June 2014 No/Low-Buy Thread - Hugs, commiseration and confessional

[jaylilee]

Since tomorrow's the last day of the month and I will probably not be online, I'm hopping in now.

This month was a fantastic success and I can't believe I got through it all stress aside. Successful no-buy month! my husband did buy me a color tattoo from maybelline, which I take responsibility for but do not consider as a no-buy break. I also had an amazingly successful June challenge month of using the items I set out to use. That said, I'm allowing myself July to just wear whatever the heck I feel like wearing at any given day. Being restricted to certain items and seeing just how SLOW progress is on them, even with daily use, has given me a new perspective on my spending. I do not NEED anything. I want plenty of things, but I don't need them.

So this no-buy will continue until September 31st, at which point I will allow myself one purchase (and only because a family member gets a 25% discount as a sephora employee), and that is a bottle of marc jacobs Dot. Come next year I will also invest in a bottle of Jo Malone Peony and Suede Blush as a spring gift/birthday gift.  Other than that, I don't really see the need to get anything else.

*hugs* hang in there, ladies! we're here for you all. 

 

[azalea97]

Joining in in this thread a doing the project pan has really helped me with my low buy. June was a big success for me. Hoping July will be good too!

 

[AliciaKnits]

June was very successful for me! I had a no-buy this month (though I was on a low-buy), not including my Birchbox sub. I spent $0 on all beauty/bath/clothes. I was able to get through a lot of items, though haven't officially finished anything yet. I also tossed 4 items that were expired/going bad/didn't work for me. I am definitely in again for next month (will post on the July thread), and will also post on the Project Pan thread (very excited for that!).

 

[LuckyMoon]

I'm glad my self-imposed low buy is over.  I feel like I stuck to the "rules" I set for myself and like this will help me keep my spending habits more in control in the future.

Thanks to everyone in this thread for sharing and supporting each other.

If I feel like I need to take it easy with the spending again I will be back in this thread.  Good luck to everyone with their upcoming goals!

 

[emilylithium]

I bought a ton of clothes this month, including a Golden Tote bag. But did not spend much on makeup/skincare since I have so much already. The only thing that I couldn't resist is the sample society sale. Looking forward to next month! Gotta keep the spending down.

 

[Shalott]

I'm pleased with myself this month. I (mostly) managed my spending and I also used up a few of the products I wanted to get rid of. /emoticons/[email protected] 2x" width="20" height="20" /> I used up one of the foundations I wanted to get rid of and both mascaras. Actually, I only finished one, but the other is sufficiently dried up and flaking like crazy. It's done. I have back-ups of everything, so no need to replace them in July.

... which is good, because I can't buy ANY new beauty items next month. I have two birthdays, an anniversary, a baby shower and a bunch of per-ordered items that are taking up my budget! :blink:

 

[azalea97]

Well I made one last small makeup purchase for June... $2 elf glitter eyeshadow primer. I allowed myself to get it because it's not something I already have and because I want to be able to finally wear sidecar from my naked palette. I always had too much glitter fallout throughout the day & above my lids where it doesn't belong. Fingers crossed this works.

 

[kawaiisofoxy]

I stress-bought myself two nail polishes today.  Went to the brand-new Walgreens in my town and found out they don't take my insurance for prescriptions.  Thankfully the Wal-mart across the street did, but it meant spending an extra hour out of the house with a nauseous 4-year-old.  So I got myself two Sinful Colors polishes that I've been lusting over from online blogs.  

Mint Apple (light minty green with metallic shimmer) aaaaand...

Cinderella (pale blue with PINK SHIMMER).

Oh, June, I had such high hopes.  I need to go hide under a rock somewhere.

 

[nolongerhere1723]

Okay, so how did I do?  I've included commentary in red below!

Thanks for starting this! I did my May self-assessment over on that board, and while it didn't go horribly, it definitely could have been better!

