January 1 2015, 100 Day No Buy Challenge

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Kristine Walker

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 I have decided that on January 1st, 2015 that I will undertake a 100 day no-buy challenge.  My stash is monstrous, it needs to be used, and I need to stop the mentality of "saving it for something special".  My Momma and Ninny always saved things for something special, when Ninny died all her nicest things were untouched, unused. My Momma is bedridden and disabled, this year I am going to use her best china, crystal, and silver for the holidays.  They have never been used since purchased back in 1962, two years before I was born!

  This stops with me. I am special enough to use my nice things. I will not worry about "messing it up", makeup is meant to be used, not treated as a genuine Faberge egg for Pete's sake!  I've started using my best perfumes on a daily basis already and it makes me so happy!

  My rules will be:

1.No beauty/makeup purchases whatsoever for 100 days, commencing on Jan 1, 2015

2.  Current subscriptions can be kept, but no new subs can be added.

3. Can participate in Circular Swaps or Secret Exchanges

4. Can only purchase basic hygiene items, toothpaste, deodorant, Cetaphil Cleanser when they run out.

5. Use things from my stash daily, even if I am just staying at home.

  I would love to have company and friends on this journey. Whether you want to do the challenge, or just give support, I hope people will join this thread.

If you want to be in the challenge, please pledge yourself!

 
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I'm in! With one caveat: my birthday is in February and I already have one item in mind that I want to buy myself.

I totally agree about using your favorite things. We got china as a gift and we use it as our everyday dishes! It helps that we're both somewhat minimalist at heart but we also would rather spend our lives using things we love, not hoarding it for special events. Every day should be as special as you can make it.

I downsized my stash big time and I only kept the best of each category. I get to use what I love every day and that's the goal.

 
Kristine I am in! I really want to do this.  I've been having a really rough go of things since the fall of 2012 and I definitely turned to shopping as a compulsive habit and it has to stop. I also need to use up what I have so that I have more room for indie products that I'm getting into! My rules will be: 

1. No purchases starting Jan 1st. The 100th day of the year is Friday, April 10th.  This means no purchases until after Easter! 

2. I have no subs now and I can't pick any up. 

3. I can participate in an exchange group if it pops up and I stick near the limit.

4. I can buy essentials once I've used up all the things in that category I already have.

5. No exceptions. Not even for limited editions or seasonal collections or nail polish. 

Go team!

 
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I want to say I think its so awesome you are deciding to use things instead of saving them for special events. I too struggle with the same thing and occasionally feel guilty if I use something I think I should be saving for a special occasion. I am trying to get out of that mentality and just use things I have  and be happy. I will follow along this thread. I want to do a no buy but my birthday is in March. Well let see what happens.

 
I want to join this! In 2013 I had a huge exam for my phd program and as a destresser and break from studying, I started buying makeup. And after passing the exam I just kept buying and buying! Now, I have limited space but I keep buying. So I would like to join this challenge to clear my stash and save some money.

My rules:

1. No beauty purchases starting January 1st

2. I occasionally sub to birchbox if there's a good promo. I can continue that but only 1 box a month.

3. I can participate in circular swaps and gift exchanges but I must stick to the limit (trading and birchbox points don't count)

4. I can buy essentials as long as I don't have any in my stash

 
This is an amazing idea.  I too know the struggle when I got Paul & Joe makeup and haven't touched most of it because I don't want to "ruin" it, which is so silly because I paid a pretty penny for the stuff! I've made an effort to use it more but I could still do better.

 
I totally LOVE this, I'm in 100%! This will help me save more money for our family vacation, my husband's still trying to decide where to take us! :) /emoticons/[email protected] 2x" width="20" height="20" />

My rules:

1. I will buy NO makeup or bath products (aside from foundation or concealer when needed, everything else is well stocked).

2. I am currently subscribed to 4 mainstream subscription boxes, and 4 indie subscription boxes, I will not subscribe to anymore. You see where my major stash comes from now...

