EdithS2

It was two years ago this weekend, that I started to get ready for my 2018 No Buy, and I've come such a long way! I recall on the Saturday night, two years ago, overeating pizza and watching a mukbang channel on You Tube. I remember waking up really early on the Sunday morning feeling ill. I was googling small meals and I found myself on a forum about bariatric surgery. I was reading posts about all the hard work people put in for that kind of surgery. This inspired me, and the next day I ate a small healthy meal, early in the day. I had an amazing sleep on the Sunday night. Amazing dreams. When I woke up, I had all this motivation to do a No Buy for 2018! I haven't changed my weight or eating since then, but I did make a lot of progress on my debt, which is more important to me. I began right away listing all my debts, organizing my beauty items, and using up a few little odds and ends. My goal was to pay off one debt a month in 2018, and this was my list: Jan - credit card $27.32 Feb - credit card $42.93 Mar - credit card $76.98 April - IRS debt $102.04 May - credit card - $242.86 June - credit card - $398.01 July - credit card $442.61 August - credit card $629.43 Sept - credit card $725.55 Oct - credit card $761.90 Nov - credit card - $946.69 Dec - credit card $985.76 I ended up making it half the way through the list in 2018. This year, I got burned out and stopped working on my No Buy until June, when I finished the rest of this list along with two additional debts. All except for the $761.90 debt that I had wanted to pay off Oct 2018. That one has such a bad interest rate and little minimum payment, that many things moved ahead of it in the debt snowball program. That's why it will be so exciting to pay it off on Boxing Day! I still have debts but far fewer. I was desperate to not have so many. As you can imagine, that was a lot of payments each month.

I made another payment on my credit card, and the remaining balance is now $140. Yves Rocher Beauty Advent Calendar so far: Day 1 - Sel D'Azur perfume - I've been wanting to try something from Yves Rocher's extensive line of new perfumes. This one is meant to evoke a walk on the Amalfi coast, with citrus and sea salt. Day 2 - First Snowflakes Shower Gel - One of the new limited edition holiday products. This is lovely! It's white almond, but less sweet and more powdery than the Perlier White Almond, which I also love. I might have to get the big bottle! Day 3 - Cream shampoo with avocado - also a new product I haven't tried yet. Very good shampoo that brings out natural waves. Day 4 - Four sided nail file - A good file that really is effective. Day 5 - Micellar water for sensitive skin. Day 6 - Clear base coat for nails. Day 7 - Face cream for sensitive skin. I had a really hard time going back to work after Thanksgiving. But after Monday, it's been quite slow, thank goodness. They are allowing people to volunteer to leave early. I never do, even though I feel tired and burned out, because I'm so focused on my financial goals. I have been watching a vlogmas on You Tube from the channel iseedee. This is a Swedish girl who is frugal yet glamorous, and has inspired me in my No Buys. Her vlogmas (or Christmas Countdown 2019 as she calls it), is simple yet so beautiful and cozy. She is so organized, and really knows how to celebrate the holidays. She makes a simple Saturday of doing laundry and going grocery shopping seem special. I guess she personifies what you would call Hygge. iseedee is going through The Body Shop Beauty Advent Calendar. She has the big one with the full sized items. This is the only vlogmas I've been keeping up with. I've been Christmas shopping (for other people, not for myself, lol), and also I'm going to be organizing the buffet at my church later this month. So I don't think I can pay any more on my credit card until Boxing Day. That's the day I am hoping to pay it off!!! After that I might buy myself a little treat or two, and then organize my plan for the New Year.

Tomorrow is December at last, and finally I can use my Yves Rocher Beauty Advent Calendar. I have been so looking forward to it. I plan to entertain myself by actually using and enjoying the product from each day, so I can stick to a No Buy and not purchase anything else. Because I want so badly to pay my credit card off by the end of the year (balance is $166.85). Yesterday on Black Friday, I did not do any shopping, and made a $100 payment on it, and I feel great about that. I feel very satisfied with my Yves Rocher Beauty Advent Calendar. When I was looking for reviews on it, I discovered that Yves Rocher has a beauty advent calendar just for the Scandinavian market called the Nordic Christmas Calendar (only sold in Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Finland). This version has been around for several years, at least since 2015. It has all full sized products in it, and the content is amazing. Instead of being stored in a decorative box, each item is in a fabric drawstring bag, with a number for each day. All the bags are then stuffed into a huge drawstring tote. The bag also has a sturdy rope and clothes pins so that the bags can be hung around the house. It's a dream, and I currently love to read blog posts about it. Maybe next year I will have one!

