Presenting the Birthday Haul!!

This is one of my favorite posts each year — the chance to share what I got with my Anthropologie birthday discount. I did quite well for myself this year and I should warn you that opponents of consumerism should look away. I did my best to support the economy this time around! Although in reality I only spent about $50 of my own money. My friends and family assumed (correctly) that I’d want lots of Anthro gift cards. So I saved most of the gift money I’d gotten for Hanukkah and Christmas and had a few more to add come January 22nd.

And those boxes above? The kindness of friends of family…and a couple of charge/sends. I feel so loved! Thanks to everyone for all the birthday goodness. I should note that I acquired a few of the items I was pondering at the beginning of the month outside of the birthday haul, like the Macchiato Jumper and the Geology Clutch. This post is about what I got as part of the official excursion. On to the haul!

…and another pair of tights, another set of earrings, plus a blazer on the way. Whew. I’m exhausted. You’ve already seen one of the OOTDs above and the rest will get their own posts too.

I feel like I really got my gift cards’ worth out of the birthday haul this year. As you know I was thoroughly disappointed with Anthro’s January arrivals. I was flipping through the January 2008 catalogue (one of my all-time favorites) the other day pining for better times — it used to be that January really set the tone for Spring but now it’s been reduced to “resort.” Whatever.

Luckily, Anthropologie must have been going through some kind of warehouse audit this past month. I could not believe it when I scored a bunch of popbacks including a few from seasons long past. The entire outfit I bought above? It cost $90!! It was good fortune when everything shipped. And the weird thing is I still have about $150 left in gift cards, which I’ve decided to hold onto until something really wonderful comes along.

Really I could not be happier. It was fun (and a bit scary) to ignore my budget for a few days and splurge. My closet is just about complete at this point and I expect my spend total to go down by about half in 2011 as a result. With this wonderful haul behind me I feel satisfied with what I own and can focus on paying off the rest of my bills and starting to save for an apartment to call my own.

I hope you enjoyed the birthday haul! Any other January birthdays want to share what you got? February birthdays, what’s on your lists?? Oh, and I have a giveaway or two coming up very soon. So the party’s not over yet!!