No Shop Summer and the Tiny Closet Challenge

I recently did a closet inventory and discovered that I have around 375 items. I was shocked! Plus, that doesn't even include all of the items that are in storage as I'm working to lose my "newlywed spread." For that reason, I want to institute "no shop summer" for myself. From June 21 to September 23, I will be giving up clothes, shoes, and accessory shopping, even if I receive gift cards for my birthday!

If you're a longtime reader or have an elephant-like memory, you may recall that I determined to stop shopping last summer. I didn't stay disciplined or committed to that plan at all! There are a few reasons why I think I'm going to be successful this year. First, this is a shorter time frame. It was unrealistic to think that I was going to go from shopping like crazy to cold turkey. That may work for some people, but I don't operate that way. Second, I'm more disciplined overall this year. I still have a long way to go and grow, but the act of getting up and working out 4-5 times a week has made me more focused in other areas. Third, we REALLY need to save money because we want to buy a house! There's nothing like knowing that a mortgage company is going to be looking at your financial history that makes you question how many times you want retail establishments appearing on your bank statements!

(I also have written a few times about shopping more ethically and have been failing at that as well. I have a couple of ideas about why I'm having trouble in that arena that I may share soon).

After I counted all of my clothes, I started thinking more about remixing. During my research, I started reading about the Tiny Closet Challenge from Alison Sherwood at fresh. The challenge runs from June 1 to July 12 and involves remixing 33 items (including shoes and jewelry- but not including jewelry you wear regularly, like your wedding ring) during this 6 week period. It took me a few days to figure out my items, but this is what I settled upon:

The jewelry

Not a great shot but my entire wardrobe!

The breakdown:

TN necklace

silver hoops

silver studs

garnet ring

silver ring

plain white tank

plain white tanks

gray lace tank

black lace tank

chevron tank

chambray tank

lacy t-shirt

graphic t-shirt

black and purple polka dot shirt

white 3/4 shirt

light red button down

chambray tunic

white cardigan

purple cardigan

black cardigan

pink shorts

green shorts

white capris

green capris

black capris

denim capris

black and white polka dot skirt

black and white maxi skirt

anchor dress

tan sandals

silver sandals

black sandals

flowered TOMS

Here's the first outfit. It was super windy, so this isn't the best picture!

Summer to-do list:
Pressure wash house
Learn to apply self tanner to legs

I am going to try to take pictures daily, but if I don't, I will at least keep a list of what I wear and have a breakdown at the end of the challenge. I'm excited about this (and a little nervous). Wish me luck! =)

Cardigan overload: A tale of my May spending

I bought five cardigans in May. I'm beginning to think that I need cardigan rehab. I even flipped out a little bit in Gap Outlet when I saw that their cardigans were 70% off. Somehow I only bought one that day. Maybe that's the first step in my rehab process.

Here's what else I bought in May:

Balloon cardigan, Target, $12

Black capris (same brand but not exact), Burke's Outlet, $10

Nest Boutique Cardigans- Black and Mint, $9/each

Not pictured:
Goodwill (2 skirts and a cardigan)- $15

Purple Cardigan, Gap Outlet- $12

2 White Camisoles, Gap Outlet- $5/each

Yard sale treasures- $12 (seriously, there's a lady in my parents' neighborhood that has some of the best yard sale clothes I've ever seen!)

I spent $89 in May, but the cardigans were worth it. ;-)

Linking up with Budgeting Bloggers

Poison Ivy and Poison Teeth

Poison teeth may be a little bit of a stretch, but I liked the way it sounded together when I wrote it!

My husband had his wisdom teeth removed this morning. It was a very quick decision made by his dentist when he went in for a cleaning last week. I'm still trying to think of something to do to embarrass him while he's knocked out on painkillers! ;-)

I've got the poison ivy...lucky me! I think I got it from a co-worker's pet pig that he brought into the library last Friday. She was adorable, but as soon as she left, I had a rash on my arm. No fun!

How about some pictures of me without poison ivy...

My husband told me to turn around and model.
Also notice the dog booty in this picture!

I wore the same white cropped cardigan that I did in the last outfit post, but it was so warm when we took these pictures that I couldn't stand the extra layer! The cardigan made it look a little bit more professional...well, as professional as a denim shirt and TOMS can look!

Try to Dress Nice, Okay?

We recently had a reception for an art donation at work. It was a two-hour, drop-in reception in our library. My boss told me about it on the day I wore this outfit and told me to "try to dress nice" on that day. Sometimes I wonder what goes through her head when she sees my outfits... 

Saying "huh" to my husband

I completely forgot to include the black and white shirt (and a pair of green capris) on my April budget round up! I went back and edited it to reflect those changes. I guess when you buy so much, you forget things!

Also, I didn't get a picture of what I wore to the reception, so I may have to repeat that outfit soon so you all can judge whether or not I looked "nice" for that event!

So much for no new clothes in April...

Remember when I said in my awkwardly titled March budgeting bloggers post that I was going to work on inventorying my closet and not buying new things in April?

Yeah, that failed.

I'm not sure what happened; it might have been letting my guard down and buying that first item. It might have been winning a $50 Target gift card on Jen's blog (Librarian for Life and Style) and deciding to buy a couple of cardigans with it. It might have been going to the mall with my husband one Friday night. Whatever it was, I fell hard.

