Days 1- 10 of 100 day No Buy Challenge

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@  This.  So much this.

magicalmom said:
I got my "hanging things backwards in the closet" done today.  While doing so, I realized that the floor of my 1/2 of the closet was covered in bags, boxes of stuff, scarves, stray earrings, etc.  So I cleaned it up.  I think all I have to do to get through the next 99 days is to recall my sense of shame when I found:

- My Sept 2014 Birchbox, entirely packed.  When I first recieved it, I opened it, looked at the contents, and popped the lid back on to "deal with later", and NEVER DID.  It had amazing stuff, like a Liz Earle kit, a Pixi Balm in the EXACT shade I "wanted to try for MONTHS" (Honey Nectar), and more shampoo/conditioner (I have literally been working through my s/c sample stash for SIX MONTHS NOW).  All completely untouched.  If that doesn't let me know I have too much stuff, I don't know what will.

-Incoco Nail strips.  I ordered several on clearance, and I love them!  They actually stay on my nails for about a week, and they have such cute patterns.  In fact, I ordered a pattern particularly to wear over Christmas - but couldn't find them because I had so much stuff scattered about.  I had another set (tiger stripes) to wear to watch one of the Bengals games (hubby is a huge fan), but couldn't find those either!  So finally, AFTER Christmas, and AFTER football season (I think they made it into the playoffs though, so I might still have a chance on those!) I finally find them.... yep, on my closet floor.  Yikes.

- So I did a trade awhile back.  I wanted the Ipsy October 2012 bag (just the bag!) SO BAD.  For YEARS.  And I apparently traded for it over the summer... and then promptly put the package (including the Ipsy bag) in my closet and FORGOT ALL ABOUT IT.  To the point where I saw that bag in a photo recently and was like "aw, I wish I had that."  I did have it.  On my dang closet floor!  Along with some amazing other stuff like a Butter London polish and a Mally eyeliner.  That I had absolutely no clue were in my possession.

This is totally reinforcing my no-buy.  I have NO excuse to buy stuff if I can't even keep track of what I currently have.  So I need to just slow my roll, keep my money in my wallet, and use all the pretties that I already have.  And if this story helps anyone else resist temptation, then sharing this totally embarrassing moment has been worth it.  Heed my cautionary tale!

(Also, I can see the carpet on my closet floor now! BONUS!)
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My closet floor has been a catch-all for years.  Six years 4 months, actually.  I'm not sure I've seen it since the house was built.   A few years ago I thought I needed a Kitchen Aid mixer.  It's still in the box -- never touched.  When I moved I packed all of my oddball socks in a clear garbage bag.  Yup, they're still there, too.  There is a bag of grout powder and a box of tiles in there that were left from the builder.  I also keep a giant pop-up laundry bag in there for recycling. It's overflowing.  And the shoes. All over.  I think my closet is 6'x8' and it's packed.  I can visualize the tote bag from The Body Shop's BF deal on the floor.

I think getting that closet under control is a good goal for week one.

I still want to find my passport, my last BBW bag, a package of light bulbs and my blank checks.  I'm still worried that I accidentally recycled all of this.  ;(

 
I just got out of the hospital, so I'm probably going to be in/near my bed for the next ten days. That means I probably won't be wearing much makeup. I'm not letting myself off the hook, though, my plans are to work on a budget and update my spouse's and my wills and advanced directives. And no online shopping!!

 
I like that this is just the first 10 days. It's so much easier for me to think in increments of 10 days instead of the full 100. :) /emoticons/[email protected] 2x" width="20" height="20" /> 

Goals for the 1st 10 days (and some for the whole shebang): 

1) Finish organizing/sorting stash. My boyfriend got me 3 sets of drawers for Christmas & I already started to organize everything. I've been throwing all dupes/things I won't use into a box that I'm hoping to sell or gift. 

2) Wear makeup at least five days per week. I work from home so I haven't been wearing makeup as often lately, but I need to start using up what I have!

3) Use new stuff. My plan is to basically wear completely different makeup every day for the next 100 days. I definitely have more than enough stuff to do this. Once I use a product, I'm not allowed to use it again until AFTER the no-buy. This will force me to use products I don't usually use and get creative. 

I plan on going through my closet too, but I think I'll save that for days 11-20. I have clothes eeeeeverywhere!

 
@ I love the idea of not wearing something twice!

