H&M blouse, $9.95
Old Navy pencil skirt, $10 (originally $24.94)
Uniqlo cashmere sweater, $19.90 (originally $79.90)
Target textured pullover sweater, $19.99
C. Wonder horoscope necklace, $11 (originally $44.00)
Smak Parlour ring, $10

Pixi Lid Last Shadow Pencil, $9.00 (originally $18.00)
Pixi Correction Concentrate, $12.00
Pixi Lip Blush, $9.00 (originally $18.00)
Wet n Wild nail polish in Blazed, $0.99

Total: $111.83
Estimated Retail: $237.77
Savings: $125.94 (over 50%!)
Budget: $127.82 ($150 quarterly budget – $22.18 over in December*)
Carryover: $15.99

After a hiatus, my budget posts are back! First, a rundown of some of the changes I made;

• $150 quarterly budget, instead of a $60 monthly budget. Having a monthly budget felt very restrictive, because there were some months I wanted/needed to shop a lot, and others were I really didn’t feel stepping foot inside a store. I also felt like I added a lot of key pieces to my wardrobe in 2014, so I also reduced my budget by $10 a month, so hopefully this will be a savings of at least $120. With the quarterly budget, though, I don’t feel like the decrease in shopping funds as much.
• Including my beauty buys in my budget. I’m not a beauty blogger, but that doesn’t mean I’m not prone to roaming the cosmetics aisle at Walgreens. Being public about my shopping budget held me accountable (and vulnerable to nags from my mom, hi!), so I hope the same will be true for my beauty buys.
• Excluding my gym clothes. If I’m not planning on wearing my compression leggings outside of the gym and walks with Zamboni, I’m not going to count them towards my regular budget. I don’t want this to be an excuse to go crazy though!

Now for the fun part: the shopping.

I’m a little obsessed with my billowy printed top from H&M. It’s super soft, and the print feels very “me.” My cashmere (!) sweater is warm but lightweight and found on super clearance at Uniqlo. I love the print of my new floral pencil skirt, but I don’t I like the waistband as much as I did on last year’s jersey pencil skirt (seen here). For $10 though, I can suck it up and hope it doesn’t ride up too often. Also, I think we can see a color theme here.

Not pictured: My Target sweater is black, another favorite color of mine, and was a solid emergency purchase for a night out. The C. Wonder necklace was scored during their going-out-of-business sale, and I’m a sucker for anything with my horoscope on it. It, too, is navy. The triangle ring was an impulse by at Smak Parlour, a boutique here in Philly — I have tiny fingers, so when I find a ring that fits, four out of five times, I’m buying it.

I bought the eyelid pencil and lip stain when Pixi discounted and discontinued those shades, but I really like them. I added the cult favorite-concealer to get free shipping after having my eyes on it for ages (pun not intended). I’m also digging my new coral nail polish from Wet n Wild. Welcome back, spring!

~ Sarah

Linking up with Fran’s Budgeting Bloggers.