I'm technically on a replacement-only makeup/skincare/etc. low buy (excepting a few non-problematic categories) through November. Well, last month, I did well on my restricted categories, buying replacements only, but I went crazy on the stuff not on my no-buy list! Totally defeating the purpose. Also, originally I was just doing this because I had too much STUFF, but now, I want to do it for financial reasons as well--my fiancee and I decided to buy a home this summer, as opposed to our original plan of waiting to buy until next summer! So while we are in decent shape for the down payment/mortgage, we are going to have a lot of furniture to buy this fall! So I want to save for that. 

So that brings me to...doing a full no-buy in June. My birthday month is July, so I know I'll want to splurge then, so I think doing a full no-buy (INCLUDING my previously non-restricted categories) will be important. This means no make up, no replacement skin care purchases (I don't anticipate getting through my samples, and even if I do...too bad! It will have to wait until July 1), no clothes, no candles, no NOTHING. 

I did pretty well! No makeup, skincare, home, or clothes purchases this month! I did have two slipups though, that were not on the allowed list: 1) mani/pedi while on vacation. This was a treat, but not too bad IMO--it wasn't a *thing*, it was an experience. 2) I let myself take Julep (and did the 3 month prepay option). Definitely was not on the allowed list, but I justified as a gift to myself for my birthday month, since it won't arrive until next month (even though it was billed a couple days ago). Definitely could have been worse!

There are only two exceptions for the month:

1) My prepaid Birchbox - Bought this, as allowed. Stuck to just one despite the good code!

2) A pair of black flats because my current ones are destroyed and this has been on my allowed list since April! I just can't seem to find a pair I like. - Didn't even buy these this month! Rolling over to July. 

Additional rules:

• Minimal eating out, since that got bad last month. I'm going to call it 2 meals a week.  - Ughhh did not do well at this. Between a lot of travel, plus those first few days when you get home for travel and haven't had a chance to go to the grocery store yet...not ideal!
  
• I'm traveling a fair amount next month (both for work and pleasure), so I need to keep the airport snacks and random coffee purchases down. - Did pretty well at this! Packed most of my snacks.
  

Other monthly goals:

• Finish taking my inventory. I'm through my skincare and hair products, but I need to do makeup and body products still. -Done with body products, need to finish up makeup this month!
  
• Sell the sample boxes (that I already have packed up) on eBay. - Check! Shipped out to purchasers today! Looks like I made about $55 after subtracting shipping costs--wow!
  
• Make the returns I need to make so that I can get the cash back in my pocket! - Failed at this. Whoops!
  
• Participate in Monday Club every week. I had been previously trying to hit pan on products (and focusing on a few eye shadows), but I really missed rotating products...so pan will have to wait! - Did a decent job rotating products, but didn't post it in Monday Club thread.
  
• Continue doing my Project 333 for clothes. I know this is a makeup forum so I won't get too much into that here, but I'd be interested in starting a board about this if anyone else does Project 333! - Did great at this! I love Project 333--life changing!!
  
• Work on my list for my birthday haul. /emoticons/[email protected] 2x" width="20" height="20" /> I think that will be fun when I am feeling the urge to splurge...I can read reviews and whatnot to decide what to treat myself to next month!  - Heh, did just fine for this...now to cull!
  

Overall, a pretty successful month for me. Good thing, since July is my birthday month and I will be treating myself a bit!

 

[azalea97]

I stress-bought myself two nail polishes today. Went to the brand-new Walgreens in my town and found out they don't take my insurance for prescriptions. Thankfully the Wal-mart across the street did, but it meant spending an extra hour out of the house with a nauseous 4-year-old. So I got myself two Sinful Colors polishes that I've been lusting over from online blogs.

Mint Apple (light minty green with metallic shimmer) aaaaand...

Cinderella (pale blue with PINK SHIMMER).

Oh, June, I had such high hopes. I need to go hide under a rock somewhere.