I spent around $140 this month NOT counting the $50 Target card. Gulp. 

Bicycle button down, Target, $16

Anchor print dress, Old Navy, $10

Nautical sweater #1, Old Navy, $7

Nautical sweater #2, Old Navy, $7

Nautical Sweater #3, Old Navy, $7

Sleeveless top, Old Navy, $21

Shorts, Old Navy, $15

Little Mermaid shirt, Rue 21, $20

Sandals, Skechers Outlet, $35

Here's what I got with the Target gift card:

Cocoon cardigan, Target, $22

Dot cardigan, Target, $12

Navy canvas flats, Target, $16

Not pictured (since I forgot about buying them. Oops!): Black and white Walmart chevron tank top (seen here)- $10 and green Walmart capris- $3

On the plus side, I did go for a few colorful items. Evidently, I really wanted blue and green and nautical items this month. Hmm, I didn't realize what a theme I had going, down to the Little Mermaid shirt. Maybe my shopping habits are secretly wishing I had a beach vacation planned this summer...

Linking with Budgeting Bloggers.

Sprite Skirt

Warning: you're about to see my face again. Heh. After not posting an actual outfit picture since December 20, I was ready to post something again. For some reason, I'm going a little link up crazy today too!

First, there's Inspiration Monday at two birds:

Printed, belted, swifted.

Second, I'm a little late to this party, but there's the Style Me April challenge at Dean Street Society:

Sunshine. Got it.

And finally, there's Style Imitating Art, hosted by Salazaar at 14 Shades of Grey this round: 

"Spring Rain" by Erté

Wait. Sunshine and rain? It's like a spring day in Tennessee!

So how do we combine all of those challenges into a super challenge? We use the Sprite skirt!

What is the Sprite skirt? It's a skirt that has the color and shapes found in Sprite's logo. I know it's random, but it's the only image I get when I see this rarely-worn skirt!

Judge for yourself:

See the lemon shapes in the skirt and the yellow/green tones? Or do you just see the skirt of a crazy person? ;-)

Here's the skirt and the rest of my outfit:

Smartphone pictures in the office during lunch. Sweet! I also tried to get a better shot of my green shoes. One of our maintenance men said he needs a pair! 

I match the painting in my office also. How's that for Style Imitating Art?

I've got my Inspiration Monday look going with the printed skirt and belted look. I've got my Style Me April look going with the yellow in my skirt, yellow earrings (that I didn't get a good shot of), and the overall spring/sunshiny look. I've got my Style Imitating Art look going with the lines in the skirt imitating the rain in the picture and the green (and by matching my painting ha ha). Are any of those too much of a stretch? I had all three of the linkups in mind when I was choosing my clothes last night. Any thoughts?

I've missed blogging! I got a few tips from Danielle at A Little Bit of WoWe about how to make the picture process easier (and how to have better quality pictures since they won't be taken with a phone camera under fluorescent lights!). If anyone else has tips about how they make blogging easier on themselves, please pass them along!

Now go enjoy a Sprite!

March Yourself Out Of That Store Right Now!

Wow. That's the best title I could think of? ;-P

March was a rather spend-y month in our house. I don't know why but sometimes we just completely disregard our budget and spend like crazy! As you'll see from my list below, I contributed a lot to the crazy spending! Our first anniversary was in March (woo hoo!!!), and my generous husband gave me a $100 Old Navy card as an anniversary gift. I was so excited!! I shared a little of it with him, and he bought two new pairs of shorts. I'm a giver...

Outside of the gift card, I spent $148. That may not be a lot for some people's budgets, but that's way too much for me to spend on clothes in a month! To be fair, some of it was workout related and a couple of items were replacement items, but the rest were complete impulse buys. To top that off, my mom also cleaned out her closet and had eight bags of clothes for me to look through! I should be clothes rich for the next couple of months at least (ha!). 

Enough talking, let's see what that $248 brought home last month:

Nice light sweater that should work well into Spring

Men's workout shorts- love them because they're not super short!

Replacement shirt for one I decided to try to "modify"

Why don't I own more button downs?

Replacement flats- Burke's Outlet

Pink princess skirt!!

Not pictured: brown flats from Burke's Outlet, red and black hooded sweater from Burke's Outlet, black and orange workout pants from Burke's Outlet, light denim shirt from Walmart, black and white wrap dress from Walmart, purple Reeboks to replace workout shoes, and a black and pink polka dot shirt I bought at the Southern Women's Show. Phew!

The pink princess skirt was also from a booth at the Southern Women's Show. The store is called At Jollys, and the girl working in the booth (who I believe is in the picture too) was adorable! When my mom and I walked by it, the skirt caught my eye, and I just kept standing there and trying to justify paying $42 for it. I'm pretty cheap frugal, so that's a lot for one item of clothing! After talking to my mom and the employee, I realized that I usually spend that much on junk at the SWS, so I may as well spend wisely and get something I love. I also thought of at least five different combinations for it, so it wouldn't be unloved. I'm going to wear it on Easter and for a conference presentation in May too, so it's already going to have two outings. Also, I did spend way too much time thinking about a skirt! I guess that's better than just grabbing things without any thought!

I'm going to take a clothes shopping break in April and work on getting all of my other stuff organized, inventoried (idea from brynnash's blog), and cleaned out. I might even wear "the skirt" while I organize! Ha!

Linking up with Budgeting Bloggers!