Budgeting Bloggers: September

Who has two thumbs and is ready for fall? This girl. (I’m pointing at myself with my thumbs now. You get it.) Thanks to a better-than-average blog income, Labor Day sales, leftover birthday gift cards, and lots of strategy, I came away with a pretty amazing haul this month, and it wasn’t just crappy summer leftovers.

Almost as impressive is the fact that I could have spent more, and I didn’t. As you’re about to find out, I got a ton of stuff from Loft in September. The first order was during a flash sale, and I earned 3 $25 cash cards to use later in the month. Fast forward a week, and I went into a Loft store to try on some new arrivals, and I used a $20 rewards card and a $40 gift card to get a couple tops. I ended up spending forever in the store because there was some weird glitch with my gift card, so they sent me home with 4 more $25 cash cards to apologize! I made notes of what I wanted to get once it was time to redeem my cash cards (actual notes in my iPhone – I don’t mess around when it comes to shopping). When the time came, I was able to grab a few more things I really loved that added up to about $200, but took them home for half thanks to 4 of those coupons. I actually went back to Loft over the weekend to use my remaining 3 coupons, but I didn’t find anything that I HAD to have. I went to a couple other stores while I was at the mall this weekend (again, sales/coupons drew me in), but I came out empty-handed.

So that’s your lesson for this month: just because there’s a sale or you have a coupon doesn’t mean you have to use it. If you get a discount on something you wouldn’t have wanted to buy already, then you’re not saving money. Speaking of money, let’s look at what pretty stuff my money bought this month…

My Budget

• ~$218 (normal $150 monthly budget plus $68 carried over from August)
• ~$603 (blog income)

       = $821 to go toward filling my dressing room (the must-see post from last week)

What I Spent (items pictured above, starting top left)

• ~$190 on fringe ankle boots and suede crossbody bag from Ann Taylor (orig. $316…still not cheap even on sale, but they’re beautiful and worth every penny)
• ~$134 on a floppy wool hat, gray dress, painterly print dress, and teal flared skirt from Loft (orig. $265)
• ~$0 on black jeans from Target (see the story of how I bought these jeans here; orig. $30)
• ~$44 on a yellow top and printblock tee from Loft again (orig. $100)
• ~$65 on colorblock d’orsay pumps and strappy black sandals from DSW (orig. $175…a birthday gift card helped with this one)
• ~$110 on an orange floral dress, corduroys, plaid infinity scarf, and lace tee from Loft AGAIN (orig. $235)
• ~$120 on brown over-the-knee boots and gold feather earrings from Nordstrom Rack (orig. $207)
• ~$55 on lace-up flats from Boden (orig. $138)

       = $718 ($103 under budget, and got $1400+ worth of fall-ready fashion!)

What I Received

• ~another month of my Rocksbox subscription; my favorite piece was this set of Kendra Scott studs!

Want to be inspired by other budgeting bloggers? Check out Franish.