December Budget

Image credit. Maybe if I keep using it, she'll come back to us.

December Budget
Pink blouse (Old Navy) : 22.00

Black blouse (Old Navy) : 22.00

Cobalt blue blouse (Old Navy) : 22.00

Lavender blouse (Old Navy) : 15.98

Tartan perfect shirt (J.Crew, via eBay) : 65.00

Gold sequin tee (J.Crew, via eBay) : 40.00

Opaque tights (Target: charcoal, navy, hunter, burgundy) : 32.00

Gray stripe sweater (Old Navy, seen here and here) and dalmatian cardi (Old Navy) : 40.66

Tartan scarf (Target, seen here) : 14.99
ShoeMint Candy boots : 4.01 (thanks to the awesome giveaway I won over at Sparkling Footsteps!)
ShoeMint Koko flats : 39.98

Total = $318.49
(Not including Christmas money, and not including gifts received)

If you read my last budget post you may even be giggling or rolling your eyes. Or both.

I'm starting to realize something about myself.
It's not that I'm inherently bad with money. I don't love clothes any more than the next girl.
I don't need everything I buy.
I lack willpower.
Like on a scale of 1-10, 1 being a star of TLC's Hoarders and 10 being anyone who declines to see the dessert menu, I'm sitting at a -27.
I buy things on impulse. I shop when I'm sad or mad or bored or feeling bad because I haven't worked out or because I just ate seven Christmas dinners.

This isn't how I want to be. This isn't how I want to teach my daughter to be (someday. Not a pregnancy announcement). I love clothes, and I don't think that's necessarily bad, but when it comes at the expense of other things I love - traveling, finding new restaurants with Boyfriend, not having to worry about how to pay the vet when the dogs decide to randomly knock each other's teeth out - then it is bad.

There are changes coming around here, ladyfriends. And because they coincide with 2013, we'll even call them resolutions... but more on that later.

Linking up with Budgeting Bloggers, thanks for hosting Fran-dandy!
(I blame your parents for giving you such a nickname-able name.)

November Budget

I'm going to go ahead and credit this image to Hyperbole and a Half, because even though it technically isn't, we all know it is.

November Budget
White jeans (Victoria's Secret via eBay, seen here & here & here & here & here) : 30.00

Plaid pants (Target, seen here & here) : 27.99

Fur vest (CoffeeShop via jcpenney) : 50.00

Burgundy leather skirt (Worthington via jcpenney, seen here) : 26.00

Black sweater (Target) : 18.00

Red v-neck sweater (Target) : 18.00

Purple glitter boucle skirt (Marshall's) : 26.00

Brown tweed and leather skirt (Marshall's) : 16.00

Burgundy ombre jeans (Marshall's) : 26.00

Navy tweed skirt (Target) : 22.99

Leopard ankle pants (Target) : 27.99

Fur snood (Target) : 19.99

Bracelets (Target) : 3 for 15.00

Dalmatian print scarf (Target) : 10.50

Python pencil skirt (INC via eBay) : 30.00

Tulle skirt (eBay) : 15.00

Total = $323.46

(minus a $38.50 Marshall's giftcard and the probable return of the red sweater)

So besides the fact that a shopping ban while on 30 for 30 is optional, I was also working with a self-imposed budget of $150/month. This means that I've successfully blown through November and December. It didn't help that I did some stress shopping when I should have been studying, and it didn't help that I went home for a few days, because my mom and I can spend dolladollabillz like nobody's business.

Part of my motivation in starting this blog was to do better with money. Looks like part of that is being embarrassingly honest about how BRUTALLY AWFUL I am at it right now! At least I'm not a failwhale without a plan: I'm stripping December's budget (Christmas is coming, this should not be hard) and decreasing January's to $125 to deal with my splurge. I downloaded the CashFlow app to help keep track of purchases as they happen, and I am staying the hell away from Target. Do you guys have any tips that help you stay within your budget?

Thanks to Franziska for hosting a Budgeting Bloggers link-up. Looking forward to my monthly virtual shopaholics anonymous meetings :)