Budgeting for clothes is difficult: one person may feel it’s worth spending half their income on new garments, another may think that less than 10% of their take-home money should go on clothing. For some people it’s important to have a lot of clothes and always look in fashion – if you work in retail or the media, for example, it’s really vital to look like you have a fashion pulse! For a geek, a classic wardrobe of jeans, T-shirts and a polo-shirt for visits to grandparents may be the entire outlay … and that’s cool too.

What’s important is that clothing be durable, comfortable and pleasant. That means pleasant to wear and pleasant for those who see you wearing it: saggy, baggy, stained and smelly are not pleasant, so clothes that lose shape, hold stains and odours or are too expensive or complicated to launder really don’t fit with a limited budget. Cotton clothing, whether in the form of smart collared shirts or simple plain T-shirts, is an ideal choice.

Cotton garments are easy to wear and always easy to wash and dry – whether you’re a fashionista who presses everything with starch or a casual dude who simply takes stuff off the line or airer and wears it, creases and all.

Cotton clothes are also very versatile. Shirts can be teamed with contrasting T-shirts to get a wider range of clothing choices and hoodies can be worn over T-shirts to give a soft, relaxed feel.

Classic sweatshirts and polo-shirts combine to make versatile casual clothing options if your want to look good on a small income.

Worn alone a classic plain sweatshirt looks neutral and is good for almost all occasions, but you can team it with a bright T-shirt or a polo-shirt layered over the top for colder weather or to offer a contrasting appearance that is more casual.

Both polo shirts and sweatshirts can be worn with casual jackets which gives a sporty appearance or with jeans or shorts to offer a more relaxed impression. A sweatshirt is also a great accessory to tie around your shoulders or waist if you feel the weather might change and you don’t want to carry a jacket.

For men, it’s easy to choose two colours around which to base your wardrobe, such as blue and beige or black and white meaning that you can combine a white zipped hoodie with black trousers, jeans, shorts and chinos to give a range of clothing choices from semi-formal to totally casual. For women, more choice of colour is better, but picking a base colour such as navy blue around which to coordinate your clothing allows you to be sure that all your T-shirts, vests and camisoles work with all the clothing that you wear on your lower body. Smaller items, usually called clothing accessories, such as vests, belts and hats can be purchased in contrasting colours to offer variety.