So I'm excited to announce that I am officially starting my new job tomorrow. I will be the Senior Administrative Assistant to 5 VP's in the Corporate Office. It's a little nerve racking since I have never worked for so many people before, but I am thrilled to finally be working in a corporate setting. All of my past jobs have been for small businesses and we typically wore jeans and nice tops to work. Now I actually get to dress up!

Unfortunately for my wallet, I had to build a new wardrobe for this job since I've never worked in this type of business before. It's hard to find every clothing item at a good price when you are shopping for an entire wardrobe.. kinda stinks but I did find a couple amazing deals!

 

Jacket - Forever 21 $24.95
Dress - Forever 21 $27.95

This dress is a bit on the short side. I am going to be looking for some black lace to sew on the bottom, or a black slip to put on underneath to give it length. It's amazing how difficult it is to find knee length dresses these days.. Everyone wants to show off their hoohaa these days.

Shoes - Forever 21 - Sale $15.80 (minty blue color)

Purse - Ross - $30.00

Earrings - Forever 21 - Sale $2.06

Pearls - Charming Charlies - $15.00

 I love this store! My sister just introduced me to this cool little shop. I just thought it had oversized, gaudy jewelry, but when I walked in I was in heaven! Some pieces are a little pricer than I like to spend but goodness...so cute.

Necklace - Forever 21 - Sale $2.06

 

Beige Flats - Old Navy - Sale $8.99



Navy Flats - Old Navy - Sale $8.99

 

Red and Khaki capris - Old Navy - Sale $24.95 ea

Button Up shirt - Old Navy - Sale $24.95

Blue tank - Old Navy - Sale $14.95

Purse - Forever 21 - Sale $10
Lipgloss - Forever 21 - Sale $0.69 ea.

There's your minor glimpse into my new wardrobe. I'll be taking more pictures as the days pass and I get dressed up for work. So, Stay Tuned!!!

Weekend Wrap Up

This weekend has been such a wonderful weekend for me.

Last week we started our new budget for the year to pay off our credit card debt as well as save money for the wedding. The cost of having a wedding is crazy expensive. It's so hard to have the magical day be so beautiful when on a budget, but being my frugal self.. I will find a way.

 

If you read my last post, you will see that we now have a limited 'Dining Out' and 'Entertainment' budget. I didn't want us to be like we were before.. having no fun and being stuck eating in all the time. I gave us a $15.00 a week dining out budget. When Rob first viewed it, he was shocked that it was so small. I know this might seem like a tough budget to meet and that we might be eating fast food on these days, but that is just not the case. Groupon and Living Social have so many great offers for eating out and I found one of them.

 

On our way to our engagement shoot!

I found this great Living Social deal a couple days ago. I got $20.00 worth of food for only $10.00. I think I paid $1.16 for tax or overages. I stayed $3.84 under budget! Woohoo.

I think this is something that Rob and I will do every Sunday. No only will we be saving money since we usually spend $30 on Sunday, but we will also be trying a ton of new places!

This little pizza café is actually right around the corner from where we always shop. We've just never seen it before. And, I have to say, was pretty amazing.

Palio's Pizza Cafe

Cheesy Garlic Bread - Palio's Cafe

Might Meat Pizza - Palio's Cafe

 

We actually took our engagement photos in the morning to get that sun rise look. I had the time of my life. I actually have to say I am very happy with myself. I have been facing a lot of challenges with getting this session right, and I have been continuously looking at it with an optimistic view.

We originally had this session booked for 2 weeks ago. I was watching the weather and it was supposed to rain the entire day.. from 8am to 9pm. Then on Saturday, it didn't even rain until 2pm and it was the PERFECT setting that morning. I was a little bummed, but I had more time to prepped. Time seemed to slip past me when this date came up.

We rescheduled (to today) and my alarm never went off. I was supposed to wake up at 5am so I  had enough time to get ready.. I woke up on my own at 10 past 7 and freaked out. I should have already left the house at this time! Rob and I bth got ready in 40 minutes flat! Curled my hair, ironed clothes, took care of the dog and gathered my props.

I put my makeup on in the car and lucky me, spilled makeup all over my white dress! no bueno! Once that happened I realized I forgot my second dress!

Oh my goodness, what a morning.

I decided to forget the troubles and focus on the fun we were going to have. Our photographer is amazing. Rob knows him from college, and this guy is just so nice and encouraging. Even during our awkward moments he knew the right things to say. He's definitely doing our wedding!

 

Here's a sneak peek!

 



 



www.refugecollective.com Tyler Tyndell

Debt

This past weekend I decided to sit down and look at all the debt Rob and I have. I used to keep track of it and just haven't done so in several months. When I finally sat down to review things, I realized that instead of lower our debt, we were only adding to it. Not good. All these payments we make every month don't matter if you keep buying more things! I can say that I have just as red of hands as Rob does on this one. Trying to prep for our engagement photos I decided to forgot being frugal and to just live it up while I can.

So I sat down on Saturday, broke out the good ole' Excel Spreadsheet and calculated all of our payments and our new budgets for the rest of the year. Hopefully by the time we get married (exactly a year from now) we will have paid off half our credit card debt!! So exciting! We will have gone from $12k to $6k.

I decided to pay the cards that are incurring interest off first.

I will be able to pay off my Discover card by May and then Rob's Capital One card in July.
Once I pay off one card, I roll over any extra money that wasn't used into the next card as well as adding in the minimum payments I am no longer paying on the other cards. This way each month I am still putting $500 a month towards cards. Hopefully more!

 

Rob's Citi card will be paid off in November, which leaves us with only 2 cards to pay off!

 

 

I also have put our little family on a restricted budget:

 

$15 a week on eating out. Yes its manageable. Groupon always has deals for $15 meals. If we go out to a restaurant, Rob and I can split a meal since we always take home leftovers. Now that our microwave broke, we don't need leftovers.

 

$15 a week for entertainment. I have found plenty of FREE activities in Dallas. Klyde Warren Park always has free events.

 

$100 a month on groceries. Home cooked meal are obviously better.

 

$280 a month on gas. Our biggest expense of this group.