Budgeting for new clothes!

Charles and I have been doing the Dave Ramsey style budget for the past couple of months. I have always "budgeted" or kept track of my spending. This new-to-us style of budgeting is a lot more detailed and you have to plan in advance. It has actually been very liberating. It is really nice to know where all your money will be going before the month starts, but there is also some wiggle room. It has kept me from impulse buying, too.

Well, I keep budgeting myself some money for clothes and then end up spending that money on other things. I told Charles that I wanted to budget a little more for clothes in July and I actually intend to buy some this time.

Here are some items I am considering:

Modcloth

Modcloth

Boden

Maurices

Boden

Unique Vintage

Shabby Apple

Recent shopping spree

When the weather starts to warm up and the sun is out I get an unquenchable urge to shop! I don't know why, but it is hard to ignore. Usually I will buy one or two things and hope the feeling goes away. This year, I bought a few extra things. I thought I would share.

Modcloth

 As you know from reading my previous post, I have been on a mission to find a cute dress for Charles' graduation. This is it! It fits perfectly and is springy. I love the orange/coral dots and band around the waist.










Since I was ordering the dress from Modcloth, I decided to give this tunic a try. I don't have much to wear with leggings, so I needed a tunic in my wardrobe. I wore this to work the other day with grey dress pants and my hair in pigtails. One of my co-workers said I looked like a hippy, but in a good way. I love the way the shirt fits!












The next two shirts are from Maurices. My friend Cheryl told me about this store and they recently opened one in the mall nearby. However, the store never has the clothes I actually want to buy. I always have to order online. These have not arrived yet, but hopefully they will both work out. They will be fun for summer.

The last two shirts are from Victoria's Secret. My boss orders a lot of stuff from Victoria's Secret and these were on sale, so I thought I would give them a chance. They are both tunics so I can wear them with leggings or skinny jeans. They arrived the other day. I love them both! The knot-front tunic I ordered in a light pink. The tie tunic I ordered in an apple green. I'm going to pair them with a lace cami.

These will all be great to wear at the end of the month when I visit Charles for his graduation. It should be nice and warm down south.


I'm done clothes shopping for a while!

Operation "Find a Dress"...

...has not been going well. I am on a mission to find a really cute dress for Charles' graduation from OTS. Since he'll be wearing blues, I want to find something that matches or coordinates.

This was my first attempt:

www.modcloth.com/shop/dresses/the-cherry-on-dot-dress

I had such high hopes for this dress. It was just a tad too short and made my boobs look flat. Not a good thing for an already smaller-chested woman.Even looking at the picture now, I wish with all my heart this dress had worked out. I love the red and white polka dots. I just love the way the dress looks. It would have been so bold and fun!










My second attempt searching was yesterday at the mall. I had the afternoon off and spent it shopping! I went into just about every store that I thought would have at least one cute dress. I avoided stores such as Wet Seal and the like. I am not going to look slutty for my husband's graduation. After what felt like hours at the mall, I left with nothing. I saw lots of dresses, but none that I thought were cute or the right color. Remember, it has to match or coordinate with navy blue.

www.modcloth.com/shop/dresses/the-story-of-citrus-dress

Today my Modcloth return of the above mentioned dress went through. I was able to order another dress from them. (One of the many things I love about Modcloth is hassle-free returns.) This is my third attempt:

I really hope this one works out. Even though I still have a couple weeks before the event, I would really love to cross this off my to-do list. 

If I don't like this one enough, I might just wear a dress I already own. I do have some pretty cute ones, but it's always nice to have an excuse to buy a new dress.

Fashion tips for guys

My brother-in-law recently emailed me to ask for my help in the fashion department. I am no expert, but it was fun to Google some images of stylish outfits for guys. My husband and brother-in-law are default t-shirt guys. My husband has a whole dresser filled with t-shirts. I have definitely added to that madness, so I cannot complain too much, but over the years I have also introduced him to sweaters, button up shirts and polos.

I thought I would share the styles I picked out for my brother-in-law

I'm not really a fan of distressed jeans, but this was a good example of casual meets dressy.

I just thought this was a nice looking coat

Dark jeans are a must! I am currently in love with Levi's jeans for myself, so I thought I would pass the love along.

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE when my husband wears a half-zip sweater. I don't know what it is about them, but it looks so great on him.

This looks really comfortable, but still stylish.

I didn't actually send this one to my brother-in-law, but I almost did. I thought the tie thing at the bottom of the jacket would freak him out.

My husband has been trying to find a nice looking pair of slip on shoes to give him more footwear options. He currently wears stylish tennis shoes everywhere. I thought these shoes looked nice.

I wonder what this guy would think if he knew he were on my blog. ha ha. I picked this out to show my brother-in-law that he can still wear t-shirts and be stylish. He just has to pair them with a blazer and dark jeans.