Best Buys 2017

Hello! This is always one of my favourite posts to do. I shop A LOT and it's fun to look back over the entire year and decide which five items were my favourite picks. Sometimes it's hard to pick favourites, but I always choose things that I get a ton of wear out of. Maybe they're not the most exciting things I own, but they are closet staples for me and I'd run out and replace them if anything happened to them.

Boots: Dr. Martens via Little Burgundy

I'm frightened now that I'll start collecting Docs. That's how much I love these boots. The only thing I wish I could change about them is the fact that they don't have a zipper up the inside. Most people wouldn't care much about that, but the nature of my work is visiting people in their homes, and it makes my life much easier when footwear is easy to get on and off.

Handbag: Michael Kors

Technically this was a birthday gift, but I picked it out. It really is a perfect size bag for me and I wore it lots in the spring, summer, and fall.

Sneakers: Stan Smith by Adidas via Aritzia

If I can get away with wearing fashion sneakers I usually will. These are extremely versatile and incredibly comfortable. I've worn them with jeans, shorts, skirts, dresses... to work, to dinners out, running errands... and on and on. They are on sale right now at Aritzia, but only small sizes left.

Hat: Forever 21 (link to similar)

For the second year in a row I've chosen a hat as one of my best buys. I've always had a thing for baker boy hats and this year they seem to be everywhere in blogger-land. Hats are such a style saver for me. When an outfit is boring, throw on this hat. When my hair looks stupid, throw on this hat. When I should have washed my hair but did not.... throw on this hat.

Scarf: Wilfred Free at Aritzia

Another strange choice for a best buy, but I wear this scarf sooooo much in the winter. It goes with almost every coat I own and it's seriously warm. Aritzia scarves are freaking expensive and I got this one on sale for $30. I wouldn't hesitate to get another one, so I'll be watching the sales very closely closer to the end of the season.


Year end spend

My total for the year came in at $2068, $68 over budget, which means I made a math error somewhere. Oops.

I'm giving myself a tiny raise this year to $2200, which is another $50 per quarter.

XOXO
Glitterary Girl

December 2017 Purchases

Every month, I break down my clothing expenses and share them. My quarterly budget is $500. This amount can be rolled into the next quarter if it's not all spent. My goal is to keep my out of pocket expenses within $2000 a year. Gifts and gift cards don't count towards my budget. Since I've been keeping a budget, I'm much more careful with what I buy, and I will return stuff at the end of the month if I'm not crazy about it after hanging it in my closet.

December is always an interesting shopping month for me as I tend to get lured in by the shiny sparkly holiday wear and also by the Boxing Day sales. I stuck to my budget though and ended the year pretty much on par with where I wanted to be. I was gutted to have to work on Dec 27.  The past few years it's been a holiday in lieu so I had to wait til after work to hit the sales. Who knows what I missed out on?

Pants: H&M (no longer available)
Reg $60, on sale for $25, I paid $20 with an H&M Conscious coupon
I had my eyes on these pants when they first came out. I was in H&M a few weeks before Christmas and decided I wanted to buy them to wear on Christmas Eve. I'll also be able to wear them to work and for a night out too. They're really high waisted and look great with heeled ankle boots. It's hard to see from the photo, but they lace and tie at the bottom.

Top: H&M (no longer available)
Reg $40, on sale for $20
This top completed my Christmas Eve outfit. It's such a nice unique shade of blue.

Sweater: Old Navy (out of stock when this was published)
Reg $47, on sale for $29
I wanted another long sweater to wear with leggings and I don;t have a ton of brown/oatmeal in my closet right now.

Coat: RW&Co (no longer available)
Reg $150, on sale for $60
Finally! I've been searching for a black trench style coat since the spring. This one is actually water repellent and has a removable hood. I really like the leather-like details too. Perfect fall/winter staple piece.

Top: Club Monaco (available in black)
Reg $150, on sale for $25
Gorgeous, soft, stretchy off-the-shoulder piece than can be dressed up or down.

Top: Banana Republic
Reg $95, on sale for $30
Another beauty of a shirt. I've donated a few of my older polka-dot pieces lately so I loved finding this.

Sneakers: Converse via Browns
Reg $80, on sale for $40
Another pair of black Converse? Yes, because now I have canvas, leather, AND suede.

I also returned a $25 top from Zara (the one from last month that made me look like a Muppet) so that gave me an extra $25 to spend in December. My budget for the month was $238.

Original value of items: $622
Price I paid: $224
I saved 64%

I also received some clothes and jewelry for Christmas which I don't blog about unless it shows up later in an outfit post. I plan on doing my usual best style buys of the year and in that post I'll share my yearly total spend vs. save which is always fun to calculate. It's been a while since I've blogged anything beauty-related so I think I'll do a post soon to show you some of my recent loves in that department.

Happy New Year!
XOXO
Glitterary Girl