3. If I join a swap/exchange group I have to stick to the stated budget, and not go over.

4. I will also be more hardcore on my couponing again to help save money for the family in ALL areas. I've kinda slacked since the holidays set in.

 
I am definitely in on this! 

Goals:

  • No cosmetic purchases whatsoever for 100 days
  • No new subs - I can keep subs that I am already subscribed to, but I need to skip the subs if I don't love the items (i.e. Julep) and maybe even eliminate some subs.
  • Only purchase hygiene items that I truly need such as toothpaste and deodorant, etc.
Thanks for thinking of this...I'm excited to give it a try. I've only been minimally successful at a no-buy in one month, so this will definitely be a challenge.

 
This looks awesome, good luck to everyone participating!

I don't know if I could do this personally, but I do really like the point @@Kristine Walker made that nice things should be used, instead of saved. I definitely have the tendency to save my nicer makeup and focus on using some of the older makeup that I want out of my collection. I've realized that by doing this, my nicer stuff never gets used, and only sits there, getting old, so I'm going to make a bigger effort to destash the items I don't truly love, in order to be able to use my nice things without guilt.

 
Kristine, you can count me in! Everything you said about saving nice items instead of using them really struck a chord with me. It's something that I do a lot now and I think during this challenge, I'm going to really try to break that bad habit. As a matter of fact, I just went and pulled out my coveted Viva Glam Cyndi lipstick and I'm wearing it right now. I've been holding onto it for too long, telling myself I'll wear it on special occasions, well, I'm done doing that! Life is a special occasion, we're all amazing goddesses, we deserve to use the nice and fancy on a daily basis. Anyway, here are my goals:

  1. No makeup purchases unless I run out of something and there are no backups. Given the size of my collection, I doubt that'll happen.
  2. Only can purchase essentials if I'm all out of backups - the only things I can see that happening with are things like toothpaste and deodorant, so nothing 'fun'.
  3. No subscription boxes. I've subscribed to Birchbox and Ipsy during low and no buys in the past, because I get in my head it didn't count or something. Well, it does count and I do not need any more samples.
  4. Do a Project Pan during that time. I haven't decided how many items there will be or what it'll consist of - maybe an 'Eight By Easter' sort of thing?
 
I'm not sure I can stick to a true no-buy for 100 days, or that it is helpful for me to do so (I tend to be the type that if I limit something, I'll be good about doing so, but then just go totally crazy once I allow myself to do it again--applies to all things--buying, dieting, etc.). But I love the sentiment behind it and do want to do something kind of difficult to kick off 2015!! Maybe it will be a tight budget combined with a January no-buy? Need to think about it. But yay team!

 
Ok I'm in. I may edit this a bit but my rules:

1. No buy will end at 100 days OR sephora chic week, whichever comes first. I know chic week is usually early April so if I do well up until that point I get to shop the sale.

2. I can keep existing subs (only 2) but no new ones. I'm ordering a memebox bundle in December, I can keep that. If I can somehow sang a GDE OTM 3 month in December, I can keep that.

4. NO. MAKEUP. The only thing I can realistically see myself running out of is lower lash mascara and primer. I can buy those, that's it.

5. Body/skin care/candle rules are TBD based on some stuff I have pending yet this year and what I get for Christmas gifts.

6. I can spend any gift cards I get for Christmas but no OOP money for overages.

7. I can participate in any swaps/exchanges that pop up but I must spend no more than ten dollars over the limit, no including stuff for myself, and all free samples included in orders for a swap must go to my swap buddy (I'm doing this both for money goals, but more for declutter goals too).

Edit: I so love what you guys are saying about "saving stuff". I am extremely guilty of this too, and let's be real my life doesn't have enough "super special" occasions to use all the crap I have. I've been trying to pick out 5 samples a week to use and force myself to use them and that's helping work down the stash too. So I'll keep that up.

 
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