Fitmomma Fun shopping and staying on a budget!

So here we go 6 hour plane ride home and I needed something to keep me busy. I decide I wanted to write something out for mommas. Mommas like myself who want to look nice, but also want to stay within a budget. Now I loved Cache, Bebe, express, and even going to a boutique where they ask me if I'd like something to drink and can they get me another size with the best of em. In fact one of my best friends owns a boutique and may want to cringe at my fashion advice and cheap habits haha but sometimes a Momma's gotta do what a Momma's gotta do. For my lifestyle right now with my personal financial goals and four children, I don't particularly enjoy spending a lot of money on clothes that I may not wear often, BUT I do like to look nice. So although it takes more time and effort you CAN look nice and shop on a budget. I'm gong to share my finds! I got SO many compliments on my outfits, jewelry, shoes this week and people asking where I got things, so I figured I'd throw this little blog together. At first I wasn't going to do it because the Mom in me was like "IT WAS ONLY $17!!!!" when someone complimented a dress, but I kept telling myself that's tacky as hell Stephanie stop telling people how cheap you are! Haha But then I thought a step further... a lot of Moms are like me. They may want to shop, or get a few nice outfits but they don't want to take a lot of money out of their family budget to spend on themselves. For me I'm a numbers gal I like to plan. So my tradition with the kids that has worked for us is every season I spend $150 per child for new seasonal clothes. I buy the bulk of their clothes. I use sales, coupons and deals and can get a majority of their stuff. But if you've spent any time in a store or online looking at price tags you know that's NOT a lot of money at all, and it goes quickly. Then if we have an event or a special occasion or holiday we certainly purchase outfits for those and a little more for back to school but the $150 per child per season is my "budget" for the most part. So you can imagine when I started planning an event and ONE GOWN was upwards of  $150 and I needed a few outfits I really cringed at the thought of spending as much on my clothes for my trip as I spent to actually book the trip!



Below I will break down 5 outfits, including accessories, one formal gown, and a bikini and give you my total. Before you read any further lets play a game. I want you to do the math in your head and I want you to estimate how much I spent. Be realistic. Write it down and comment at the end and tell me your guess. I want to see how close you came, and if I really did as good as I think I did. Now I am including in my purchases - 5 new outfits with accessories, 2 new pair of shoes, a formal gown, AND a bikini!! What's your estimate that I spent?

Outfit #1- Romper from Charlotte Rouse - I love the way this clor brightens my skin and floral is so in right now. Romper - $26.99 Necklace - $5 (nude shoes - basics I owned).

Outfit #2 - Black and yellow
Simple black dress - $17.90 at Forever 21
Shoes I already owned but I got them off amazon for $22
Since yellow is not really a popular color for jewelry it was so easy to find clearance pieces (spent about $20 on jewelry).

Outfit #3 - Gown - This one is one of my best deal! Being off season after Prom Season I was lucky. Well I was and I wasn't. There wasnt a ton to choose from, and the sizes were scattered. I went to MANY a store at the Rockingham Mall in Salem and found NOTHING. Because my of my body type I was reluctant to order anything online. So I went to the Burlingotn Mall and found many more options. This was on clearance from Macy's off prom season rack there. $170 was the gown original price - on clearance it was marked down to $23!!!! PLUS I had a $10 off if I spent $30 coupon so I spent $13 on this dress! Because of the neckline no necklace was needed. I added a big drop earring for $8, and wore a basic black heel that I owned.

Outfit #4- Believe it or not this was the most I spent on any of the outfits. Because it was plain and simple dress so I just grabbed it to try on. It fit like a glove and I just felt AMAZING in it!!! It wasn't on sale, wasn't on clearance although I did get to use my 20% off coupon so it brought the original $41 down to $31.80 still so inexpensive. I wore black shoes I already owned and threw on a pearl necklace and pearl earrings I already owned. I didn't do much to accessorize this outfit really. It just goes to show that when a woman feels good in a dress, one she buys it without thinking, and two she doesn't need much else when it just makes her FEEL AMAZING!! That's pretty priceless. Oh and it was purposely a snug fit so I had to run out into the hall at my hotel and kindly flag down a housekeeper, who was so kind to come in and help me zip that bad boy up. There was no way I could do it alone!

