, I can make it up the next month. Basically it just needs to average out to where it adds up to $X per year.

Also, haircuts and stuff like that that occurs once a month or every 6w is separate (but was taken into consideration when we set the yearly budget) - that is solely for makeup, products (skin/hair) and clothing/shoes.

[mrssavy42112]

After a suggestion from the MM board, I use Mint.com to track all of my spending. You just put in your accounts & it makes all of these pie charts & trends off of what you spent in the past few months, categorizing them. If you pay everything in cash, this won't help you. But if you use your debit/credit for most of your purchases, then its really eye opening. You can even set budgets for each category & it'll send you an alert when you're getting to close to your monthly budget. I love it.

[heliocentric]

We don't have any set numbers. I pay our bills and keep track of finances so I have a general sense of whether we have any extra wiggle room each month.

However, we tend to focus on bills/savings first. We have 401ks, Roth IRA, savings, tuition, mortgage, other bills, etc. all paid first. Whatever is left is fair game for clothing or other "fun" stuff. If we don't spend it, I add more to savings. This is much easier for us than setting a specific amount.

[esynergy]

I vary each month, and always always shop sales. I buy all of my handbags at sample sales, I wait for Jcrew coupon codes and ask for gift cards for my birthday/christmas. I also redeem AMEX points for Saks or Niemans giftcards.

With that said, I'd say on average it's about $150/month. But, some months I won't buy a thing...then other months I'll go a little crazy (get my hair done, buy a bunch of clothes, make a Sephora trip, etc.).

[Deleted]

Since you want numbers, we each get $300 a month in fun money. That's for lunches out w/out the other, hobbies, clothes, makeup, etc. He spends a lot more of his on eating out and very little on clothing. On the other hand I usually bring my lunch to work and save mine for shopping. If push came to shove we both could easily cut this to $150 a month but we haven't felt the need.

[ssmjlm]

We each get $150/month in fun money, but only some of that is for clothes.

I would say we spend about $1200-1500/year on clothes between the two of us. DH is lucky he swears jeans to work and usually does a big shop twice a year. With my job it's easier for me to spend $$ on classic work pieces and then add in some fun things.

[katiescarlett]

I think what may work best is to see what you are currently spending, what you *need* to spend, and what you can add to the *need* to make it do-able.

[Deleted]

I think it depends on your budget. I am supposed to spend $350 a month. Thats for anything I want and should include eating out but I omit that. I go over budget every month. I also have revamped my wardrobe in the past 1.5 years to have more suits and nicer stuff. And my purse obsession is a little crazy.