30x30 under $30: day 28

day 28.0day 27.1
day 28.2
[top: Shade sale; skirt, boots, belt: thrifted; tights: Target; necklace: After Nine to Five but no longer makes them, can find similar one here]

guys.
it’s almost over!
two more posts and i’m done with the 30x30 under $30 challenge!
are you all bored with it already??
has it become super lame?
do i ask this every time?
sorry.

i realized as i was finishing up these pictures that there were some items i hardly wore or didn’t wear at all [or didn’t take any pictures of]. i’m pretty sure my 30 items got me through way more than just 30 days.
and i’m pretty sure i could take about 20 items instead of 30 and still get through 30 days of different outfits.
and still be under $30.

isn’t that crazy???
here i am not thinking i don’t have anything to wear most of the time, hating my clothes and my style, coveting everyone else’s wardrobe, wanting to spend money on clothes i really don’t need/have money for….
and i got through 30 days+ with mixing and matching the same pieces!!

for me, that’s pretty incredible honestly!
i mean, of course i still want to go buy a bunch of new clothes and hit up the huge Downeast sale that’s happening right now.
but i think i’m finally learning to separate my emotional spending from my “i actually need this” spending.
which is quite honestly a very, very hard lesson for me to learn.

even in high school once i got my first job, i hardly ever thought about saving my money. all i wanted to do was go to Old Navy or Forever 21 and buy clothes & accessories to my heart’s content.
got in a fight with a boyfriend?
go shopping.
angry at my parents?
go shopping.
the girls at school were mean to me?
go shopping.
i have acne and hate how i look?
go shopping of course!!

then when i got married {and especially after i had a baby} and shopping became even more dangerous.
not only did i have more stresses that i wanted to blow off and shop for, but now i had all the GUILT that comes with buying anything outside of food or diapers.
when you have a family to care for and food to worry about, you can’t just go shop whenever the heck you want.
so i have been forced to think of other stress exit strategies.

this is not all to say i don’t shop anymore at all, because i do!
[and i still struggle from time to time with wanting to shop all my cares away]
but i {like to think} that i have become a lot smarter about how/when/why i shop.
i try to understand and assess my emotions before checking out.
i constantly ask myself “do i really need this?” or even “how will this make me feel in a week?”

putting a filter on my emotional spending habits has definitely helped me get a handle on my anxiety a lot better.
at least it’s helped me have one less thing to be anxious about.

 

---------------------------------------------------

and i have winners to announce!

the {new} winner of the Crowley Party ad space giveaway is: Gentri!!
the winner of the Live.Laugh.L0ve giveaway is: Jenni.Austria.Germany!!

congratulations!!

7 comments:

Jess said...

Oh I think this outfit suits you really well!
The color of that skirt is gorgeous - as are you :)

Happy Thursday, girl!
xo

Unknown said...

Your owl necklace is so cute! And I love the color of that skirt paired with the lighter top! :) I hear ya on the shopping guilt. I've never been a very good shopper. I can easily buy something for my house before something for me. I always feel guilty about spending money on clothes for myself... I'm working on trying to be better about buying quality items that I really need as opposed to something random on sale that I feel better about buying...

Aubrey said...

love this outfit. i love shopping, but i have been trying not to shop lately. it's been good for me to realize how many clothes i really do have and i don't really NEED anything new like i always think i do.

Jennifer said...

This outfit is my favorite, I think. Simple and cute, and it really flatters your figure. I know what you mean about shopping. I would love to get to the point where I have a closest that is less full, but FULL of pieces that I love and that compliment each other. I don't know if I'll ever get there, but I do want to try! You did a great job!!

Shauna said...

What a great outfit!

Shauna
www.ShaunaWyrick.com

ashleymoranyoga said...

i love all of your outfits! i wish we could go shopping together and you could find the cute things buried in my closet and mix them up into new amazing outfits!

Ashley Bagley Nielson said...

love that skirt! you look adorable