Selective Spend Summer Update 2

Well – I can’t say that overall we did better in June than May, but we did better in some categories. Let’s take a look at where we ended up:

Clothing: $332.00

Food: $464.00

Home Décor: $137.00

The $332.00 was on clothing, personal care and accessories for Emma and I that WERENT on the list of “approved purchases” from my first post and same with the $137.00 spent in Home Décor. Now that we’ve looked at the raw numbers, let’s see the percentage change month to month:

Clothing: +$140, 73% increase

Food: -$182, -28% decrease

Home Décor: -$18, -11% decrease

So I guess overall, not really as bad as I thought!

We also finished up Emma’s nursery this month (reveal coming soon!) so we made several purchases off the approved list. I didn’t include the cost for those items above. I updated my original approved list in this post, but wanted to share some of my favorites here too.

With the purchase of our Dog pillow cover from Ralph Lauren and a blue floral lumbar pillow, I can officially consider our living room complete! Between Emma’s nursery and the living room, I am really looking forward to getting back into interior photography and using this space to reveal projects as well as the progression of my photography work (it’s not great, but I’m working on it).

Like I mentioned above, we finished up Emma’s nursery! So that included the purchase of door stops, a new fan/light, which is currently on the same frequency as a neighbor, so AJ has to rework his electric skills haha, and plants to fill her macrame plant hangers from a vendor at our local farmer's market. All of these items were on our approved list because we knew we wanted to finish up her nursery this month.

Some of the other items I bought that were ON my list: striped oxford/button down shirt, simple black mules, woven mules, casual brown shoes for AJ, a Yeti water bottle for AJ (that was part of his Father's Day gift), a blue and white bikini (a major sale score), a gua sha and oil, wrap sandals, and thin belts

What I bought that WASN’T on my list: I had planned to DIY a plant shelf for Emma's nursery, but decided to buy plant hangers instead so I'm not sure if that counts, but I'll add it anyway, red clay for baths and facemasks suggested by my acupuncturist, a really cute outfit for Emma (bodysuit and shorts), a work appropriate shirt dress, and an extra pair of sunglasses. I also bought a green tank dress, a lounge set from a local boutique, a live hibiscus tree that will come inside in the winter, a few decorations for 4th of July including paper goods, a few items to help restyle the bar in our basement from HomeGoods, and some homemade beeswax lotions and soaps.

We also had a few items for Emma that weren’t on the list, but felt that were more than wants, but we COULD do without. We bought her a few new sleep sack swaddles in the next size up, and the Upseat to help her with sitting up that we will also use as a high chair.

June Takeaways: This month was MUCH harder than May. After the initial excitement of the challenge wore off, it’s easier to fall back into old habits. Whenever I picked something up in a store, I really had to think about it and remember the goals we’re trying to achieve. The items purchased off list were definitely spur of the moment items where I just completely forgot, or in the case of the tank dress, something AJ really liked on me and it was hard to say no to. We have a pretty busy rest of July filled with time with friends and preplanned activities, so I think this month will be our best one yet, but I will be sure to report here in August!