Budgeting Bloggers ~ May

It's that time again!  In looking at my purchases this month, I really did better than expected...  It feels like I spent a TON of money this month, but I have to consider the fact that I had to buy a new car this month.  (I had a lady hit me while I was stopped in traffic totaling my 2 year old car.  Thankfully I had insurance money to cover those costs!)  When I look back at this month's buys I feel like I did pretty well getting some good deals and summer essentials.

          
Images via Gap 

Gap Tee - $9

Gap Striped Tee - $7

Gap Tee - $9 

Gap Tee - $9

Gap Striped Tee - $12

I've managed to do almost a total t-shirt collection upgrade this spring.  Gap's "Essential" tee collection is pretty awesome.  The fit is great for me, they have a ton of great colors, and they're the perfect weight for wearing alone or layering.  I picked up 2 of these on clearance at the beginning of the month and then the other 3 were new arrivals that I scored with a couple coupons later on in the month.  (Read here about how tees are part of my summer "uniform.")

Versona Accessories Necklace - $22

 Versona Accessories Earrings - $6

 Love.  This.  Necklace.  It's a complete knockoff of the J.Crew Flower Lattice Necklace that runs $228.  Yup.  Naturally, I snatched this one up immediately and have been loving it ever since.

Versona Accessories Wedge Sandals - $16

We had a new accessory store open this month and is of course way too close to where I live.  Everything is super affordable, which is totally my kinda thing when it comes to accessories.  I grabbed these wedges on clearance since they comfortably fit my wide-ish feet and have a lower height than my other wedges.

Target Linen Skirt - $22

Image via Target

I first found this skirt in bright pink and loved it, but just couldn't justify a(nother) pink skirt.  I was thrilled to find it in navy, though, and grabbed it as it will be a great basic skirt to have in my wardrobe.

J.Crew Factory Textured Charley Sweater - $38

Image via J.Crew Factory

I have a serious weakness for these sweaters and was interested in getting the "textured" version.  I really love this sweater and the fun neon pink color!

Old Navy T-Shirt Dress - $15

Image via Old Navy

I love simple dresses for the spring and summer and was pleasantly surprised by this find at Old Navy.  It's somewhat comparable to my black t-shirt dress from BR, but at a fraction of the cost!

Sakroots Tote - $70
Sakroots ID Holder - $10

I'd been contemplating a new summer bag for a while and when I saw a friend with this tote in another pattern I had to check them out.  I'll have a whole post on what's in my summer bag later this week, but let me just say, this bag was a great buy!  I got mine at Dillard's, but you can find these online at quite a few other stores as well.

Total = $245

While I did technically go a little a lot over budget, I had quite a bit of extra income on top of teaching and my part-time job.  I allowed myself to take a portion of that to put towards a new bag and a couple accessories for the home.  If you take out the bag, I'm pretty much on track for my monthly budget.

I was proud of myself for not making any makeup purchases this month.  I think my 100 day makeup shopping ban really helped me in this area!

June Budget Plan

Since I don't yet have any summer trips planned out, I am going to attempt to reserve most of my shopping budget for when I go out of town.  I love hitting up stores that we don't have locally and hope to do so at least once before I go back to school in August.

How did you do with your budget this year?  Don't forget to link up with us over at Franish!