Tag Archives: spending

Baubles and Brunch – Post Mortem

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Well, I did it. Baubles and Brunch was a big success without walloping my wallet. In fact, I had TOO much food — likely because my mom took me to Costco to prepare for the party, and I got excited. Something about buying in bulk is SO appealing. I feel like I’m getting away with murder (almost), when in fact, I’m only getting away with 4 lbs. of sausage. Thank God I don’t have a membership, or I’d really be in trouble.

Anyway, here’s the low down on the brunch. The menu was the following:

Sausage-Egg Muffins (via Pinterest)
Pear Cake (via ShockinglyDelicious.com)
Fruit Salad
Caprese Skewers
Mimosas
Coffee

Here’s the spread:

Lessons Learned:

  1. Girls don’t eat. I made enough food to give everyone seconds, which means I made too much food. I sent most people home with doggie bags for husbands, boyfriends, and roommates to enjoy.
  2. The ladies who brunch refrain from over-imbibing on Sundays. I bought 5 bottles of champagne and a gallon and a half of OJ. We only drank 2 bottles of the champagne, and half the OJ. People had coffee too, but not that many. I could definitely have dialed back the champagne purchase and saved cash.
  3. Sausage-egg muffins are my new go-to. These were so easy. Easy to make, easy to eat. I did learn that paper liners help make the experience seamless. The recipe says you can bake without them, but I think it would be hard to be successful.
  4. The pear cake looked like I bought it (which is a good thing). Everyone was so impressed that I made it! It looked beautiful. The recipe would also be good with apples. I think I’m going to try that this weekend.

Totals:

  • Cost of the food, booze, etc: Less than $100, even with the extra champagne
  • Total cost of the extra eggs I had to buy when I didn’t have enough: $8.39 (you’re on my list 7-11)
  • Guest count: 20
  • Total purchases made by guests: $1400+ (hello, S&D credit)!

Below is a picture of our youngest guest, Eleanor, in her adorable polka dot party dress. You can see she’s kind of nonplussed – this picture was taken just after she found out that the S&D pearl bib necklace I’m wearing is being retired. She was really annoyed.

Bonus, “Santa” (read: mom) came, and I’m happy to say that some of my favorites from my previous post will be waiting under the tree for me in December! Shameless plug: the online store for the party is still open – in case anyone wants to make a purchase.

Next stop, hosting my annual Christmas cocktail party without breaking the bank. Baubles and Brunch was my minor league debut – the Christmas party marks my entrance into the big leagues.

DC’s Hipster Haven

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This weekend I took my first trip to Union Market in DC for the Crafty Bastards art fair. The fair was packed with local artisans, vendors, and most of all, people. I have never seen so many DC hipsters in one place! See below.

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I went to the fair to do some Christmas shopping, but of course, I found nothing for anyone, but myself. I only spent $30 though, so I think I did pretty well.

I scored a cool leather cuff bracelet from a local company is called Fisticuffs (eeeek!), and all of their work is original and one-of-a-kind (and discountess-friendly!). I also got a stamp of a bicycle from another booth. I plan to use it to make homemade tags for Christmas presents. I love stamps – they are so versatile (there’s definitely a post on stamps coming later!).

Anywhoozer, I didn’t get to spend as much time perusing the aisles on Union Market as I wanted. There were so many people that it made it hard to get around. That said, I’d love to go back on a normal Saturday. From what I can tell, they have great food shops, fresh veggies, wine and more. It’s the perfect place to grab a coffee, a paper, and do some serious people watching on a sunny Saturday. Talk about inexpensive entertainment!

Discount Dressing for Success – Bridesmaid Style

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My dearest friend from high school is getting married next spring, and I’m so excited to be a part of her day! She picked out a lovely color from the JCrew chiffon collection for the bridesmaids – dusty shale. We each get to pick our own dress, which is nice because I get to find a cut that is flattering for my figure. Of course, the style I want is FULL price at $250 – sort of steep for the Discountess.

Thank GOD for Ebay! I went on last night only to find my dress in my size on sale for $149.99. I immediately snapped it up. Some are worried about shopping on EBay, but after I checking out the seller, I felt good about the purchase. They had some pretty solid marks in their favor. Namely, these:

1. The seller was based in southwest Virginia. JCrew’s warehouses are based in SW VA, and if you ever get down there, they have a RIDICULOUS J Crew outlet in Lynchburg. I have been several times, and it’s awesome. This isn’t the outlet that you find in a Mills Mall, but a store that actually has current clothing from the catalog that has been overstocked in their warehouse. I’m pretty sure that’s where this person got the dress.

2. The dress was listed New With Tags (NWT). Never worn, not smelly. YES!

3. The seller was listed as top-rated. After selling 4317 items on EBay (most of them from JCrew), I figured they were good for the sale.

The dress is expected to arrive this week, so I’ll let you know how it goes.

 

Budget Check In – I Still Have a Shopping Problem

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So I’m officially one month down in my budgeting process. I figure that now is a good time for a gut-check moment. First off, I should say that I did officially save this month. Woo hoo! Whether or not I saved in the right areas, is a different story. Here’s where my budget checks out as of 10/31/12.

I’m over in the following categories:

Auto/Transportation – 14% over
Cash/ATM – 10% over
Personal Care  – 14% over
Groceries – 25% over
Shopping – 89% over (Clearly this one needs work – EEK!)

I was even or I only used part of the budget (i.e. I saved) in the following categories:

Bills/Utilities (includes rent, gym, etc) – Even
Business/Office – 16% used
Entertainment – 48% used (I was pretty surprised at this one!)
Food/Drink – 83% used (Again, surprised.)
Dry Cleaning – 26% used (I think this one is an anomaly)
Gifts – 70% used

Given all of this spending/saving, I managed to save more than my target amount for the month. But, I ended up having to use half of it to buy a train ticket for my Thanksgiving trip, so my final savings this month is 62% of my target amount.  Therefore, I rule this month as a marginal success.

Clearly, I need to address the shopping issue, but I’m pretty proud of myself that I managed to curtail spending on eating out. That is another big downfall for me (I say this as I have dinner plans tonight at Napoleon with friends).

I’ll admit I’m starting to get nervous about November and December budgeting. They are going to be tough months, especially with the holidays. I have at least three parties that I plan to throw in the next few months, and I need to buy Christmas presents – eek! My plan is to combine the shopping and gift budgets during the next two months to buy presents, and who knows what I’m going to do about the parties.

I’m contemplating buying lottery tickets in the hopes that I have a financial windfall. Fingers crossed!