It's.... entirely possible I have MORE than 100 eyeshadows (who am I kidding, I have more than 100 in just indies), but that would be a huge help in determining what I do/don't use.  And if I don't use it, why?  Is it something I need to get rid of, or something I never would have known that I LOVE if I didn't make myself use it?  

I'm going to wait til Monday (Day 5) to sort things out and get my plan/shadows all set up because that will be my first day without hubby/kids constantly interrupting, but I really love this idea! (I even have enough blushes to use one a week without repeating!)

 
magicalmom said:
@ I love the idea of not wearing something twice!

It's.... entirely possible I have MORE than 100 eyeshadows (who am I kidding, I have more than 100 in just indies), but that would be a huge help in determining what I do/don't use.  And if I don't use it, why?  Is it something I need to get rid of, or something I never would have known that I LOVE if I didn't make myself use it?  

I'm going to wait til Monday (Day 5) to sort things out and get my plan/shadows all set up because that will be my first day without hubby/kids constantly interrupting, but I really love this idea! (I even have enough blushes to use one a week without repeating!)
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Yep, I definitely have over 100 eye shadows between my indies and palettes! And honestly, probably 100 lip products too. I WILL have to re-use blush within the 100 days I think, but I am going to make sure I use all of them before I use one again. 

 
For the first 10 days I will be focusing on creating empties from some products that are close to gone. This way I can see quick progress, and it will hopefully motivate me to keep going. Creating empties will mean that I need to pick some products to focus on for the week. So I am getting a list ready for the Monday Club. An item I know for sure will be on my list is my eyeshadow palette that I am working on for the Pan That Palette challenge.

I am also trying to wear makeup 6 days per week. I usually only do 5 days per week for work, but 6 makes more sense so that I will be (hopefully) creating more empties. As an added bonus, my husband will appreciate it since he always comments that I am never done up when he is with me. To be totally fair, he deserves me giving effort to look nice around him, too.

Besides makeup, I am starting back with exercising and drinking more water, which will help me to feel better. Maybe this will help me to not want to buy, buy, buy.

I am also trying to extend the use-it-up philosophy to our food. We are cleaning out the pantry and the freezer this month and going on a low-buy for that. We are only buying things that are needed to complete a meal from items we already have. This will mean inventory of our food and making a meal plan from what we have in the next couple of days. I'll then sit down and make a grocery list based on what we have and what I can get on sale each week.

We just got our credit card statement from Holiday spending and - yuck! We pay it off every month, but it is still way too big of a number. Both my husband and I have been carelessly spending on everything. I want to get our car paid off and this is no way to go about it.

We can do this!

 
YAY! We are starting!

Days 1-10 goals:

Start moving boxes to my new place

Paint my nails twice

Compile last months empty list

Sign up for mint.com or come up with a personal budget tracker

Add photos to update finished project pan and start a new one including a pan that palette challenge

 
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I'm not sure how often I'll post lists -- but probably once/10 days.  I know this could be split up and posted elsewhere, but... SQUIRREL!  Yeah, I just can't deal with that...

Opened:

-Uberliss Shampoo/Conditioner (GB)

Used:

-LUSH Cinder

Trashed:  

  • L'oreal face wash
  • Matrix dupe shampoo
  • Matrix dupe conditioner
  • BBW Aromatherapy Bubble Bath x2
  • Bliss Clog Dissolving Milk
  • old razor
  • Ulta face wash
  • Empty Nexxus shampoo bottle (I was keeping this, why?)
  • 3 bath candles
  • old drain stopper
  • CO Bigelow body wash
  • philosophy margarita 3-in-1 
  • Ulta body wash in champagne 
I walked in my closet.. and turned around and walked out.  That's going to have to wait for another day.

 
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@ just handle it when you're ready!  We've only been in this house for about 2-3 years and I've only been accumulating for about 1 year, so it wasn't too bad.  

Or you could tackle it a bit at a time. Maybe reach in and grab 3 things every day and deal with those?

 
I'm nervous too but we can do it!

Anyone else considering a 100 day FOTD to ensure you're using it daily?

1-10 goals: 1: OFFICE OFFICE OFFICE it shouldn't take me 10 days to do it so no excuses

2:eek:rganize, edit, watermark current photos

3: Finish my gift for @@dancersmum she sent me and Z an amazing gift tht got here before thanksgiving and I've been working on hers (I have a craft item that keeps getting pushed to the bottomm of my to-do list) fro the past 2 months but it needs to get sent.

