When I was a single/divorced mom of two, my personal & beauty clothing budget was effectively zero. Those were tough years. I was getting back on my feet in my career; I had only two pairs of black pants, and one pair of black heels, and 5 tops (one for each day of the week).
Life has been good to me sense then, and we are in much better shape financially, so I don't need to track my budget all that closely these days - it's more of a once a year activity. I signed up with a financial planner years ago to set everything up so finances are basically auto-pilot. That financial planner gave me a budgeting spreadsheet to use as a guideline, no matter what one's income is, and I essentially have adhered to a strategy of 50% "must haves" / 20% savings and 30% "wants" ever since.
Savings come straight out of my paycheck, on auto-pilot. Then I worked hard to keep the "must haves" -- mortgage, car payments, utilities, etc -- under control and in line with that 50% target. Kids' clothes & daycare and other expenses falls under that "must have" category. My clothing, with exception of the very basics like underwear, does *not* -- I have all that in the "wants" category instead!!!
The "wants" category includes travel, entertainment, dining out, gifts, and hobbies. All the items that we could slash should one of us suddenly lose a job, or other financial hardship hit again. Anything over and above the necessities -- and all the extras that make working for that paycheck worthwhile, and that give us joy.
When DH and I first did this exercise together, it was a negotiation about what would go into that category. Because everyone is different and different things give different people joy. For example, my father and brother get great joy out of having fancy cars, whereas DH and I don't -- we just need something dependable. Whereas travel, dining out & entertainment were absolutely essential to the both of us --- we are in 100% agreement on that, so that is the lion's part of our "wants" budget.
That brings us to hobbies: DH has a portion in the budget for his favorite hobbies, which I don't share any interest in. My favorite hobby? CLOTHING!
Once I re-categorized my clothing allowance as a "hobby" everything slipped into place, and I no longer feel any pangs of guilt for dropping the $ on it, and DH has never complained, not even once. He gets it.
Of course, last year when I knew I was losing my job, we buckled down -- on all the "wants" -- just to be safe, and I curbed the shopping for a long time.
We have no credit card debt and in fact my credit card company just reduced my credit line -- because I don't use the card often enough. I pay everything straight out of checking instead. That keeps things in perspective: if I don't have the cash, then I can't afford it that month.
Long story short, signing up with a financial planner was one of the best things I ever did. The fee was a shocker, and I could barely afford it at the time, but I got my money's worth and then some. He really helped me clarify what is important to me, map that to how I spend my $, and set up a strategy that has worked beautifully ever since -- even in times of uncertainty. Because he also helped me to develop "worse case scenarios" that we can fall back upon should hardship hit. That helps me to sleep at night.
I still work with the financial planner and in a few months we are getting together to discuss early retirement! We have been debating about maybe retiring in about 5 years, selling the house and moving to the beach.
