I wouldn't say I'm that much of a tightwad
But reading ThornbankJim's post below reminded me.

Clothes. The biggest waste of money ever. If it wasn't so cold and I didn't need pockets to put things in I'd happily spend my life naked. I know people who spend ludicrous amounts of money on clothes. The only time I've spent over £100 on a single item of clothing, it's been made of Gore Tex. I think I've got one shirt somewhere but it'd probably take me a few hours to find it. I reckon I've probably spent less than £200 on clothes in the last 3 years (honestly) by following these rules:

T shirts - free from pubs, or people I know who work in pubs. Or gigs or jobs I've worked on, or bands I've worked for. I have shitloads of t shirts and I've barely paid for any of them. Also applies to jumpers/hoodies.
Socks/pants - guaranteed annual Christmas present from the old dear.
Jeans - you don't need any other type of trousers. Buy reasonably expensive (£50-60) ones and they will last for years and years. Probably because I wear shorts 99% of the time, and they're cheaper anyway.
Shoes - again it's worth spending moderately large amounts of money here. I buy a pair of DCs every 18 months which is quite a decent length of time for them to last when worn every day.
Hand me downs/theft from mates - I'm sure we all know people who'll stop wearing something after they've worn it five times. Make friends with them. I have clothes that were originally quite expensive, not that I'd pay for them.

I call it my contribution to saving the environment, but honestly? I just don't really care much about clothes past their practical aspects (shoes stop you hurting your feet, jumpers keep you warm, trousers have pockets to put your phone and fags in)

Scruffy cunt? You bet. Do I care? No.
(Son of Sam-i-am We're all as mad as hatters here, Mon 27 Oct 2008, 22:59, 9 replies)

Scruffy cunt? You bet
it is not spendthrift to look presentable
( mictoboy shitting in your cunt since, Mon 27 Oct 2008, 23:38, closed)

I am presentable, just not fashionable or smart
I have a shower and a shave and put clean clothes on every day - not that sort of scruffy cunt!

My outfits don't really extend beyond jeans and t shirts, but they don't need to.
(Son of Sam-i-am We're all as mad as hatters here, Mon 27 Oct 2008, 23:40, closed)

Pretty much the same here
I have one item of clothing worth more than £20 - my jacket, which was reduced from £200 to £80. It was a Christmas present, and it's well made enough that it should last me 20 years or more. It's like the one below, but nicer and a bit shorter:



This is in contrast to a girl I used to know who would turn up every Monday wearing a new pair of £150 shoes, or a £300 coat, which would then never be seen again.

She is now an accountant...
( MatJ LOOK, Tue 28 Oct 2008, 1:58, closed)

Fashion is over rated
I own 3 sets of clothes.
One on, one off and one in the wash.
Its coming up to Xmas when I'll probably spend a max of £30 on another set to visit relatives in.
A £1.99 handbag, £30 pair of shoes ive worn every day for about 3 years.
I did treat myself to a £60 pair of smart DMs 2 years ago that I havnt got round to breaking in yet.
I'm a woman who hates shopping, go figure.
(insomniac-surfer oh go on then, just this once, Tue 28 Oct 2008, 2:44, closed)

If it can't be boilwashed, we ain't wearing it.
The Scars family work in fields where daily laundry is a fact of life. You CAN'T wear an outfit that smells of shit or diesel twice, not unless you're a local with six fingers on each hand. So it's combat trousers and stolen t shirts & fleeces from every contract I've done in the last 6 years for me, and Primark + charity shop for Mrs Scars. I possess 1 suit, 4 decent shirts, 1 pair of jeans, 1 pair of chinos and a full set of winter motorbike gear.

I'd like to nick stuff from mates, but a) I don't have enough mates and b) they're not 17 stone HGV drivers with huge shoulders and gorilla arms.
(all my scars face forward possesses 2.5% of a hyperalloy combat chassis, Tue 28 Oct 2008, 9:47, closed)

Damn
If I could get away with that I would.

But have to wear a suit. That said, I bulk buy the shirts and t-shirts. Need to get a new batch, but it'll cost me £70 for shirts alone.
( gareth_alien will be human again at, Tue 28 Oct 2008, 10:40, closed)

What job do you do?
Presumably one in which you are able to go into the office without a suit? :)
(EuroSong I love horse meat: best of all the animals, Tue 28 Oct 2008, 12:18, closed)

Network/sysadmin/IT drone in a medium sized (60 people) company
There is a company dress code of no jeans and no trainers, which I ignore. Don't think you have to wear a shirt, I wouldn't anyway. The person I share an office with is a good bit smarter than me, but I don't care.

I don't understand why they want people smart, 99% of business is over phone/email and customer visits are pretty rare.

I find the best way about it is to be a cheeky cunt, people don't seem to mind as much then. I have even worn t shirts with swearing on when they're the only clean ones, without comment being made.

I go for the maverick 'you're not the boss of me' role, make plenty of offensive jokes and go on too many cigarette breaks. Either my line manager fancies me or I lead a charmed life...
(Son of Sam-i-am We're all as mad as hatters here, Tue 28 Oct 2008, 12:26, closed)

£50 for jeans?!?!
Try £4 from Primark. They'll easily last as long, and I never need to care which pair I'm wearing when I work on the motorcycle because if they get oily and stained they can just become another "grubby" pair and £4 gets me a new pair.

I can do that twelve times and still be spending less money than you are.
(Musuko, Wed 29 Oct 2008, 11:35, closed)