August 2013 No Buy/Low Buy Support

[sleepykat]

Originally Posted by lorizav /img/forum/go_quote.gif
Aww w thanks, Can't wait to do it

It's very helpful to unsubscribe from as many marketing e-mails as possible. Oh, and I probably wouldn't have failed my no-buy if I hadn't looked at the Indie Polish Lovers thread on here.

 

[birdiebijou]

Originally Posted by KNJScorpio /img/forum/go_quote.gif

I am jumping on the no-buy wagon. Not until Christmas but until November 17th -- My birthday. I have gone *crazy* buying makeup lately and I need to just go cold turkey. I am making a list of all my makeup and shopping my stash. I also go rid of a lot of stuff that I never, ever used (I'm talking years old) so I'm hoping to trim down my collection a little for the next three months and hopefully I won't go too crazy on my birthday haul LOL.

November 16th birthday here - woot woot for November babies! This is a great goal - I may have to join you on this.

 

[kawaiiwoofs]

I went into Sephora today. Between bad CS and thinking about my priorities, there wasn't anything I wanted! I think I'm doing alright!

 

[deactivateduser232015]

OKAY SERIOUSLY

I am buying Enchanted Polish tomorrow because I've been lusting after those like woah but I already purchase 6 bottles from Sephora this month and I'm going to pick up a Julep polish (I might end up with CWaT but I have it set on Modern Beauty right now) but I'm seriously NOT NOT NOT allowed to buy more polishes until November/Black Friday )< This is ridiculous I probably have 40++ bottles of untried (WITH seal) at this point and that's just. I can't even. I'm probably just going to start reselling some of them at this point SIGH

 

[jrenee]

Originally Posted by meaganola /img/forum/go_quote.gif
I'm super nearsighted and wear glasses, so eyeliner does me many more favors than mascara. Hence this (which does not include my incoming order), and hence NO

MORE EYELINER UNTIL THE HOLIDAY SETS (and even then, I shouldn't get any, but realistically, I know I will)



As of this time last year, this was my eyeliner collection in its entirety:



As a side note, while I was gathering these up, I found *another* mascara sample.

ETA: Yeesh. I need to keep that photo on my phone and refer to it every time I'm contemplating more eyeliner. New plan: Nothing outside of my subs -- *at all*, with one exception -- until the holiday stuff. My exception: essence stuff. Normally, I would only allow trend edition stuff, but they just released a new batch of permanent stuff that I had put on my exception list, so I'll go ahead and allow a $20 essence spree now even though I just had one (for the Ticket to Paradise collection) last weekend. After that, it will be a $20/month essence limit, and that's it. I just keep buying this stuff and never manage to use anything more than five or six times!

(And if I use up a GDE sample jar, it will get put on my list of jars to upgrade to full-size next year, but I won't get it *this* year. I'm actually thinking about going no-buy -- except for another OTM subscription because it's a sub, and it's a much more gradual building of the collection when you're just getting one a month -- on those until the end of the year because I just have so many that I have a hard time deciding which one to use nowadays!)

Um, I love that "before" and "after" photo.  Because that resembles my entire makeup collection from last year, compared to now.

 

[jrenee]

The Lows:

I broke my no-buy goal this month, which was to only spend $50 at Sephora during the bonus points event.  

Instead I spent $150.  If it helps, 97% of the items were on sale and are unique to my makeup/skin care collection.  

I also don't think I disclosed that I have a Lorac and Philip B haul from Hautelook. :-/

The Highs:

I know I will stop.  I totaled how much I spent on makeup and beauty box subscription services and the amount (over $1500 so far in 2013, gulp!).  That is scary enough for me to stop, especially when $350 of it is in nail polish alone.  I'm surprised I'm not a VIB Rouge member at this point.

I went camping this weekend in a no-cell phone reception area.  I did very well not checking email/MUT threads.  I think I prevented myself from spending $ on sales or gift with purchases promos.  I need to camp more often during the weekends.  

I passed on Birchbox's and Glossybox's Limited Edition boxes for the month because there wasn't anything I really wanted.  I passed on Julep's Picnic Mystery box.  I will not use the promo codes for anything in my Ipsy or Birchbox.  I used my Julep points for my September box and will do so for the end of this year.

I made 4 trades and I got amazing jewelry, lifestyle items, and products that I actually need!

I agree with everyone that Black Friday and Christmas specials are the best time to shop.  I am also looking forward to Sephora's Friends and Family sale in case there are regular priced items that I absolutely need.  But those seem very far away.

