The Look for Less: Numerical Plates

 Anna Coyle Interiors via Room Remix

 

$12, Target

Shopping Guilt

I had put myself on a No Shopping Spree of sorts over that past several months. Not that I did a ton of shopping to begin with, but in reviewing monthly spending reports I could see I spent $150 one month, $200 the next, etc., without really remembering what I even spent it on.

Don't get me wrong, I've bought clothing for myself recently. When I went to Boston, I made not only one, but two shopping trips to H&M. (How could you not? We don't have H&M in Texas. Plus, one of the visits was to load up on hats and scarves because I was freezing my butt off.)

So with the holiday season upon and us and DEALS! DEALS! DEALS! everywhere, I've checked out the sales but have abstained from getting myself anything for the most part. What I've learned is that there will always be another sale, and if I just remove the item from my shopping cart, I will most likely forget about it later. (I did miss out on this one fabulous pair of boots though. But there will always be another amazing sale! Plus, I've been telling myself that it will be even better after Christmas.)

I saw a mention today that figleaves.com is having a 90% off sale, so I checked it out. And found DEALS! DEALS! STEALS! We are talking $30 underwear reduced to $1. (I really wished I had seen this earlier, as a lot of good stuff/sizes are sold out.) So what did I do? I ordered $70 worth of bras and underwear. It was so hard to pass up - one bra was slightly off my normal size, but it was $1. How could I not get it? I could donate it to Goodwill if it's not right.

I tried for a while to get my order amount down. I could use a few new bras, but did I need FIVE more right now? Why do I feel so guilty about spending? I added it all up, and it was $400 worth of merch for $70. I saved $330! (Oops, it's not savings unless you save it.) I easily have an extra $70 to spend. And it's not like underwear is a want and not a need. (At least not for me.)

I think it's because I chose to focus on shopping and reducing the amount of things that come into my life. Dining out is an even bigger budget buster, but I've only halfheartedly been trying to reduce that expense because it's easy to get sucked into eating out for lunch to get out of the office or wanting to meet up with friends for dinner and drunks. I could easily save that $70 by cutting out a few dinners AND having my new unmentionables.

I've been reviewing my 2008 financial situation lately and trying to make some goals for 2009 and set a better budget. I almost think I need to add a special budget category of money that I can and should spend, guilt-free.

Navy, marigold, & white may be my favorite color combo ever

So I've always been a blue gal when it comes to decor, especially navy. I had never been a big fan of yellow, but now I can't stop gravitating toward it was well. Right after we shared the news of our engagement with DH's family, one of the first questions I remember was "what colors are you thinking?" My immediate answer was that the BM dresses would be navy, and so we started discussing flower colors. Pink...I guess? Hmm. Then MIL in suggested I do yellow, and that was it - navy & yellow! (I like to call it marigold.) I am so in love with this combo now. Behold some of my fave photos from my wedding inspiration board:

(I believe both of these came from In Style)

What I've seen in inspiration boards around the blogosphere is how well something like a wedding or fashion inspiration/mood board can be translated to one for the home. I need to work on one; I think it'd give me more focus on finishing out what we're going to hang where, what pieces are still missing, etc. You may be seeing a lot of posts using these colors.

I have nothing yellow in my house, but I think I need an item (or two) that would quickly give that punch of color. How about these throw pillows in navy & yellow on clearance for $5.50 at Pier 1?

I wish our house had more white, too. (Oddly enough, as white walls are so often classified as boring.) The sectional, double chair, and ottoman are tan, and almost the entire condo is painted tan as well. (The nature of how the house is laid out would make it difficult to repaint just a single room, so painting to introduce color isn't a good option.) All of this contributes to some darkness, as well as a blah factor. So even though I'm not supposed to be buying anything new, I'm keeping my eye out for some inexpensive finds (like the pillows above), and thinking of some ways to repurpose what I already have.

Before I get too carried away with this color scheme, I think I'm only going to let it manifest itself in the living room and my office/dressing room (this is the room next to our bedroom that I have totally taken over for myself). Different shades of blue will probably be a key component throughout the house though - I'm hoping that leads to a nice cohesiveness as opposed to, "doesn't she know there are other colors?" What do you think? "Signature color combo" or "needs to branch out?"

Speaking of inexspensive finds like the pillows above, I'm going to be interested to see what kind of deals I can score as Linens 'n Things goes out of business. Everything's currently at 30%, but I'm hoping there will still be some good merch left by the time they get to 40-50% (or maybe more!) While we received so many lovely wedding presents (*mustfinishthankyounotessoon*), it's the functional items on the registry that we actually need that we didn't get. (I totally covet all the pretty & practical organizational things, but of course no one wants to buy those.) So, this might be a great opportunity to pick some of these kinds of things up on the cheap!

I leave you with some quotes on the color yellow from a recent post on Apartment Therapy:

"There are painters who transform the sun into a yellow spot, but there are
others who, thanks to their art and intelligence, transform a yellow spot
into the sun." - Pablo Picasso

"How wonderful yellow is. It stands for the sun." - Vincent Van Gogh

"She was wearing a canary-yellow two-piece bathing suit, one piece of which she would not actually be needing for another nine or ten years." - J.D. Salinger

Doesn't it just make you happy?