Amazing video from Second Year No Buyer Elle S today on YouTube: "$1000 Worth of Eyeshadow ... What Could I have Bought Instead?" Elle shows only seven palettes that cost a total of $1000 (CAD). Elle is not in the dream of denial shopping. She is serious about money, facing reality, real life (though she is still enjoying the creativity of makeup). "I can't afford it," she says. I can relate to her point about being someone who buys a lot of cosmetics, but never goes for a mani or pedi, or anything like that. She asks: How many things have I missed because of my purchases? Now that's something to think about! I often think of how my life would have been different if I'd been able to start on this No Buy path at a young age. There was no Internet then, so I did not have this kind of inspiration. I only had magazines and TV ads telling me to buy, buy, buy!
But, why do all the No Buy people say they want to replace shopping with experiences? Shopping is an experience too! It a great experience and that's why we like it. I'm only giving it up to get rid of debt, because I know money makes me happy. I grew up in 1970s suburban America. I grew up in a shopping mall and in K Mart. I was always at those places with my friends, searching for identity. So of course shopping is high on my list of experiences.
THE SHOPPING EXPERIENCE-1970s-1980s
The Barbie Dolls and Barbie clothes at K Mart
Getting a mood ring at K Mart and feeling so cool
The excited butterflies in the tummy, when pulling into the shopping mall parking lot
The bright lights and the smell of the Cinnabon store
The Waldenbooks, where you bought Laura Ingalls Wilder books, where you discovered Sylvia Plath
The record store, where you thumbed through record albums, and you discovered Blondie and Jacqueline du Pre
The Clinique counter, where the lady did your makeup and made you feel glamorous and grown up, and assured you Brooke Shields was nothing without her makeup
The food! Arthur Treachers Fish and Chips, Morrisons Cafeteria with the fried chicken and buttery rolls and iced tea
All the latest issues of Teen and Seventeen magazine
The Super X drugstore with Sophia perfume, Vidal Sassoon shampoo, and Maybelline Kissing Potion
The movie theater where you saw The Turning Point seven times and fell in love with ballet (1977 the most magical year)
Orange Julius
Trying European cheese samples at the Swiss Colony
The ORLANE counter - the epitome of elegance to me
The Stendahl counter - This was a really beautiful and expensive French cosmetics brand. The lady at the counter was French. I practiced my French with her and she sent me a little note in French later on. She was kind. I had cystic acne. It was bad. "Oh, I see you have a little but of acne. Not to worry, it just needs a bit of astringent and fond de teint." She was tactful and gave me nice samples.
My first Estee Lauder GWP - I thought I was Princess Di - it had Cinnibar perfume
My first LANCOME GWP - I thought I was Princess Caroline. I was given Sun Touched Terra lipstick
Princess Marcella Borghese
Germaine Monteil - Royal Secret
Alexandra de Markoff - I never did get to try that legendary foundation - department store cosmetics were rare and glorious treats
Adrien Arpel in her pre HSN days
The Erno Laszlo counter. It was so mysterious. You could not buy from them unless you went through a kind of initiation. You had to get an analysis and buy a special kit. It was fascinating. Now they just have samples going in beauty sub boxes any old way - Dr. L would not be very happy. He wanted his beauty routines done right and they were quite unorthodox. See the book, The Natural Way to Super Beauty by Mary Ann Crenshaw to know more about this.
And I could go on and on. Of course I had no credit cards then, no job, just a little allowance. So I was not really ever spending much, just having fun. It's when you're older and have credit and money that it becomes a problem. Now there's no money, no time to shop, K Mart and the malls are ghost towns. And don't get me started on how much more fun TV was back then. Even going to the library was so much fun. Now all is so dull, dull, dull! I just get up, go to my job, come home, eat dinner, go to bed, and hope that my No Buy will make me rich and happy one day.