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

[Margiee]

So i have been secretly stalking these low-buy threads for the past few months (without saying anything like a creep) because I really loved how encouraging everyone is with each other.  I haven't felt the need to go on a full no or even low-buy but I liked reading just to keep my spending in check and keep perspective on what I was buying.  But I have a break this month between when my school job ends and my summer job starts up so I won't get paid for a little while and all the makeup and beauty goodies I have been slowly hoarding since November are starting to reach impressive rates.  So I think it is time for me to have a no-buy month.  

I am allowed to keep both of my birchboxes (they are month to month but I just resubscribed to my secondary account using a 100 point promo so I don't feel too bad).   I am also subscribed to julep but will probably skip unless it is amazing.  I need to take one more box before I can get a freebie so that is some back of my mind incentive, but I have so much polish that it doesn't make sense unless I really LOVE the options.   

Absolutely no spending any dollars on make up or beauty unless I run out of something completely (including samples young lady!!) and cannot go a few weeks without it.  I don't foresee this happening so I have no emergency plan and will have to come on here to discuss if it looks like it will be an issue.  

I also want to take advantage of it being summer and school being out to spend a little more time feeling pretty and appreciating my pretties.  To that end I am going to do a modified Monday club/project pan.  I will have some items that I have to use i(serum, moisturizer) or a set of choices to choose from (nail polish) if I want to use a particular product or a set product I have to use until it is finished without using an alternative (blush, primer).  This way I don't force myself to a single week and can make some things longer term while still forcing myself to shop my stash.  I've added some photos below (forgive me if they are large, I am still getting used to formatting around here) of the items I am currently working on.  I will update these items mid-month.  

As a reward/incentive, if I can get through this entire month without buying anything I may purchase an Ipsy subscription for the summer with the intent of cancelling in September.   

 

[splash79]

I know we're still in May, but in the time since my post on this thread (around 4:30 pm), I've spent $50 and feel the need to confess.  My favorite sitcom was cancelled recently and I bought some souvenirs.  They had always been on my 'to buy' list, but I had always missed them going on sale.  I bought a coffee mug from the company store and a sweatshirt from ebay, which is supposed to be a special cast/crew only edition.  

I.will.spend.no.more.money!!

 

[tweakabell]

I'm going to be stalking you ladies this month. I'm not big on support type groups, I'll just be observing, mostly.

Goals:

Absolute no buy, there is nothing I need/do not have at least one of

I put my SquareHue on hold which kills me, I haven't missed a month in over a year. I really should cancel it completely but I have the lifetime $15 rate and I don't want to give it up

Purge!! I've found a few products within the last few weeks that aren't working right, I need to toss them and go through the entire stash and do the same.

 

[kawaiiwoofs]

I'm going to keep up with my low-almost no buy. I'm going to be busy prepping my thesis and flying around for job interviews basically the whole month -- unless the one I want picks me and picks me early /emoticons/[email protected] 2x" width="20" height="20" />

 

[SaraP]

So this will be my first real no buy :scared: , I thought about it once but the enablers thread did me in within minutes <_<

My plan is simple Don't. Buy. Anything!

I am doing the Summer Swap, so that won't count. I have 7 gift cards to Bergdorf Goodman (from Glossybox) and those have to be used by June 15th, so I get a pass on that. BUT not one other thing...

 

[Kristine Walker]

@@Margiee That yellow nail polish is gorgeous!

 

[jaylilee]

So i have been secretly stalking these low-buy threads for the past few months (without saying anything like a creep) because I really loved how encouraging everyone is with each other.  I haven't felt the need to go on a full no or even low-buy but I liked reading just to keep my spending in check and keep perspective on what I was buying.  But I have a break this month between when my school job ends and my summer job starts up so I won't get paid for a little while and all the makeup and beauty goodies I have been slowly hoarding since November are starting to reach impressive rates.  So I think it is time for me to have a no-buy month.  

Lol we're all a little shady here (I know I stalk some of the other threads in the nail forum). Welcome! I love that yellow and blue nail polish, but that CORAL has my heart! beautiful choices. 

I'm going to be stalking you ladies this month. I'm not big on support type groups, I'll just be observing, mostly.

Goals:

Absolute no buy, there is nothing I need/do not have at least one of

I put my SquareHue on hold which kills me, I haven't missed a month in over a year. I really should cancel it completely but I have the lifetime $15 rate and I don't want to give it up

Purge!! I've found a few products within the last few weeks that aren't working right, I need to toss them and go through the entire stash and do the same.

Welcome and good luck with purging! I always find that so hard because I get attached to my items...so while I know people say purge, I only do so if the item is SO BAD I can't stand to work with it or get a little creative with application. It means I end up with a giant hoard of usable items until they're gone. However I'm getting better at not repurchasing just items I think are so-so.

The no-buy should be easy if you find ways to get creative with your stuff.

 

[cumber1137]

I'll be on a no buy again for June but it should be much easier than May. I'm moving from Michigan to California next week to follow my dreams. No only will I be sleeping on couches and not have an address to send online orders to, but Los Angeles is so expensive and I am moving out there without a place to live or a job so I don't want to blow my savings on makeup.

If anyone has a couch in LA let me know! /emoticons/[email protected] 2x" width="20" height="20" />

 

[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.