 

[jesemiaud]

Originally Posted by jrenee /img/forum/go_quote.gif

Um, I love that "before" and "after" photo.  Because that resembles my entire makeup collection from last year, compared to now.

I'm the same way! Last year this time, my entire make up collection fit in a clear acrylic make up organizer that I purchased at Ikea. Now I have back ups to my backups and they are stashed in boxes and baskets in my closet. I nearly don't have room for towels, lol. Hence the need for a no-buy! That and sending a kid to college, lol.

 

[lioness90]

*Sigh* A year ago today I had no makeup. Now I have a 5 drawer muji organizer full of makeup and 7 or 8 palettes 

I skipped Julep this month. I stopped myself from making a Urban Decay purchase to get a GWP that I really wanted. And I talked myself out of an Ulta.com purchase that had stuff that I really didn't need.

I just brought a pricey textbook and I need back-to-school clothes so I'm trying to hold off on buying beauty products.

 

[page5]

Yeah, I've got a couple of glossy boxes and a caboodle full of my "extras", ha ha. Before beauty subs there were no glossy boxes and the caboodle was nearly empty. 

I've come to the realization that I need to be on a permanent low buy as long as I am purchasing a couple of beauty subs each month. And, there is no way I can get through the products in more than one Allure box a year, even with help from my daughters. 

One thing I have done for the past four months is to rotate my products every 2-3 weeks so I am trying and re-trying all my blush/eyeshadows/palettes/eyeliners/lip products. This has been very helpful in determining my favorites as well as what doesn't work for me (easier to toss). I now know that my Stila palette is my favorite even though I like the looks of my theBalm palette more. I never use my Coastal Scents palette because I prefer ones that are about the size of my palm. I've tossed three eyeliners that were not working well for me. I re-discovered a lipstick I loved and used it up. My stash is about 15% smaller than it was four months ago and I've bought about 8 products in that time period, two were replacement and the rest were great sales I didn't think would come around again or impulse. Low/no buying has really helped me focus on what I do have and discovering what I like and don't like vs. just adding more and more to my stash. It was difficult to pass on all the great sales the past couple of months and LE boxes and one time deals but I'm glad I did and I don't have the regret I thought I would have. 

I'm tackling two cosmetic bags full of hair products next. I just used up my full size shampoo and conditioner so I'm going to work my way through about a dozen 1 and 2 oz bottles of shampoo and conditioner next. They should last me until nearly Christmas. I was "saving" them for travel but I travel less than 8 weeks a year between vacations and work so I need to whittle down the surplus and just keep one of each for traveling.

Good luck to everyone with your low and no buys! 

 

[Kristine Walker]

 I've not bought anything since the 2nd Life palette. I'm still waiting on a order from August 12th to get here (Lush Lacquer) I have been deleting all makeup emails without reading so I won't get tempted. I have to go back to frugality and building up savings account. One day at a time MAA

 

[deactivateduser232015]

lol i feel like this is the least successful no-buy/low-buy support thread yet. so many of us are coming back with our heads down in shame over how much we did buy this month XD ah well

@page5 that's actually a good idea! I'm really in love with the idea of Love & Peace & OPI / Essie For the Twill of It / Julep Blakely but I realised I've been sitting on Butter London Knackered and I haven't even tried it yet! I know it's not a dupe, but I might be able to get something close to that with a grey/black base, which would definitely be more effective than buying a whole new polish! Sometimes you gotta start by looking for dupes in your own nail polish collection u__u

the only way I really get like that is with nail polish. For  lipsticks I'm like, oh it's red. Okay I have enough reds. XD; I want something a little darker than what i have right now but I don't feel a super pressing need as I do with EVERY SINGLE NAIL POLISH EVER

 

[EmpressMelli]

Originally Posted by Kyuu /img/forum/go_quote.gif

lol i feel like this is the least successful no-buy/low-buy support thread yet. so many of us are coming back with our heads down in shame over how much we did buy this month XD ah well

@page5 that's actually a good idea! I'm really in love with the idea of Love & Peace & OPI / Essie For the Twill of It / Julep Blakely but I realised I've been sitting on Butter London Knackered and I haven't even tried it yet! I know it's not a dupe, but I might be able to get something close to that with a grey/black base, which would definitely be more effective than buying a whole new polish! Sometimes you gotta start by looking for dupes in your own nail polish collection u__u

the only way I really get like that is with nail polish. For  lipsticks I'm like, oh it's red. Okay I have enough reds. XD; I want something a little darker than what i have right now but I don't feel a super pressing need as I do with EVERY SINGLE NAIL POLISH EVER

Lol! I'm the opposite. I have such a weakness for lip products. I've been struggling so much this month with not buying new things. I'm so frustrated with myself! Every time a good sale comes up I'm like "Ooh! That's such a good deal! I should get that right now and add it to my hoard of things!" I swear I'm like a dragon that hoards beauty products instead of gold...

