The BEST way to Plan and Shop on a Budget: itsums.com

Good morning friends and happy Friday! Here’s hoping your hearts and stomachs are full after yesterday’s festivities!

*This post has been sponsored by ItSums.com, though all of my gushy opinions are my own! You can read more about my disclosure policy here.*

I am thrilled to be teaming up with the most brilliant web site, itsums.com, to bring you an amazing way to plan and shop!

Christmas is SUCH a special time of year, so special in fact, that it becomes pretty darn easy to get carried away with things (I might just be speaking from experience here). Holiday dinners, dressy parties and of course, gifts galore … it seems there’s nothing but fun things to do (and ways to spend money) this time of year! I’m one of those gals that prides myself on finding just the right dress, the most perfect gifts for everyone on my list and of course, I’m always thinking of & appreciating every little detail about it all. Christmas is not a spontaneous thing around here – everything is planned as much as possible to ensure that it is all as perfect as can be! That’s why I’m SO over-the-moon excited about this brand spankin’ new and absolutely brilliant web site – itsums.com! Itsums allows you to add any product to a visual pinboard, while keeping track of costs at the same time. Think Pinterest with a handy budget tracker! Genius, right?! I cannot wait to show you how it all works!

I’ve been putting itsums to work for me as I plan my holiday shopping. It’s allowed me to track what I’m spending on everyone while paying close attention to our overall budget. Rather than spoil Christmas for my family and friends reading this, I thought I’d create my own wish list to use as an example (and perhaps a not-so-subtle hint!).

To get started, all you’ll need to do is install the itsums bookmarklet to your bookmark bar. Now for my favorite part, it’s time to start window shopping! Head on over to your favorite sites to find your favorite products. I’ve been on the hunt for anything I wouldn’t really buy myself hoping to help hubs out with a few ideas! When I came across something I might want to add to my list, I simply clicked the itsums button and this helpful little box pops up prompting me to enter in a price, quantity which board I’d like to add it to and any other details I might want to note.

 
If you haven’t yet created a board, then just select “add a sum board” from the Sum Board drop down menu and it will show you another box that you can use to name your board and set a budget.

 
With each and every product you add to your board, your budget adjusts, telling you how much you’ve used and how much you’ve still got left to spend. Or, if you’re like me, how much you’ve gone OVER budget!

 
What’s really great is that when you go over budget, you can just “hide” items from the total budget to see how that might get you back on track. As you decide which products you like the most, you can also eliminate ones that have maybe worked their way down your list. This is SO perfect as it allows you to window shop for multiple options, compare prices and then keep only the ones that are your absolute faves!

Once you’ve got it all figured out, you can easily share the list with the email option at the top (this one’s definitely on it’s way to hubby!).

Not only is this a way to keep track of your own projects and budgets, but it’s a great way to search by topic for ideas and inspiration as well. Any board you like can be recreated and you can add or adjust items as you wish. This means that if you find some really inspiring boards, you can just use them as a jumping off point and make things your own. Though you can use the project categories to look through every board in the community, boards and budgets are kept anonymous to protect the privacy of all users.

I can so easily see myself putting this to work with my DIY, decor and home reno projects! How great would it be to create a board for each room or project, add and adjust as needed, all the while keeping track of your budget?! I love that I can create “categories” for the items I add, so I can keep track of each of the different areas of a project and how they factor into the total budget. I can picture creating boards for each of the rooms in my house keeping track of what I’d like to put where and checking things off as I purchase them. I could really have some fun creating multiple boards for some rooms that I’m really stuck on and use the compare feature to have a side-by-side view of the different elements and budgets!!! Just for fun, I found some beautiful nurseries to compare – I love how it shows the boards and budgets along with a comprehensive list of each item underneath! This would be SUCH a handy feature when planning out your room decor or a reno!

 
I’m telling you, this is just SO brilliant!!! And it’s SO incredibly easy to use – everything is super intuitive! I really could chat forever about how much I loved putting itsums to work! I swear the possibilities are endless!!!

Wishing you SUCH a lovely weekend!

Shared here & Savvy Southern Style.