the clothing menu

Most of my money has gone to clothes ever since I started making my own money babysitting. The hardest time was my first year living in NYC, the year after I graduated college. I was working entry-level at a small advertising agency (barely made any money) and living in the financial district in Manhattan (all of my monthly paychecks went to my rent and food).  It was a really rough time (in a I’ll admit I’m-spoiled-living-in-Manhattan-with-a-job kind of way), but that’s when I learned to love Forever21 and Filene’s Basement.

I’ve never been one to spend a lot of money on one investment piece. I get tired of clothes after awhile so I’d rather buy a lot that cost less.  Luckily I like searching to find a good deal on quality brands.

Well, I’ve actually never done this before, but I just tallied up how much I spent on clothes in 2012 (thanks to AMEX for providing a year-end spending summary)…and here it is..I spent $2,841 on clothes/shoes/jewelry last year! I don’t know if that is good or bad. I do know that I spent about that at Stop & Shop last year, proving that clothes are just as important to me as groceries. Here’s where I shopped last year:

See that big Marshalls logo?  That means I spent the most there, which isn’t a surprise since there is a Marshalls across the street from me next to Stop & Shop (temptation every time I need to buy food!)

So, inspired by Rachel’s Lookbook, who after doing some digging was inspired by the Budgeting Bloggers, and inspired by InStyle’s Shop Like a Fashion Editor feature, I’m going to try something new this year and try to stick to a clothing budget. I actually don’t think $2,841 for a year is too expensive ($236 a month), but I’ll try to bring that down a little bit with a budget of $200/month. So far I’m in great shape since I’ve spent $0 on clothes this year. But as soon as I stop seeing snow and it’s consistently closer to 60 degrees each day, I’ll be sure to be using my AMEX for new spring clothes.

Anyone else going to join the Budgeting Bloggers?