Outfit #5- A white cocktail dress for Maroon 5! Seriously words cannot express how much I am infatuated with Adam Levine. Know when a girl goes to a concert she is dressing as if she may meet the singer. She knows she really isn't, and she knows even if she did she would probably spill her drink, laugh and snort or babble about her four kids, but still you have to look good!!Concert rules. Celebrity crush rules. I needed white because it was a white party. This was my most difficult to find. Mostly because a I don't ever really wear white (it's just not very forgiving for someone short with curves and has birthed four tiny humans out of her body. And 2- I'm kind of a hot mess. Wearing white is like asking for stains. I stay humble and fumble in my black. I literally sat on a seat the first day and the girl next to me said "oh be careful someone spilled coffee there" as I was sitting down and I said "oh no worries, I'm wearing black." See. Que sera sera. You can't do that in white. So I actually found this cute little white party  dress at Macy's that I really liked. I tried it on and fell in love. I thought... this is the dress Adam Levine is gonna fall in love with me in. Hahaha I kid. Kinda. But when I tried it on the back wouldn't zip up :(  It fit so perfectly every where else. Accentuated my waist perfectly, felt like it flattered my bum (and that's not easy in white) but the back was wayyyy too small. So I snapped a pic in it anyway to send my husband for his opinion. He liked it. I don't know if you've noticed but I'm a little top heavy, so often when something fits my bottom half it might not fit my top and this was the case with this dress. If it's a stretch material (which as you see is what I ended up going with- it'll work because it'll hug the right places.) So let that be a note to everyone: girls with curves don't necessarily always WANT to wear clothes that hug their curves, however usually that's the most flattering fit. If I bought the size that fits my largest part it sometimes looks like I'm wearing a tent and it ain't pretty. Well this dress material had no give. So I needed to go up two sizes to fit my top half (listen, I don't care if the reason you have to go up in sizes is because you're smuggling in all the gold in the world, it still is not a great feeling.) So I went up the two sizes and bought the dress. But what I didn't really accept or realize was that when I did that the dress no longer looked the same. It fit up top but now around my waist and bum was all this extra material. It would bunch up and look frompy. Totally changed the look of the dress, from sleek and hot to just not. When I was younger (my parents where much better planners than me)  they would buy me dresses for these conventions we use to go and even as a teen 14-16 my body was curvy so I would purchase a dress and then go to the tailor and have it tailored to fit me better so that it wasn't frumpy extra material. I could have done that here but now as a busy Mom, ain't nobody got time for that. I mean I could see doing it for a special occasion for sure but not for a party dress. So long story long I needed a new dress. I mean I kept it just in case to fall back on, but I really wasn't feeling it. So I took to online. A friend told me they had ordered  formal dresses on Amazon and I thought, why didn't I think of that? I literally order from Amazon Prime weekly. So here's what I did to find this dress. I went on Pinterest! Good ole addictive Pinterest. And I typed in the search bar "white cocktail dresses". And as I found ones I liked I clicked on the links. Forty dollars, sixty - nine dollars, fifty dollars not bad at all. The problem I was facing now though was time of shipping. I was under the gun for time and to ship faster was SO much more money I felt like it was a waste. Enter my trusty Amazon Prime to the rescue - 2 days and it's there like clockwork for no extra! So I found a dress I liked from Pinterest and I copied the description, brand etc and pasted it into Amazon search. Voila it was staring at me with that beautiful blue Amazon Prime check next to it AND it was $12. Yes for two five dollar bills, and two one dollar bills I could have this dress on my door in two days! I though what if it's crap? What if it fits weird? And then I thought its $12 and I don't like the fit of the dress I have so there's that. I clicked. Paid. And crossed my fingers! So here you have my final outfit, my $12 white party dress. Since I paid so little for the dress and it was really plain I knew I needed some good accessories and a new pair of sparkly shoes. The good thing about keeping the dress itself inexpensive is that you can complete the look and add more to it, since you saved so much money. The necklace was $5 look familiar? It's a white version of the pink one I had on with the romper. They were two for $10! Bracelet was $4.99 thank you Burlington coat factory. And sparkly shoes $20 on sale at Marshalls!

And last but certainly not least I guess that's outfit #6 - My new bikini! This is one area where I can't just walk into a store and buy any old bikini. I wish I could. But remember that whole top heavy situation. I can't put those puppies in just a $20 triangle top from target and expect to swim without some serious wardrobe malfunctions. I also can't just buy a "large top". I need cup sizes. I need wide bands. Sometimes under wire. Sometimes duct tape. Sweet lord these puppies need a miracle n the form of a breast reduction but that's a story for another day. Anyway I need the real deal for bikinis and Victoria's Secret never lets me down. And unlike these outfits or dresses that I may wear once or a handful of times at best, I LIVE in my bikinis all summer! So I don't mind spending a little more and I need something that will last. Let's put it this way I have this weird obsession with bikinis I keep them forever and like can't let them go. I buy two or three a year and this is so weird but they hold memories. Some certain bikinis for vacation that I can visualize what I did in them. And when I use to compete in fitness I did many a photo shoot in bikinis, so I literally look at them like keepsakes haha. My bikini photo shoot days are OVER but I still have a weird obsession with them. Last summer I gave my daughter one of my old bikinis and she loves it. That bikini was special to me because it was the one I wore for a photo shoot when my twins were 8 months old. See. memories... Weird I know. But again long story long I bought this new bikini at VS. I still got in on clearance because it wasn't a "vacation bikini" or a "victory I got into awesome shape bikini" it was a just because. I like the support the top gives. Love the scrunch on the booty and low rise (because I have long legs and a short torso I need that.) I liked the print and I liked the price. Top normally $39.99 on sale for $27.99 and the bottoms originally $19.99 on sale for $7.99! Yea please and done!

So 5 outfits with accessories and 2 new pair of shoes, a formal gown, AND a bikini for $226!! Ummmmmm I could have EASILY spent that on JUST the gown!

For me the most important part of an outfit is the color or print that makes me glow (the wrong color is horrible) and is it a good fit to compliment my body and make me feel comfortable? Because when you THINK you look good and you feel comfortable in an outfit you sell the outfit! It shows in your posture and how you dress it up! Accessories are key! And shoes (even though some were evil and painful for me this week). Always have a good base of a shoes (good nude, black, white) so that you can grab a new shoe when it's fun and to add some pop and spice! Listen to me talking like I know what the hell I'm taking about. I live in gym clothes. But the truth is I use to love to shop, and I do love feeling good and dressed nice! This was a nice little treat of a trip where I actually looked like an adult who has her shit together daily vs an extra on the walking dead chasing after her toddler who looked like she could be a baby gap model!

So what was your estimate on my outfits? Did I do good?