Finally Came Up With Some Rules....

Well, it wasn't actually I who came up with any of it.  I recently had a friend tell me that unless I was going to actually follow a budget he gave me, he wouldn't listen to me whining about being upset with how I spent my money.  So I have $30 a month, besides what I spend on food, for everything I want to buy.  With the exception of Christmas/birthday presents for people.  There will probably be more parts to this budget added later, but it's something to start with, at least.

Since we had this discussion in the middle of the month, and I refuse to keep a budget from the 12th of one month to the 11th of the next, I decided that I had $15 for the rest of October, and then I'd start again with $30 in November (Yeah, curious to see how that works with Black Friday sales being the only time I ever buy anything new all year....)

I went to Goodwill yesterday looking for boots and sweaters.  I actually have plenty of sweaters, I just really want a green one and a black one that actually fit me.  And I have some boots, but lately I've not been so into the tall scrunchy look that was so "in" 2 or 3 years ago when I bought all my boots, but since I do already have a few pairs, I can't justify buying them new, even on sale.

I found this pair of Merrell boots, in my size (amazingly--almost nobody wears size 9 1/2-10), for only $6.99, which I consider an accomplishment since Goodwill has gotten it into their heads that they're some hipster boutique that can charge $25 for used shoes in moderately good condition.  There's a bit of wear around the tops, but nothing is actually wearing out or breaking, that I can tell.  They're extremely comfortable, but I think they're still nice enough that I can dress them up a bit.

This is a hoodie I've had since my sophomore year of high school (and I'm now a senior in college).  I got it from a church yard sale where they had clothing $7 for everything you could fit in a paper bag.  So it cost me less than a dollar, but after 6 years of frequent wear, in addition to being used when I got it, it's starting to fall apart a bit.

Ta-da!  Same exact shade of blue (A&F and Hollister are owned by the same company, so it's not too surprising) which is actually a more dusty navy blue than it's showing in the pictures.  This one was $4.99, but compared to what it would have cost new (not that I'd have ever paid that), I'd say it's still a good deal.