End of November. I did well, and got my credit card balance down to $166.85! I just want to pay it off by midnight on New Year's Eve, more than anything! I've used up the following: Suave Rose Oil Shampoo Members Mark Makeup Remover Wipes Travel Pack Mini Sisley Floral Toner Mini Sisley Body Scrub Mini Bumble and Bumble Don't Blow It cream for air drying fine hair Mini Sahajan Aryuvedic Eye Cream Mini Yonka Creme 15 I'm excited for December.

I want to buy myself some new stuff so badly. Not even expensive stuff, just dollar store beauty items. But not allowed! My credit card balance is now $270. I am absolutely obsessed with getting it paid off by the end of the year! Since it's so close to zero, why start the new year with it? I don't know too much about the expensive holiday beauty stuff or beauty sub boxes out now - I have not been looking at them. I have been getting videos in my You Tube recommendations with low priced beauty items from dollar stores and Wal Mart, Walgreen's, and I want to buy myself those. When my family members asked what I want for Christmas, I asked for some of those. I don't need anything; it's just that they are fun. One more week until I can start using my beauty advent calendar. Goal is to use up my Bumble & Bumble Don't Blow it mini this week.

I'm starting to feel in a shopping mood. There is a change in energy. The long dark nights are so cozy. They make me want to go to stores and see lights and decorations, eat food and buy holiday beauty products! I am trying to content myself with the thought that I already have my beauty advent calendar. Three weeks until I can start using that. There is so little time and money to shop now. I miss the old days, when I went to the mall all the time. It was so relaxing. The malls by me are just not the same as they used to be. One is like a ghost town. I used to love when the malls would be open late Sunday nights for the holidays. I also used to love bookstores, especially the used paperback stores. Those are gone now. I guess I'm glad I had fun shopping when I did have the time and money. Now we have so much more choice with online shopping, but going out to stores was fun. Back to plan. I am using up my mini Yonka Creme 15 now. It is a great cream. I got the big Yves Rocher Christmas catalog last night. I saw many things I wanted. Again, I am telling myself to just hold off, because I got my advent calendar and that will be enough. Just three more weeks to be good and use up some of my older stuff. Then I will have something new every day from my advent calendar, and then I might get some beauty gifts for the holidays, so be patient!

Goals for November: getting ready to enjoy the holidays in December, and making an early start on New Years Resolutions. Work on credit card with balance of $335. I have a goal to pay it off in the beginning of February, 2020. Therefore, I hope to reduce the balance some more by the end of 2019. Also this month I want to use some more things up, because in December I will have my Advent Calendar. Use up Yves Rocher Golden Tea Shower Gel - this is the holiday shower gel from last year. Use up Sahajan Eye Cream mini - almost done. Use up Sisley Body Scrub mini - almost done. Finish travel pack of Member's Mark Makeup Wipes. Try to finish a few more little items.

This week I was able to get a new bottle of shampoo, as my one bottle is getting low. I just got a big $2.00 bottle of Suave Strawberry Shampoo. While I was getting that (at Dollar General), I saw a one dollar "Macarons" sheet masque. I let go and let myself buy it, though it was not needed. I love anything to do with macarons. Today is a great day - I got my pay from my second job and was able to pay off my credit card - a $200 payment and it is paid in full! I love the empty spaces in my calendar where there used to be many bill payments listed. My next credit card balance in the debt snowball was $461, but I paid off $126 today on it also - now the balance is $335. I'll be working on that next. It's an amazing feeling. I saw the new Yves Rocher promo and I fell in love with the new holiday bath products, which are white almond, and the new argan rose gift set, etc. I wanted to get them, but then I recalled I have minis of these things in the Advent Calendar I got! So I was able to hold off on getting the full sizes for now!

Finishing October with some little empties: Another Travel Pack of the Member's Mark Makeup Remover Towelettes. They are refreshing to use when I am tired from being at work all day. Marvis Toothpaste - This lasted me a year. It was expensive, very nice, but I now have an enamel and gum repair toothpaste as my teeth are quite bad. Dove "Bloom" Deodorant. Not my favorite. Replaced with Secret Tropical Orchid. Mini size Mario Badescu Glycolic Foaming Cleanser.

