$1,546 - Maximum budget amount available
Extra income
$35.21 -
Ebates
$101.25 - blogging income
$100 - Super Bowl Squares
Last month, I was going to add miscellaneous purchases (not included in my budget) but I got lazy and didn't do that. So I'm going to include some of our recent miscellaneous purchases, whether they're necessities or fun things. I want to start doing this because I'm trying to cut back on buying clothes, as I feel like I have plenty right now. I have a box of stuff I want to take to Plato's Closet (I was going to send them to ThredUp, but since they now deduct shipping from your earnings, I refuse) and I still use eBates and Splender, but I've decided that that money is now going to be used to pay off credit card debt, or student loans, or just added to my bank account for whatever. I will list my 'extra income' after my clothing budget from now on. That blogging income is from affiliate links (aka when you click on some of my links, I get like $0.03). You don't get paid until you reach $100 and it took like a year and a half for me to get there. So will I ever get rich from doing this? No. I know some people don't want to click on affiliate links or like to reassure everyone that none of their links are affiliate links, but they really don't do much (unless you're a fashion blogger who has a bajillion views and thousands of people click your links every day).
I'm more and more into buying things for our house (whether it's cute decor or practical stuff), so more money will be going to that, though it won't come out of this budget.
Kept
elaxed Graphic Curved-Hem Tee - $15 - 30% off =
$10.50
I decided to be 'good' and only get one of these. I wanted the "Rose All Day" one too, but I don't drink rose all that often, white is probably my least favorite t-shirt color, and prosecco is one of my favorites. Bonus points that the tee also shouts out coffee along with prosecco.
Relaxed Lace-Up Tee - $19.94 - 30% off =
$13.96
I wanted both the red and navy blue stripes, but I realized I have sooo many navy blue striped tops (plus I bought the dress below which is navy and white striped), so I limited myself to red.
Striped Lace-Front Swing Dress - $34.94, on sale for $27 - 30% off =
$18.90
I love ON's swing dresses. This one is perfect for spring!
Not pictured in collage
Go-Dry Compression Mesh-Panel Crops - $29.94, on sale for $26 - 30% off =
$18.20
I've been wanting fun workout leggings for a long time, and I'm a sucker for mesh panels, so I got me some hot pink leggings.
minus $20 for Old Navy rewards used on the order of the previous four items...
Paige Cropped Jeans - $189, Nordstrom Rack price $69.97 - gift card =
$0
I bought Paige jeans at Nordstrom Rack a while back, but I realized after a while that the inside of the jeans was so dark it looked weird to cuff them. I think they were straight leg too, which also made cuffing them weird. But they fit really well in the waist. Another issue is the knees kind of bagged, so even tucking them into tall boots didn't work well. So when I found these Paiges that are pre-cuffed I snagged them. Saves me the trouble of having to cuff them! (I'm getting rid of the other Paige jeans, and possibly my pair of Joe's jeans because the waist is a bit too big.)
Marc by Marc Jacobs Mini Leather Crossbody - $298, Nordstrom Rack price $149.97 - $109.93 gift card =
$40.04
I really thought I would be paying $0 for this, but the Nordstrom Rack website only lets you use one Nordstrom gift card at a time. Oh well!
Nike Cortez Leather Sneakers (navy) - $65ish - gift from Michael =
$0
We went shopping with my mom and Michael said that the leather version of these was no longer available. I found them on Amazon and couldn't decide if I was going to buy them, so I texted Michael. He said he would buy them, and that he was planning on buying them as a surprise, which is why he knew the leather ones were disappearing. (Yes, we're married and we have a joint account, but we also have separate accounts and this did not come from my clothing budget!)
Stripe Midi Wrap Dress - $59 - gift from Mom =
$0
The main purpose of the shopping trip with my mom was to find a dress for my sister's wedding reception, and she offered to buy it for me. I love this dress. I also tried on the
floral print version.
Bar Lariat Necklace - $19 - gift from Mom =
$0
The sales girl brought me some jewelry to try with the dress and I loved this necklace with the v-neck. The necklace is adjustable, and I wore it with the bead all the way down, but I definitely want to try wearing it different ways.
Not pictured in collage
Floral Mosaic Henley Tunic - $59.50, on sale for $54.99 - 50% off - store credit =
$1.49
I've had this credit since returning a 2015 Christmas gift. I thought this print was super fun and it was casual enough for me (lots of Loft stuff I think is so cute but more business casual/business professional which I don't need at this point).
Not pictured in collage
I forgot to include last month that my mom bought me
these heeled sandals from Target! I can't wait for it to warm up so I can wear them. We got to see my mother-in-law over the weekend and she bought Michael some $100 shoes he wanted, and then she bought me a $100 Nordstrom gift card to match, so that added to my remaining gift card balance at the end of this month!
Returned
I ended up returning the boots from
January's budget post. My normal size was too small, the bigger size was too big. And no half sizes. Wah.
Miscellaneous
Sonix 'Agave' Phone Case
I am obsessed with my phone case! Sonix cases are kind of expensive, but they're so pretty. And I pretty much always have a phone case for as long as I have my phone (I don't switch it unless it's necessary), so I'll get plenty of use out of it.
Batiste Dry Shampoo - Blush, 3-pack
This is a new subscription order, after my Target subscription sucked (it was out of stock two months in a row). I've only gotten this once so far, but I'm signed up for it every two months.
Pre-lit Artificial Christmas Tree
Photos included with reviews of this show it looking super full. The reviewers say they had to 'fluff' it a bit to get it that way. When I put it together after we got it just to check it out, it's just gaping holes between each section, basically. I have absolutely no idea how one 'fluffs' an artificial tree to be super full with no holes. Anyone have any advice?
Dog Food
We always order our thirty pound bags of dog food on Amazon. We were ordering Taste of the Wild for years, but their price has increased (by a few dollars) so I decided to try out Blue Buffalo since I've heard good things and it was just barely cheaper. I'm not sure if it's just the new-ness of the food, but the dogs
love this food.
Adjustable Raised Dog Food Feeders
Our dogs aren't old yet, but I remember when our family Beagle got older that we had to get him raised food and water bowls. I figured I should be preemptive about it, especially since it doesn't look comfortable to lean down like they do to eat. Plus, we were using two matching bowls for food and water, then one other not at all matching bowl for food. The matching makes me happy (I know, I'm weird).
Gilmore Girls Coffee Print
I've wanted this for a while to go on the coffee bar, and I finally realized there was no reason for me to wait any more (not like it was super expensive or anything)!
Woven Cube Storage Bins
Our TV upstairs is on one of those four-cube organizers from IKEA. The bottom two cubes are empty, and Michael doesn't have enough clothes storage (and it drives me absolutely insane because his clothes are EVERYWHERE) so I bought two of these to try to make more room for his stuff.
Eyelash Curler
I've needed a new eyelash curler for quite some time, but recently realized it's gotten
really bad.
2017 Budget
$1,208.70 - Annual budget remaining
$131.77 - Nordstrom gift cards
$50 - Old Navy Rewards