Wardrobe + Wellness 2024 Spending & 2025 Budget
As the year comes to a close, I am spending it doing one of my absolute favorite things - a budget deep dive! Pouring over all the numbers, comparing everything with previous amounts spent in past years, is something I am forever fascinated by. I love spreadsheets, analyzing data, finding trends, and determine what changes need to be made to meet the goals of the person whose finances I am analyzing. Even in the case of analyzing my own spending, it’s easy for me to separate the person from the behaviors and provide an unbiased evaluation.
I routinely analyze my own household’s monthly and yearly spending, but this year I am choosing to bring more of a focus into my personal spending on a combined area - wardrobe and wellness. I will be bringing some low-spend habits into my 2025 in these areas in particular, and to do so, I need to understand what I spent on and why in 2024. To start, here are the totals spent in 2024 within the 6 categories that make up my wardrobe + wellness spending:
Skincare & Cosmetics - $3,309.92
Clothing - $2,112.23
Fitness - $871.60
Vitamins/Supplements - $699.90
Hair - $284.31
Personal Care - $226.43
TOTAL - $7,504.39
Face-related products and services have been my highest cost category for awhile. After over two decades of moderate to severe acne, I have no qualms with spending a lot of money on my face now that I have found products that work. But that being said $3,309 for the year is more than I have ever spent so I deep dive in this category was very necessary. $308 of this category was on makeup, mostly lip products, and more of than half of which I ended up not liking and didn’t get around to returning on time. There were a couple skincare-related items that I didn’t love and don’t plan to re-purchase once I finish using them up. These items were purchased more as treat than a need, and once I realized I wasn’t going to use them often and they don’t add a lot of value to my routine, I realized I am better off not buying products that I don’t plan to use daily. The normal routine is minimal with just 4-5 products used daily, and I would love to not have my bathroom shelf cluttered up with more than that. I am a dedicated Vintner’s Daughter customer, and I credit their products for keeping my skin clear and low maintenance for the past four years. Le Prunier’s sunscreen has been my go-to this past year so I’ll continue using it daily for the foreseeable future. And Marie Veroninque’s retinol serum is my nightly favorite for gentle exfoliation. Looking back, everything else I bought amounted to $1087 of unnecessary skincare purchases in the past year. Which puts my 2025 estimate at $1914 since I have enough makeup to make it through the next year (I think).
Clothing is another area that I don’t mind spending money on for quality. But once again my ADHD has cost me since over $500 of the $2000+ spent in this category is items I purchased that I should have returned and never got around to it — insert crying emoji here. Another big pain point is the $670.68 spent on activewear, almost all of which I no longer own because of the aforementioned should have returned comment. Outside of a lot of failed activewear purchases, I added some really high quality pieces to my wardrobe this year. I made the rule to not purchase any regular clothing items that aren’t made of all natural fibers and that rule has ensured longevity and comfort. Notable purchases are two new pairs of high waisted jeans, pull-on cotton pants, wool trousers, the boyfriend-fit oxford shirts of my dreams, lots of sweaters, and new winter wear (cashmere beret + scarf and leather gloves). Having clothing that fits almost every occasion that I don’t have to think about adds so much value to my life. My cold weather wardrobe meets all of my needs right now, but the warm weather wardrobe needs some assistance. I’ve some linen items on my wishlist for awhile along with a new pair of dressy sandals — the ones I currently own are only good for a few hours of wear before my feet start to hurt. I also need to replace some socks and bras that are worn out. And I am committing to no new activewear beyond a pair of navy leggings (my current pair are 6 years old and have seen better days). So I’m putting my 2025 clothing budget at $750 with hopes I can find my leggings secondhand, but knowing I’ll likely purchase the linen items new from an ethical & sustainable brand.
I am coming up on 6 years of teaching at Pure Barre which includes an unlimited membership as a part of my compensation, a $159/month value. I am grateful to save a lot on fitness expenses while still getting access to excellent instruction. But I am not always diligent making it into the studio for a workout, so I lead myself through workouts pretty routinely at home. Part of my Pure Barre routine includes the Define class, a strength class that uses dumbbells throughout. All we had at home is 40 lb pair of weights (which are a bit heavy for me) so I purchased a pair of Tempo weights in April, amounting to $745.68 of the $871.60 spent in this category this year. The rest of my fitness spending was on sticky socks to use when taking and teaching classes. I don’t include socks in my apparel spending because they are considered essential equipment. We work out in just socks so between my own workouts and classes taught, I wear through them quickly. I bought 9 pairs this year, and I’m budgeting for up to 6 new pairs next year for a total fitness budget of $88 in 2025.
