On Curbing Spending

I used to regularly participate in Franish's monthly "budgeting bloggers" posts, but somewhere along the line I fell off the wagon. That, coupled with the fact that I switched jobs (which included a raise), has led me to not watch my clothing spending in the last few months. I think I am actually going to reduce my self-proclaimed budget of $200/month that I've had for the last 3+ years down to $100 a month (and preferably $0 for a few months). This revelation came to me on August 31, so September will be the perfect time to start this little experiment.

In the meantime, I want to share a few of my favorite things I've bought in the past few months. 

Every few weeks I have to go to West Palm Beach for depositions, and about 2 months or so ago I stopped by the outlets up there for my lunch break. I ended up falling in love with a bunch of bags at the Brahmin outlet. I've heard of Brahmin before but couldn't bring myself to pay full price. The second time I went to WPB, I decided to buy a bag. Specifically, I purchased the Tori tote for work. 

Although the only links I can find are for full price, the outlets had them for about 30% off the full price (savings of about $100). The outlet also had a million beautiful colors to choose from (like 3 or 4 in shades of brown - there was something for everyone, seriously). I really have fallen in love with this brand - beautiful but not showy in the sense that you're not walking around with a huge logo emblem or super-recognizable bag. If the Tori bag isn't available, a close alternative is the West Lake bag, which also has a zipper on the top. Nordstrom currently has it available in 4 colors for only ~$150 (about 50% off).

Another thing that is both great and sucky about my new job is that I get along really well with everyone, and that the other girls in the office and I sometimes go out to the mall or the nearby Nordstrom Rack during lunch. It's sucky because obviously this leads to spending money. One day, a friend and I went to Nordstrom Rack and she tried on these super cute sandals below that I decided I also just "had to have" as well. I really do like them - they are comfortable and I feel like they are stylish and "amp up" my regular outfits a bit, but they were still SO unnecessary given the amount of shoes I have (about 10 pairs too many). 

In terms of beauty spending, Ulta had a 20% off entire purchase sale this past month, so that killed my wallet. I ended up getting this contour brush and the Lorac contour palette, both of which I really like. However, a FYI to very fair-skinned ladies like myself - the Lorac palette's "light" color is VERY dark- to the point that I wouldn't wear this on a daily basis to court because its kinda a nighttime/going out vibe. 

Honestly, this is only the tip of the iceberg in terms of my spending in the last few months. I spent about an hour the other day going through my Mint.com account and categorizing purchases to find out where I'm going wrong and it was UPSETTING. I am really really REALLY going to try to use what I already have and cut back, but also keep up with posting outfits. If anyone has any ideas for other budgeting apps or other ideas (right now I'm carrying a notebook with me daily to track spending) I am open and ready!