Awe thatat definitely deserves a few nail polishes. Hope the little one feels better soon.

 

[Margiee]

Check in time.

I made it through June pretty well, only spent $24 on beauty which is way better than most months outside of my allowed BB subs.  However, it was all on  nail polish from Julep which I do NOT need.  So kind of a big fail there.  I need to stop buying nail polish, I have way too much.  Maybe that will be a ban for July.  

I allowed myself today (July 1) to make an order from Ulta and an order from Sephora which I had planned out over the course of June.  I think that will be my strategy moving forward, to make a purchase on or around the first and spend the entire month planning it.  Now, over to the new thread to come up with a game plan after seeing how this month went.

I did really well on using some stuff in my stash up.  Once my new orders arrive I think I will go through everything and post over in the taking inventory thread.  Keeping myself accountable that way is very helpful.  

Thank you so much to everyone who posted here.  Just reading everything and feeling like somebody else was getting through a no-buy with me was so helpful and encouraging.  You're all the greatest and deserve 1 million gold stars (clearly the best form of measurement) for taking steps towards being responsible and supportive!

 

[chibimorph]

May was pretty bad for me. So I'm going to make a list of things that I'm allowed to buy if there's a sale, and hopefully I'll be able to stick with it.

I don't have any subscription boxes and I'm going to keep it that way.

For my makeup low-buy:

• Shiro Colors of the Month clearout - I've heard this happens in June, so if it happens again this year I can buy some things (only CotMs/stuff I won't be able to get Cyber Monday). So far the only ones I'm really thinking about are Doge and Plausible Walrus, but we'll see if I manage to talk myself out of this. 
• If Coastal Scents has a 50% off brushes sale, then I can get brushes and empty 5g jars.
• If Ulta gives me a 20% off order coupon, then I can get Real Techniques brushes if they are BOGO1/2 and maybe an anti-aging cream to get to free shipping (I currently only have an Olay serum for anti-aging). If there's a good skincare deal with the coupon then I can buy my mom skincare products (shipped to her house).
• If Meow Cosmetics has a 20% off sale, then I can buy foundation samples and maybe 2-3 samples of different orange blushes.
• At the end of the month, I can reassess if I want Muji drawers.
• 1 random order/purchase if none of the above sales happen.

I'm also going to focus on kind of a project pan.

Shiro: Yup, made the order on June 28 - I ended up getting Plausible Walrus, Chinchillin' (both of which are now discontinued), samples of The Avengers collection, and a sample of Cyanide blush. My total was less than $30, which is good considering that my list was definitely at $50 in the middle of the month. I'm not interested in the July CotM, so all is well with this brand right now (as in, I can wait until Black Friday/Cyber Monday).

Coastal Scents: the brush deal didn't happen so I didn't make an order.

Ulta: this did not happen; but Real Techniques had a 50% off sale on their website, and since this was a better deal I decided to get the brushes.

Meow Cosmetics: they did have a sale, but since I bought blushes from the Hello Waffle 25% off flash sale I disallowed this. Their anniversary sale is in August, so I may purchase then.

I decided that I don't need Muji drawers now.

Also, since I ran out of my salicylic acid treatment/product this month, I decided that I could replace it. I bought the Neutrogena Stress Control 3-in-1 Hydrating Acne Treatment (2% salicylic acid) and toilet seat covers to act as blotting sheets (because I am super oily during the summer and I figure buying new ones is the only real cost-effective, yet sanitary way to get these) from Amazon. The Neutrogena salicylic acid gel has been discontinued in the US (it's still available in Canada, though) - so I had to buy it from Amazon.

Unallowed purchases:

Femme Fatale order... because this is an Australian brand and the reddit indie makeup group was doing a group order. My order was around $30 including shipping (I think I had one of the smallest orders of that group buy). Shipping from Australia is really expensive, so this was a good opportunity to try Femme Fatale so I don't feel particularly guilty about this.