Like many consumers, I can be duped pretty easily by the promises of wellness supplements. Who doesn’t love the idea of an easy fix?! You can fail to eat things that provide enough nutritional benefit, not put boundaries or stress-reducing activities into your day, not drink enough water, or not get enough sleep and fix it all with a powder, pill, or potion! Obviously, this isn’t true, but I would like to think it is sometimes, and I will load up my online or Sprouts shopping cart full of promises. All that being said, there are some supplements that really truly have helped me - supplement being the key word here. Ensuring that supplements don’t take the place of foundational habits like getting quality sleep, eating the right amounts of nutritious food at the right times, and combating stress through movement is something I plan to bring more focus to in the new year. This isn’t a new year’s resolution so much as it is a continuation of habits I have been putting support behind via new routines the past couple months. Which brings me to do the details of this year’s vitamin & supplement purchases. I have been inconsistent in taking things as well as purchasing things that I don’t enjoy taking. Basically if it is in pill form, there is no way I am going to take it consistently enough for it to make a difference. The guilt of having a bunch of things I don’t want to take has led me to not purchase the previous products that worked well for me in the past. In 2025 I’m making space to spend $720 specifically on a multivitamin gummy that I loved taking in 2023, but for some reason stopped buying.
There is a reoccurring theme in all these categories - if the quality is good, I have no problem spending on it. When I decided to test out a shorter hair cut back in 2021, I made an appointment with a professional rather than attempt it myself — something I had been doing for years. Between 2016 - 2020, I had two professional haircuts in Alabama, and I was dissatisfied with them both. But my late summer 2021 appointment for a bob turned out to be the haircut of my dreams. I have since gone back to the same stylist for the same cut every 3-6 months. In 2024, I had only three haircuts for a total of $251.25, the rest of my 2024 hair budget being spent on the viral Televise flat claw clips….no regrets, they are amazing. because I failed to schedule one when I needed it, and I spent about 3 months being very unhappy with the length of my hair. I’ve since learned my lesson and now schedule my next appointment as I’m finishing up my current one. I’m planning for 4 haircuts at $93.75 each for a total of $375 for my 2025 hair budget. This amount includes the cost of wash and style as well as a 25% tip for reference. Part of me realllly wants to add a Dyson hair styler to my 2025 hair budget, especially since I have been spending so much time drying Emma’s hair. And my hair dryer routinely overheats and stops working. And I use a heat tool every other day and my aging hair is starting to see the effects. So maybe we’ll say $375 + an extra $500 if my hair dryer eventually dies and a find a discount code.
I don’t put a ton of effort into my hair and my body care even less. This last category I’m calling Personal Care includes all the products I use on my hair, body, and teeth. The total amount spent for 2024 is likely the least exact because I just took the total amount our household spends on these products, divided it by 4 ($652.84/4 = $163.21) and then added the cost of body moisturizers and perfume I purchased this year. Because everything else - shampoo, conditioner, body wash, leave-in conditioner, toothbrushes, toothpaste, and deodorant are all the same. We have been using Plaine Products for years; I absolutely love their refill system and their products are fantastic. Brush with Bamboo for toothbrushes are also a staple when we aren’t using the free toothbrushes that come from the dentist. And we all use Bite toothpaste bites; they’re pricey, but effective, and the money I save on cleaning supplies to remove toothpaste gunk from the sink possibly makes up for the cost of the bites. I used 1818 Farms body butter (a local brand) for the first time recently, and it makes a great evening hand cream so I’ll keep that in my budget. I also have added perfume back into my daily routine - I mix the James & Dulce scents from by Rosie Jane together to make a delightful floral and gourmet scent. I’ll keep that in my budget for next year as well because it so enjoyable to spritz on a perfume at the start and end of the day — yes, I use perfume before bed because I just love how luxurious it feels. With that in mind, I’ll up my 2025 personal care budget to $403 to cover the cost of perfume and body butter.
To reiterate, the total spent on wardrobe & wellness in 2024 was $7,504.39. Based on all the predictions and boundaries, I’m budgeting a total of $4,250 for the year 2025. This averages out to a little over $350/month which I feel really comfortable with considering I get so much value from all this things. And most importantly, this amount fits within our budget and financial goals.
If more intention in your spending is one of your goals for 2025, I would love to work with you! I can perform a deep dive on your spending to help you make a plan for how to meet your goals and spend more in line with your values. While I serve the Huntsville/Madison and greater North Alabama areas for in-person coaching and decluttering, online services are also available to English-speaking customers located globally. Let’s make your life, home, and money more ethical and sustainable, together!
