What I bought with my Christmas money...

I received lots of Christmas money thanks to the generosity of my family and Neil's family, so I couldn't wait to hit the January sales. I don't treat myself very often as I'm obsessed with saving money, particularly at the moment as we're getting married and buying a house this year, so it was nice to have some money to spend on myself. 2014 is going to be a very expensive year so this might be my only chance to treat myself!

I needed to buy a few new dresses as a lot of my existing dresses are too big, so I decided to raid New Look. I used to absolutely love New Look in my teens and early twenties, but there was a period a few years ago when I couldn't find anything I liked in there because everything was either too expensive or too chavtastic for me. However, they've really improved in the last year or so and I now constantly have a few New Look dresses on my wish list.

I needed a new 'dressy' dress and this one was just what I had in mind. It fits perfectly, it's the exact shape I like and it's very pretty! The lace detail is beautiful. The belt came with the dress and it was in the sale, so I was really pleased with this purchase. This black dress is now sold out, but you can still buy it in burgundy. 

This daisy dress cost £10 from £22.99. It's perfect for work or for an evening out as it can be dressed up or down depending on which accessories or shoes I decide to wear, and I really love the pattern. This dress has now sold out. 

I've also had my eye on this beautiful ditzy dress from Animal for months, but it's always been too expensive for me to buy until the price was dropped in their Christmas sale. Look how pretty it is! Please ignore my pasty legs. This will be great for work and for holidays, and I'm already looking forward to wearing it on our honeymoon to Italy. I actually bought this dress from Extreme Pie's website as it was a few pounds cheaper on there. In case you hadn't already guessed, I love flowery clothing.

I've needed a new little black bag for ages and I absolutely fell in love with this black lace bag from New look as soon as I saw it. It was a bargain at £9.99! The strap can either be worn over the shoulder or tucked in and carried as a clutch bag. I also desperately need to learn to walk in heels so I couldn't resist buying these beautiful black lacy shoes. I can't actually walk in them yet... hopefully practice makes perfect. Both the bag and shoes conveniently go perfectly with the new lacy dress shown above!

I also thought I'd buy some nice patterned tops to wear to work or for other more casual occasions, and I found these two at very reasonable prices in Debenhams and New Look. I love the bird images on the first Red Herring top from Debenhams. I wouldn't usually buy white tops but I thought this one was really cute. As for the second top from New Look, I never thought peplum tops would be very flattering for my shape but I've now discovered that they actually look quite nice and they're very different to the tops I usually wear. More flowers!

I also took the opportunity to buy a new Yankee Candle as mine has nearly run out. £8 in Asda for a medium sized candle... bargain! I can't get enough of the Rainwashed Berry scent.

Lastly, I bought Ratatouille and the Bon Jovi Greatest Hits album as they've both been on my wish list for years. They happened to be very low in price on Amazon after Christmas so I snapped them up while I had the funds to do so. Ratatouille is a lovely film (all Disney films are lovely), and everyone loves listening to a bit of Bon Jovi. It's my liiiiiiiiiife!

I'm really pleased with all these bargains and feel as if I made my Christmas money stretch very far indeed. I bought lots of different things for various occasions and have now had my shopping fix for the year!

What did you buy in the January sales?