How much do you spend on shoes each year?

**thekid** · 03-01-2012, 06:59 PM

I spend about $100-$150 ($100 for black dress shoes for work and maybe $50 for a pair of sneakers or weekend shoes that last more than a year, but the yearly cost would be around $50 I guess). My wife must spend about $100 for herself. We must spend about $200 for my daughter (maybe 4 shoes/sandals a year as she's 21 months old). My wife buys high quality shoes for my daughter as she is quite young. I'm not sure how much the extra cost is justified, but the support and quality difference is easily noticiable when compared with, say, walmart's children's shoes.

So, overall, we spend about $450 a year on shoes.

**kork13** · 03-02-2012, 01:50 AM

Probably around $200/yr for myself... Mostly on running shoes ($60-$90/pair, normally replaced 2-3 times a year), and as they start to wear out they become my 'muck around' day-to-day shoes. I'm really not big on clothes/shoes, but get what I need when I need it. Except for the running shoes (which get heavy use), most of my shoes last pretty well, so I'm able to keep them for normally 2-3 years

**SnoopyCool** · 03-02-2012, 02:21 AM

I imagine that runners would spend more on shoes, as they should be replaced every 300 or so miles.

There are 6 of us, and we spend around $300, I'd say. But not every year, as DH and I keep shoes year over year and the kids have to have them replaced as they outgrow them.

**bjl584** · 03-02-2012, 03:29 AM

Not much at all. I've bought one pair of shoes in the past two years. They cost me $40.

**Xtreme Thunder** · 03-02-2012, 03:42 AM

My last pair of sneakers lasted me 5 years. In 2011 I purchased sneakers and a work boot style for work. Both cost me $90.

**Slug** · 03-02-2012, 03:57 AM

About $90. I love Salomon Trail Runners. About once a year they show up on EMS or REI online stores at a nice discount so I buy them. I usually have one pair in reserve. Once they get older, I demote them from the daily shoes, down to the work outside mowing shoes, then to the playing in the creek shoes.

My kid costs about $120 because his feet are still growing, and we want him to have good shoes.

DW virtually never buys shoes. I would guesstimate her yearly expense at $50.

**disneysteve** · 03-02-2012, 04:01 AM

I'm not sure if I bought any shoes in 2011 so it might have been zero. I typically replace my black dress shoes that I wear to work about once a year. They run about $60. And I usually get a pair of sneakers about once a year, also about $60. Both are due to be replaced so as soon as we get to the outlets (we're probably going to Lancaster later this month) I'll be replacing both.

**NuggetBrain** · 03-02-2012, 06:03 AM

This year I haven't spent anything on shoes. Last year it was about $100.

**phantom** · 03-02-2012, 06:52 AM

The amount I spend on shoes for myself varies a lot. I usually buy about 2-3 pairs of shoes, and pay about $40 per pair. So, my average is about $100/year. But, in recent years I've paid as much as $80.00 and as little as $0.19 for a pair of shoes. The $80 shoes were a little hard for me to justify, but they were the most comfortable pair of sandals I'd ever put on, and my mother-in-law had just sent me $100 for my birthday and I wanted to be able to tell her I'd spent it on something cool. The $0.19 shoes were mostly just luck. My current black dress shoes were literally falling apart, and I hadn't been able to find a replacement I liked. I found a pair for $9.99 that were not great but would get me through a couple of months, and I had a $10 off $10 coupon. (I had to buy a plastic Christmas ornament for $0.20 to use the coupon, and that brought my total to $0.19.) In general, I start shopping for shoes when my current shoes start looking worn. My goal is usually to spend $25-50 and get something pretty and comfortable. If I get to the point where my current shoes start falling apart and I haven't found anything, I will either become willing to spend more or start looking for something really inexpensive that I don't like as much.

My husband's shoe buying habits are much simpler. He mostly just wears cheap tennis shoes. He keeps a stockpile of up to 3 pairs on hand, and after about 6 months when one pair starts to get ratty looking, he switches to a new pair and retires the old to grass cutting duties. When he runs out of new shoes, he goes to Payless and tries to spend somewhere between $10 and $20 a pair. The closer to $10 the shoes are, the more pairs he'll buy. He also has a pair of black dress shoes and a pair of brown dress shoes. But, in the 5 years I've known him, I've only seen him replace the brown pair once, and I can't remember what he paid.

**Like2Plan** · 03-02-2012, 07:29 AM

I'm fairly confident that we spend more than $323 a year on new shoes. DH and I walk 3 miles a day on average and DH has an additional more extensive workout regimen. I have worn shoes until they have holes on the bottoms of them (and they leak when it rains!

), but I have to be careful about good support and fit otherwise my feet hurt and I have to take a break from the walking which is counterproductive. I have gone to "boutique" run-walk shoe places to get a good fit (and arch support inserts) and spent as much as 150 a pair. I think my latest pair of shoes were around 80 and they are working out pretty well. Once I get a pair of shoes that I like I try to get the same ones when they need replacing.

**YLTL_Dan** · 03-02-2012, 07:45 AM

I guess I see why the average for everyone is $323 as it appears we vary widely on this board. DW and I are both runners so we typically wear out at least two pairs of running shoes per year.

Also, while growing up we didn't have much money and my parents always bought the cheap shoes for themselves. As they got older, they started to have foot problems. They finally bought some quality shoes (my dad got Red Wings) and their foot problems virtually disappeared. They won't go back to the cheap shoes.

**disneysteve** · 03-02-2012, 07:49 AM

Originally posted by YLTL_Dan View Post

I guess I see why the average for everyone is $323

You also said that's the average a family spends, not an individual. If I buy a pair of sneakers an my wife buys a pair and my daughter buys a pair or two (she wears hers out faster than we do), that's at least $200 right there for 4 pairs of $50 sneakers which certainly isn't an extravagant amount. Throw in a pair of non-sneakers for each of us and you're definitely over $300, and there are only 3 of us. A family of 4 or more, especially with growing children (ours has pretty much stopped growing finally) may be replacing shoes 2 or 3 times/year as they get outgrown. If you are doing that for 2 or 3 children, it adds up quick even if you are buying fairly cheap shoes.

**feh** · 03-02-2012, 07:57 AM

Personally, I spend very little on shoes. I replace my running shoes every other year, and I might buy a new pair of everyday-walkin-around shoes every 5 years. So, somewhere around $50 per year.

My wife is pretty frugal; I can't say for sure, but I'd guess she's around $50 per year also. Now, we have a 12 yo son, so as you parents know, that means probably 3 or 4 pairs a year (boots, gym shoes, soccer shoes, walkin-around shoes).

**mom-from-missouri** · 03-02-2012, 11:20 AM

My husbands shoes are paid for by his work, so zero for him.

I buy each of my daughters one pair of tennis shoes a year--at payless during the bogo sales. Daughter 3 gets a new pair of dress shoes each year if she needs them, but they are to the age where their feet are not growing as much. Their feet are sized so that dress shoes they hand down from daughter 4 to daughter 6 then to daughter 5. Daughter 1 and 2 no longer live at home, so they buy their own shoes.

So at the most maybe $100-#125 a year on shoes total....What kills us is keeping them in jeans. Thankfully the local thrift and consignment stores help out there.

Their legs are growing and not their feet!

How much do you spend on shoes each year?