My most recent empties: I finished my full size Yves Rocher Cranberry and Almond Holiday Shower Gel from 2016-I certainly enjoyed it, and got my money's worth! Finished a bath (bar) soap-don't remember what kind. Finished deluxe sample of Yarok Feed Your Ends-from a fall 2017 Good Being Box. Finished deluxe sample Sisley Body Cream-was a lovely shea butter cream. Finished deluxe sample Sisleya Hand Cream. Finished deluxe sample Comfort Zone Active Pureness Fluid. Finished Travel Pack Member's Mark Makeup Remover Towelettes. This is the Sam's Club brand, and they are really good. I don't usually care for this type of cleanser, but I got a whole case for Christmas last year. They smell nice, don't burn or leave the face sticky. Sisley Saffron Sleeping Masque foil pack. It smells like orange blossom and has a lovely texture. The foil pack lasted for ages!

I got my Yves Rocher Advent Calendar. I am so happy with it, but I'm not going to open it until Advent. Until then I will keep working on using up older things. What's great is that I was able to be satisfied buying that one thing, and did not go on a spree of buying tons of items. I also am able to continue my No Buy not feeling like that cheat killed it. That's a good breakthrough for me. I think it's good to have a little treat this time of year so as not to feel burned our when January comes, like I did last year. By Halloween I should have another credit card paid off, so excited.

I just cheated on my No Buy and bought the Yves Rocher Advent Calendar! I decided to get it as it has many things I want: some of their new perfumes, and their limited edition holiday scents, as well as nice makeup and manicure things. I felt this was a really good buy, great buy, and I got free gifts with purchase also. You know what? I don't feel too bad. I have not shopped since June 13. Also I feel I will still be sticking to my No Buy. I paid off my credit card already and am now trying to work on my second job to earn money to pay off the next one [balance $250] by Halloween. Hopefully I can do so and this will be my only lapse.

Products to use up in October: Foil packet of Sisley Saffron Sleeping Masque - I have been using this once a week since Labor Day weekend. It's really nice. It smells like orange blossom. Deluxe sample tube Sisley hand cream - I use it before bed so it won't be wasted from washing hands during the day. One ounce tubes of Sisley body scrub and body lotion. I use the body scrub once a week. My last sample eye cream - Sahajan Ayurvedic eye cream. It is really nice, and contains honey. I got it in a Good Being box two years ago. My last sample face cleanser - Mario Badescu glycolic cleanser. This is used once a week or a few times a week depending on skin type, in place of one's regular cleanser. So it's a gel cleanser, but it is used more like a scrub or masque. My last two mini face creams. The first is Comfort Zone Cream. It's so cool and refreshing, and has starch powder in it for oily skin. Comfort Zone is the skin care branch of the Davines company from Italy, and I got this in a Birchbox last spring. Also YonKa Creme 15. This is to be applied only on blemishes, and can also be used as a masque about twice a week on areas with breakouts. Full size Yves Rocher Holiday Limited Edition Cranberry Almond Shower Gel - This is from the 2016 holiday collection. I really love it and have been hoarding it and saving it, but I am going to treat myself and finish it all this month so I won't be tempted by the new holiday things coming out. Also my goal is to finish paying off my credit card with balance of $150 this month!

Empties ending September: Bliss Rose Gold Rescue Cleanser deluxe sample. This is a good one! I got it in Target box. Jan Marini Skin Care Bioglycolic Face Cleanser deluxe sample. This really works! Sisley Lyslait Cleansing Milk deluxe sample Avon Anew Vitamin C Serum deluxe sample Sisley Phyto Blanc Buff and Wash deluxe sample Sisley body cream foil sample Full size, Yves Rocher Naturelle Osmanthus Shower Gel Also I ended up with $150 paid off on the credit card I'm working on currently. $150 more to go.

Items I finished: iS Clinical Serum deluxe sample - really good for healing inflamed acne Dove Sensitive Deodorant SisleyYouth Cream deluxe sample Kiehl's Midnight Recovery Cleansing Oil deluxe sample Freeman foot soak foil pack Sisley decollete cream foil pack Clarins Double Serum foil pack - it just came in the mail! I cut everything up to get the last drops. Goals for rest of September: Only three deluxe sample face cleansers left - Sisley Lyslait (almost done); bliss Rose Gold (half done, and a favorite); Jan Marini (not started yet). Only two mini face creams left - Avon Vitamin C Serum and Comfort Zone Cream. Almost done Yves Rocher Naturelle Osmanthus Shower Gel Two foil packs left (not counting perfume, sheet masques and makeup) - Sisley Saffron Sleeping Masque and Sisley Body Lotion Credit card I am working on is at $263.38. Want to pay $100 off by end of month.