 
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 Well, I made myself go back through all my lip product Keeps. My initial problem was having the mindset of "But the retail on that is $xx!"  Most are from subscription boxes.

  It doesn't really matter if it retails for $20 and up, if I can't wear it, it must go. So after culling all reds, vivid, pale, frosty, or too dark I managed to put into CS stash almost 60% of my former keeps. That was hard.

   My rule is once I put it in trash or CS, no taking it back out to keep.

 I need to go buy another bottle of Isopropyl Alcohol tomorrow. I finished the rest of the bottle I had sanitizing  things for CS. I am not counting alcohol in the no-buy, it does much more than sanitize makeup :) /emoticons/[email protected] 2x" width="20" height="20" />

 
@@Kristine Walker go you that is impressive!  I have definitely not gotten to sorting my makeup yet, just pulled a few brand new things I know I won't use today while cleaning the closet.  Thank you for setting the bar high, I'm going to try to be just as hard on myself!

 
Plan for the first 10 days is organize, organize, organize. I already bought some organization options that are already at my house, I'm just not home yet to get that done. But I'll probably get started on that on Monday. I recently went through and threw out a ton of stuff I didn't want anymore, so maybe just one more pass through it all again just to double check. I think the first project will be my indie eyeshadows. Get all my samples depotted and everything organized into the trays by brand and collection.

 
I need to post here tonight to keep myself accountable for tomorrow. I am taking my daughter and two of her friends to the mall for her birthday tomorrow. She got a gift card there for Christmas and wants to have fun and spend it. The problem is, this is a place of real temptation for me and I'm only one day into the challenge. I need someone to pester me to post what I bought tomorrow evening after returning.

I have a very small gift card there myself, and my goal is to spend only that on clothes and to not buy ANY makeup or skincare, etc. with it.

Any more suggestions to help my willpower? Any volunteers to remind me to post my success or failure tomorrow?

 
First part of first goal of my two for the first 10 days is done! I've inventoried my make up! 

Some categories I thought would be huge were indeed huge *cough*nailpolish*cough*eyeshadow*cough*, but there were some that were huge that I had no idea (blush, highlighters, eyeliners, and perfume). I think I have more problem areas than I thought. Now I just need to organize them and do an initial purge, then I'm tackling my closet, which is much more scary.

Congrats on making it through day 1 everyone! Only 9 more to go in this set, that's only a bit more than a week! We can do this!

 
@@Natasha01 You can do it! It's just a few hours at the mall that you have to resist temptation. Go through your makeup collection before you leave and remind yourself of all the things that you have, chances are you have a dupe.

You could also go through your closet and think about what pieces of clothing would jazz it up. If you have a plan going in on what specific items you want to find, you can focus on your mission and feel great when you get what you planned on finding, because you know it will work in your wardrobe. 

 
I'm stuck on goals for the first 10 days.

  1.  Inventory what I have.
  2. Try a blush. I have rosacea so the last thing I want is color on my cheeks. This is a psychological thing that will be hard for me. Yet I don't want to be holding onto blushes that I will never use.
  3. Paint my fingernails once. They are already painted so one nail polish change.
  4. Put away and organize Christmas decorations. I had emergency surgy the day after Christmas 2 years ago. My family put away the decorations that year. I still can't find some of my decorations. I want to reorganize them this time.
Not sure what else to write.

 
Goal for first 10 days--

1. Use facial masks -- I went facial mask crazy during 2014 and bought 6 tube masks, now I have 3 left, one is a cleansing mud mask which is about 2-3 uses left. I will do 1-2 times during this 10 days period, and it should be gone in the second 10days increment. One is a overnight mask, I will put it on at least 2 times during this time period.

2. Reduce the time I spend looking at beauty stuff online-- It is something I like doing, and I don't necessarily feel tempted, but I think the time is better spent reading or simply walk around and make myself some tea.. 

3. I don't have backups for shampoo, conditioner and liquid body wash (I rotate one liquid body wash and one soap usually, and I do have one backup for soap ) at this moment, and I know they will last at least 2 more weeks. I am going to see how long I can go without getting a backup-- I want to remind myself that it is okay not to have backups.

I mean... it can't be too hard. 

 
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