ninety for ninety

top and skirt-h&m, shoes-aldo

I have to say, this whole no buying clothes business has really been awesome for me.  It has forced me to look at my closet a whole new way and really use what I have.  I mean, I have tried to be creative with my closet before, but I usually always started with one or two new items and then use what I already had.  Although I have not participated in the 30 for 30 yet, I feel like I have been doing a 60 for 60 or by the end of summer it will be a 90 for 90 (not sure if I have 90 pieces, but I wouldn't be surprised). 

Either way, I am glad that we have been able to stick to our budget and I am pleasantly surprised that by doing so, I have begun to appreciate even more the things we have.

 

budget

I have mentioned before that we were trying to work on our budget since hubby is now a full time student and does not work.  We are continuing to use Mint to help see where we spend too much and where we have wiggle room.  It has helped out tremendously!  

I was so proud at the end of May when my our clothing section remained at $0.  This is a huge step for me and helped me prove to myself that I really do have self control when it comes to buying clothing items (which includes shoes, purses, accessories, etc.).  It has also forced me to really use the items in my closet and get creative.  

Every time I have been tempted to purchase something, I ask myself "do I need this?" And usually the answer is no.  So after a few moments of sadness, I move on and forget about what ever the item was.  I am not going to say that it is always easy, trust me, I have struggled at times.

So with all that being said, today I made my first online clothing purchase in a loooong time.  I bought a pair of Steve Madden sandals from DSW.  They were priced at $29.95 and I had a $15 off code, so after tax and shipping my total came to $25.02.  Not too bad, huh?  Hubby and I both agreed that I deserved a summer purchase :)

let's talk numbers

shirt and belt-the limited, pants-banana republic, boots-kenneth cole via dsw

Whenever I wear this shirt, I feel extra business-y.  The whole outfit is pretty simple, so I threw on the leopard print belt to add a little sparkle.

Since we are talking business, I thought I would share just a smidge about our progress with our budget. I am really proud of the strides we have made thus far.  January was our first month to really start cracking down on our spending.  

I heard about this great budget website from one of my fave bloggers, Grace.  It's called Mint. I opened up my Mint account in November 2010 and really started getting into it in January.  The site takes some getting used to and it definitely requires you to do some work to make everything accurate.  But it has helped me tremendously to see where we were overspending and sometimes just wasting money.  It given me a more clear picture of where we need to cut costs and it has also allowed me to set up budgets so that I can better control my spending.  Already we have cut down our spending by about $1,000.

  Wow, that just sounds crazy when I say it out loud.

Some of the areas we have cut down our spending in are cable, internet, shopping - specifically clothing and home decor,  eating out and also being more cautious about our grocery shopping.  We still have work to do, but so far each month we seem to be improving.