How many tops does a 14 yr. old girl need? About This Page:

[dejavu]

My daughter has decided she can't live without a few pieces from A and F (a store I despise for its blatantly sexy ads). Dang are those clothes expensive!!

So, how many tops do you think a 14 yr. old girl should have in her closet?

short sleeved ___
long sleeved___
sweatshirts___
t-shirts___
and while we're at it:

jeans___
shorts___
sweatpants___
dress pants___

dresses___
skirts___

Back in MY day (ha ha ha), I had maybe an outfit for each day of the week. Period.

[denwol]

I am the daughter of a "clothes horse", so I had LOTS of tops - but we shopped mostly only the discount stores, so we could afford more.

I would say 2-3 weeks worth of tops would be my goal for my boys.......and maybe 1-2 weeks worth of bottoms.

[janicelovesmickey]

well being a clothes horse myself, I would have 10 of everything for one week
but maybe try forever21, prices are superlow and they have really cute things.
instead of the overpriced A/f

[Disney_Scarlett]

Gosh, I don't know. I'm trying to remember what I had when I was 14 (ten years ago ). Probably about three weeks worth of "nice" short sleeved tops and three weeks worth of "nice" long sleeved tops. T-shirts were always unlimited as I would get them constantly free for playing sports, or buy them from school organizations, etc. A few sweatshirts/long sleeved t-shirts, maybe five or six pairs of jeans, same amount of "nice" shorts (bum-around shorts and work out shorts - maybe ten or twelve, I played a lot of sports). A few pairs of sweatpants. Probably four or five pairs of dress pants and same amount of dresses --- mainly for church (we didn't really dress up much at my school). I probably had more skirts, as I would wear those to school pretty often.

I think I had more clothes then than I do now. It was more important to have a bigger variety (I know that most of my clothes-budget now goes to work stuff, not jeans and weekend stuff, which I miss!) and honestly, I'm sure in high school I cared about "repeating" too much. I also think I got stuff dirty a lot more often, and the laundry built up a lot faster, so I needed more clothes.

Shop the sales! We used to buy stuff at A&F on the off-season for the next school year. Really helped to save money.

[Teresa]

Well, I honestly don't know the number.

When I was that age, and now with my kids when they reach that age, it's not about the number of clothes. MY mom gave me a set amount of money, and what I bought with it was my problem. It's funny - back then, GAP jeans were considered as bad as no-brand, but you could buy 5 pair of them for the same price you could buy 1.5 pairs of Levi's (at the GAP). I decided GAP jeans were better.

My kids have also decided that clothes from other places are better - they get more bang for their buck!

I think that if you're to the point you don't have to do laundry for two or more weeks, it's too much.

[stretch2864]

I used to give DD a set amount of money at the beginning of the school year, and she could buy what she needed/wanted. However that was all the money she was getting from me, so it was in her best interest to shop sales or buy off brand things. After awhile she discovered that not everything had to be from A&F or one of the other stores that she used to frequent. If she ran out of money, the balance had to be paid out of her pocket. In the end, she would buy a couple of "must have" items from A&F or AE, and then shop sales for the essentials like underwear.

[klositis]

this is a tip, MY dd taught me, If you live in a college town, hit those consignment shops!!! Those girls and guys will sell clothes to the shops for b--r money. Hey thats what the lady told us at the Ole Miss thrift shop!!!

[HiddenMickey]

My nearly 13 yr old, thinks it would be good to get a two new tops every week, I'm sure. Her closet is full of tops that she HAD TO HAVE, and wore once or twice and is now "outdated". I have pretty much started refusing to buy new things until she starts wearing more variety from her closet.

Oh, and shoes...you need a new pair every time you go shopping.... She doesn't get them!
Oh, and jeans...she has about eight pair and wears like three of them!

So I guess my complaint is, not the number that she has of everything, but the number that she actually wears aren't anywhere in line with each other. I'd love to have all the clothes she has and believe me, they'd all get worn a lot more often if it were me.

I am not a shopper, so I'm not sure how my DD became one. She is very good at clearance and sale shopping, so I can't complain that she doesn't know how to do it well, I guess.

[mcc0313]

My daughter is 15 but pretty easy to please...she wears uniforms to school which makes it much easier but I still try to get her enough as they do have dress down days and since they only have so few they cannot ever repeat an outfit...lol

She tries to get the most bang for her buck so she sale shops, she will do forever 21 or Mandee's - espeically if they are having sales. She also saves her giftcards up and goes shopping online for shirts and stuff (jeans she has to try on)...

I don't really know how much of what she has since she saves stuff that she never wears becuase as she says "you never know when you might be able to use it" but if I had to guess she has about 5 pairs of jeans, a couple skirts, 15 short sleeve shirts, a lot of just plain t-shirts, 15 long sleeve shirts and a bunch of sweatpants and swaetshirts...

[krisk11]

I have an almost 13 yr old so I can say that number is very high. Kelsey loves Aeropastle. We hit their outlet store last weekend in Lancaster. We find some at the thrift stores and we are always very happy

[oldmom]

Originally Posted by klositis

this is a tip, MY dd taught me, If you live in a college town, hit those consignment shops!!! Those girls and guys will sell clothes to the shops for b--r money. Hey thats what the lady told us at the Ole Miss thrift shop!!!

we see expensive clothes in the consignment shops that still have tags on them

[dejavu]

I generally buy her 4-5 shirts and 2 pairs of jeans when school starts. Then she buys any extra clothes during the school year with her babysitting/Christmas/Birthday money. She hasn't grown for 2 years so she has many previous years' clothes to choose from- the problem is that she is fickle and doesn't like most of them anymore.

My sons are both EEEEEEEEAAASSSYYYY!!! Two pairs of jeans, 8-10 t-shirts and they are happy for a whole year.

When I was a kid our "big" shopping trip would be to St. Louis (visiting relatives) where there were actual stores. (I lived in a town with only a Walmart, Kmart, JCPenney and Sears.) Anyway, we would shop at Fashion Gal and buy tons of clothes for hardly any money! I guess that's why it's so hard for me to see her spend $29.95-39.95 on a shirt. ONE shirt! I like variety way too much to put all my money into 2 or 3 things.

[jagafen]

Originally Posted by denwol

II would say 2-3 weeks worth of tops would be my goal for my boys.......and maybe 1-2 weeks worth of bottoms.

Oh good, those numbers make me feel SO MUCH better about the clothing in my son's closet!!! That's what he's looking at for his summer wardrobe...his mommy can't pass up a good sale at Gymboree/Carter's/Osh Kosh!!!

As far as the OP.....when I was that age (I can't believe those words just made it onto the screen like that!!), I was babysitting and buying my own clothes for school....I saved all my $ from the summer and went shopping with that. What I bought was it until Christmas! Is it possible for her to get a job or an allowance so that she can see how far the American $ goes? If she contributed (even partially) to her wardrobe, it will help her understand things like budgeting for future purposes..