 

[Olga Ok]

 I've not bought anything since the 2nd Life palette. I'm still waiting on a order from August 12th to get here (Lush Lacquer) I have been deleting all makeup emails without reading so I won't get tempted. I have to go back to frugality and building up savings account. One day at a time MAA

Good job, Kristine! I wish I had will power to delete those emails before reading them

 

[Olga Ok]

What helped me a lot to look at my makeup obsession from a different angle, was a to week vacation and a visit to my parents on another continent. I completely forgot to turn on my roaming and was reluctant to use somebody else's computer, so I was out of the loop for a while. I really enjoyed that time and appreciated another things in life without even thinking about makeup ( except for the Allure's fall beauty box, which I missed). At that time I thought how silly of me was to obsess over makeup when I could be saving my money on vacations like the one I had. Coming back from vacation, I fell back in the old habits and notice myself hunting for stuff at Sephora website. I start to feel that this is all because of the boredom and desire to make everyday life a little more exciting.

 

[lioness90]

Originally Posted by Olga Ok /img/forum/go_quote.gif
What helped me a lot to look at my makeup obsession from a different angle, was a to week vacation and a visit to my parents on another continent. I completely forgot to turn on my roaming and was reluctant to use somebody else's computer, so I was out of the loop for a while. I really enjoyed that time and appreciated another things in life without even thinking about makeup ( except for the Allure's fall beauty box, which I missed). At that time I thought how silly of me was to obsess over makeup when I could be saving my money on vacations like the one I had. Coming back from vacation, I fell back in the old habits and notice myself hunting for stuff at Sephora website. I start to feel that this is all because of the boredom and desire to make everyday life a little more exciting.

I definitely feel like I'm obsessing over makeup to make life more exciting and fill some holes. 

I kinda want to set a goal to save up for something big (I'm thinking a vacation or car), monitor my progress towards that goal, and use that goal as motivation to not buy makeup.

 

[dressupthedog]

I've been very successful with my no buy. The only thing I have purchased is nail polish remover, and that is because I ran completely out. I have considered making a couple of purchases, but I have reminded myself of my no buy and managed to not buy anything. I have been focusing on enjoying the products that I do have. It really feels good to not accumulate any more stuff. I have also rediscovered some products that I love. I'm keeping my subs to Ipsy and Birchbox (just one to each) because I really do enjoy them. I will not use any Ipsy promo codes, and I will not buy anything from Birchbox with real money. I'm going to save my points until my birthday in November or Christmas. That way, I can reward myself without spending more real money. I'm committing myself to a no buy for the rest of the year. I will look at the status of my stash and reevaluate then.

 

[eucala08]

For those who do low buy, what's your low buy rules?

 

[CoachZenovia]

Originally Posted by eucala08 /img/forum/go_quote.gif

For those who do low buy, what's your low buy rules?

For me, I have to be out of whatever it is that I'm buying...I don't typically stockpile things so if my foundation is almost out, I'm not going without that so I will buy more. I am allowed to replace the essentials. Buying excessive nail polish or a pretty eyeshadow when I have more are not OK. I will continue to allow myself my sub boxes..sometimes a reallllly great sale but usually I pass.

 

[Olga Ok]

I've been very successful with my no buy. The only thing I have purchased is nail polish remover, and that is because I ran completely out. I have considered making a couple of purchases, but I have reminded myself of my no buy and managed to not buy anything. I have been focusing on enjoying the products that I do have. It really feels good to not accumulate any more stuff. I have also rediscovered some products that I love. I'm keeping my subs to Ipsy and Birchbox (just one to each) because I really do enjoy them. I will not use any Ipsy promo codes, and I will not buy anything from Birchbox with real money. I'm going to save my points until my birthday in November or Christmas. That way, I can reward myself without spending more real money. I'm committing myself to a no buy for the rest of the year. I will look at the status of my stash and reevaluate then.

U definitely have a strong willpower. A vaca or a car is a really nice goal to have. Imagine how great that would be to buy either with the saved money. I don't have a var myself and never had but want one.

 

[Kristine Walker]

Yay! Another day I didn't spend