I also took advantage of the IPSY25 code for 25% off Rainbow Honey. I thought I had originally allowed this (in order to get the June limited edition polish)... anyways, I'm happy with the polishes, so /emoticons/[email protected] 2x" width="20" height="20" />

This was still a lot of stuff - but at least I controlled my impulse purchases. I still consider this a low-buy (semi-epic) fail, though  /emoticons/[email protected] 2x" width="20" height="20" />  I already posted my allowed list (which is smaller than this one) in the July thread.

Stuff I resisted: Bath and Body Works Semi-Annual sale! Dreamworld Hermetica sale, Lucy Minerals sale, currently resisting the My Pretty Zombie sale, resisting the Innocent+Twisted Alchemy sale, Beauty.com had another 20% off code, the Sephora Formula X Twenty-Two set that was on sale, and clothes. I'm sure there are other sales that tempted me, too.

Project Pan is still going! My Revlon Lip Butter in Peach Parfait is almost done and I hit pan on another eyeshadow this month.

 

[TooMuchElectric]

June!

Not so great, but almost all of the purchases were needed and ridiculously good deals.

I spent:

$76.32 on 3 Freya bras (so basically 3 for the price of 1). I'm still in the market for a good t-shirt bra, but I'm otherwise good on quality bras now.

$74.60 on nail polish: $20 of this was a gift, and $20 of this was an impulse-buy Enchanted Polish. I'm glad I got an EP at a good price, and I'll use it up, but I don't love it enough to want another from the brand. Basically I tested the water and decided not to dive into that expensive lake. The rest of it ($56) paid for 37(!) Juleps, 2 rainbow honey minis, 2 indie holo minis, and next month's Julep box.

$22.35 on two lotions and a cleansing oil. Reasonable/needed purchases for about 75% off.

$18.50 on a $90 pair of neutral sandals/heels. I bid on ebay, thinking that the price was so low that there's no way I'd win. I forgot about it, and then won. Whoops.

$50 on two Caboodles nail valet cases. My homemade shelves were falling apart, and these cases had been on my wishlist for a while. (plus gwp/freebies of 2 bareminerals blushes, eyeshadows, mascaras, and powder foundations, the real techniques beautyblender dupe, and an exceptionally good free variety sampler from Ulta, plus 3x points).

$25 BeautyDNA: My product this month was awful, but they sent a bonus $48 It cosmetics brush, so I can't complain much.

$175 Kate Spade bag and wristlet (original price of $456) I resisted a not-as-good sale earlier in the month, and caved on the second sale. These should last for YEARS (decades?).

July:

I plan to spend $15 on the BeautyBrands liter sale and $25 on BeautyDNA. I kind of want to do a no-buy other than that, but July is when clearance sales happen so I have to be realistic. My only specific rule is I can only buy Juleps for less than $2.50/bottle. I will also keep an eye out for a good deal on the new benefit liner.

 

[mrscollinsbaby7]

May was a bad month for me. Although it was my first ever makeup/beauty purchase heavy month, I still felt so guilty. I started Ipsy and Birchbox in April and since then I have become OBSESSED with beauty and makeup products lol but for June, I am limiting myself to only my Birchbox and Ipsy. I will also give myself a $25.00 spending limit for the entire month. I am also addicted to clothing shopping, but in my defense, I do get some killer deals lol I recently went shopping with my husband and kids and I bought 3 pairs of jeans, 2 shirts and a jacket all for $30.00! Sometimes it's just SO HARD to pass up really good deals =[ Lol but I have to learn and fight the temptation! So I am also putting myself on a no-buy for clothing. Wish me luck ladies and thank you so much for all of the support and advice! =] Good luck to you all as well! 

I did very well this month and I was successful with my no-buy for clothing! YES! =] But I did go over my spending limit for beauty by about $20.00. But still not as bad as May was. Thanks again ladies!! =]