May 2015 Wardrobe Additions
Uniqlo Dress (seen here): $30 (paid with PayPal)
Milly for DesigNation Tee: $27 (originally $40; paid with Poshmark funds)
New Balance Sneakers (via Nordstrom): $80 (used gift cards)
Amour Vert Skirt (via Piperlime; sold out): $27 (originally $99; $18 paid with PayPal)
J.Crew Tee: $31.50 (originally $39.50)
May Total = $40.50
$413 ($500 quarterly budget - $87 overspent) - $152.50 (March) - $342 (April) - $40.50 (May) = -$122
So much for only buying things with gift cards, right? In my defense, I was already planning on buying the dress, skirt, and J.Crew tee, and I let myself keep one item from the Milly for DesigNation collection. The collection was inspired by Capri, Italy--how could I not keep something inspired by a place I visited?! ;) Anyway, I was lucky to sell some things on Ebay and Poshmark (find me here!) which brought the total for this month down a bit. I did overspend by quite a bit though so next quarter will start with $378 instead of $500.
I ordered the seersucker dress from Uniqlo when they offered a weekend of free shipping. It arrived the day before my college convocation, so I decided to wear it! I had been watching the skirt at Piperlime for months, waiting for the "site closing" sales that were inevitable. Once the extra 50% off sale started, I was ready to pounce...only to see that my size sold out! Somehow it came back in stock, though, so I got lucky there. I absolutely adore it and am glad I was able to get it. I think it's the perfect "multi-seasonal" piece. Obtaining the J.Crew tee follows a similar story: it has been in and out of stock for weeks. I had my size, one size up, and one size down all in my wish list. I checked on a day of a promo, and my size was in stock! I checked out as fast as possible, but the tee shipped after the other items in my order and I was worried it was oversold. A few days went by and I finally received the shipping confirmation--VICTORY! I'm so, so obsessed with this tee.
I placed four Milly for DesigNation orders from Kohl's...yup, four. I placed the first three because I kept finding things I wanted to try, haha. I should have spent time to go through the whole site before rushing to place an order after hitting the free shipping threshold. After I realized the prices went down even more, I placed a fourth order with everything that was still in stock that I liked, and I used the Kohl's Cash I had obtained from the previous three orders. Well, I wasn't totally in love with anything except the red striped tee and the blue tile print. I would have kept the blue tile crop top had it been available in a size smaller or the skirt if it was a bit shorter. I also liked the black shorts, but I couldn't get over how poofy they were; I tried the red striped shirt dress, but I decided that I would get the most wear out of the striped tee. I did order both the blue and the red striped tees as seen here, but I felt like the red was the most versatile.
For Christmas, I received a couple of Nordstrom gift cards from my boyfriend and his family. He intended for me to use them on my Helmut Lang sweatshirt since he knew I wanted it so bad, but I ended up purchasing that from a different site since it was 50% off and I had other Christmas money. I almost bought a pair of white denim as explained in this post but instead decided to go with a less expensive pair. Then, I thought about what I should bring with me to NYC next week (my mom is treating me to a celebratory end-of-Master's-degree trip!) and realized that I didn't have a good pair of walking shoes. After browsing Nordstrom's site for what felt like forever, I decided that I liked these New Balance sneakers the best. Of course, reviews suggesting sizing up a half size and that size was sold out...so I had to wait a while and pounce when I saw them in stock, but it was worth the wait! I'm stoked to have a pair of fashionable sneakers to wear while frolicking around NYC. :)
I'm happy to say that I'm feeling more content with my spring/summer wardrobe now! I can think of three or four items I'd still like to add, but I'm waiting until prices are more reasonable. Of course, I'm sure I'll be adding to that list soon enough because personal style is ever evolving. Plus, I'm hoping to do some shopping while in NYC! Can't wait! If you have any store recommendations, please let me know!
Linking up with Franish & my fellow budgeting bloggers