How to Organize Clothing Expenses

How to Organize Clothing Expenses
In this clip we're going to talk about another budget item and again we've been sequencing down in terms of things that have a heavier large impact to things that have a smaller relative impact. Clothing and gifts impact the budget. And again this is always a tough topic because it depends on the individual. It depends on your family, some families spend a lot on clothing and gifts, some family spend very small relative to their income. So this is an item that can have a lot of flexibility in the budget. When we look at the cash flow it can have a big impact on things you can control because for the most part you can control what you're spending on clothing and gifts to a certain extent. You can go to the five star clothing store or you can go to the Salvation Army. So you do have some discretion in terms of clothing and gifts as well. You can buy expensive gifts or you can buy relatively inexpensive gifts. So this is an item that gives you a lot of flexibility. Most people for the most part, if you have kids, you're going to need to include in your budget what you're spending on clothes. Those will be jeans and t-shirts, uniforms for school, shoes. I've got three kids, believe me our shoe budget is pretty large. Gifts, birthdays come around every year. Christmas comes around every year. You need to include that in your budget. So it shouldn't be a surprise that someone's birthday is coming up and you might need to get them a gift. Or Christmas, you know what in December, Christmas seems to come every time, therefore why not put that in your budget, a certain amount that you're going to save for Christmas gifts and for birthdays, anniversaries and special occasions. So this is an item that gives you the most flexibility because you have the best control and you can plan for it. So I look at things you can plan in the budget. Clothing and gifts are things you can plan. You can buy clothes when they're on sale. You can buy gifts when they are on sale and set them aside for those occasions that are going to be coming up. Again, take a look at your budget and make sure you have a really good understanding of what you're spending on clothing and gifts because that can have a relatively big impact. In my situation we try to shop and buy in bulk, we look at the sales, we try to buy things when they are on sale to minimize the impact on our budget. I would recommend you do those things. Again clothing and gifts you have a lot of control over but it does impact your budget.