Here are pics of the products (the Monday Club has seen these things many times before) (the lipstick at the far right is not in my project, it's a full-size there for reference):



And my list (it was really hard assessing the amounts left... even when I put it to the light I couldn't really see through the packaging of my primers):

 

[elizabethrose]

Keeping on a low-buy for June!

Exceptions: Two Birchboxes (I'm keeping one sub until I get my Kate Spade Necklace.  I will riot if I don't get it.), and gifts for my Midsummer Swap person (waiting until the 3rd week of June- getting my financial aid then).  I may pick up some drugstore things on impulse but I should keep that to a minimum.  Gonna try to work on some samples that I have and just bust through some of my makeup!  I've had a really hard time not impulse buying every single Indie I see- @@meaganola got me hooked and now I can't stop.  Hopefully I'll be able to do well with this low-buy because I don't have a lot of cash at the moment- quitting my job today!! And I have three weeks until my financial aid deposits into my account.  I have one more paycheck coming in, but some of it will be going to plane tickets for a trip.  I will be traveling for about two of the three weeks so hopefully I can keep my spending to a minimum!

 

[meaganola]

@@elizabethrose Whoops! Here's what I do to keep the indie monster at bay: I pick out no more than two companies to concentrate on for the year (this year, it's GCC and GDE) and plan out what I will be buying when for the rest of the year. There's something about *knowing* I can buy a certain thing at a certain time that helps me cool my jets and not have to get everything RIGHT THIS SECOND.

 

[Margiee]

@@Kristine Walker @@jaylilee Thank you so much, I'm excited about those colors and I haven't used either the yellow or the coral ONCE yet.  And I've had them for months.  This is my problem that I'm trying to get around, buying things I am excited about and then avoiding using them for no reason.   

 

[elizabethrose]

@@meaganola that's brilliant!! I'm restricting myself totally for the first three weeks of June, but after that I should have a little more leeway!  Will have to pick some brands to start with!

 

[jaylilee]

I know we're still in May, but in the time since my post on this thread (around 4:30 pm), I've spent $50 and feel the need to confess.  My favorite sitcom was cancelled recently and I bought some souvenirs.  They had always been on my 'to buy' list, but I had always missed them going on sale.  I bought a coffee mug from the company store and a sweatshirt from ebay, which is supposed to be a special cast/crew only edition.  

I.will.spend.no.more.money!!

i have an obsession with coffee mugs, and i'm the only coffee drinker at home...sigh. ;-; they're so pretty, though. Good luck!

So this will be my first real no buy :scared: , I thought about it once but the enablers thread did me in within minutes <_<

My plan is simple Don't. Buy. Anything!

I am doing the Summer Swap, so that won't count. I have 7 gift cards to Bergdorf Goodman (from Glossybox) and those have to be used by June 15th, so I get a pass on that. BUT not one other thing...

no-buys are so much harder than they sound..but get creative with your items and soon you'll forget about buying new shinies if you fall in love again with your old ones.

edit:

I am also going to folllow up again (thanks for the reminder, @@chibimorph!) and re-posting my list of items I am focusing on, as well as the items I am using exclusively for the month of july. I m allowing myself to add items (from my project pan list and otherwise) to the exclusive items that I have to use every day, so they can be used in conjunction. I am also plotting what to replace my two lip products with that have less than 20% left (hurrah!)

The cremesheen glass is only 20% full so give it two weeks or so of daily use and I think it will be done (and thrown into my back to mac pile), so then I will replace it with my revlon lip butter in pink truffle which also has only about 20% left and should be done in two weeks if I use it consistently. That would even out to about 2 lip products and progress on a third by the end of the month, and 2 items off my project pan list!

(I have 22 items on there, everything in qty's of 3 per makeup category...so 3 shadows, 3 lippies, 3 blushes, etc. 

 

[MIKAGlam]

Last month was my no-buy and my rule was that if I did not purchase and makeup and I passed all my classes that I could buy the Urban Decay Electric palette as a reward.

I purchased a Pacifica Lip Quench but I classify that as chapstick and therefore does not count. So, I am allowing myself to purchase the UD palette! I also made a Birchbox purchase but I only paid $2.40 for $88 worth of stuff so I am not beating myself up over that at all.

I am visiting my boy toy near the end of the month for the weekend (He lives 3 and a half hours away when not at college) and we're taking a trip to Sephora (I live no where near one! like 2 hrs is the closest one) so I am allowing myself a few other purchases beside the palette.

My goal this month is to save up for a little splurge that one day and only buy makeup that one day. I would rather have money for the trip and to get my hair done.

 

[mrscollinsbaby7]

So I did the inventory sheet for all of my makeup and it was SO helpful! Now when I feel like making an online purchase, I just pull up the sheet and realize I definitely do not need another one of whatever it is. Lol I have 10 unopened mascaras, some full size and some sample size and that is just ridiculous (for me) lol so I can definitely see the spreadsheet being super helpful with my low buy! Thanks for the tip ladies! =]

 

[meaganola]

Le sigh.  Well, it will be easy to stick to a no-buy this week:  I just got a call from my credit union.  I'm getting something like the FOURTH NEW CARD IN LESS THAN A YEAR DUE TO FRAUD.  Sixth time in two years, if I've counted correctly.  And did I mention that my rent check hasn't been cashed yet since I just sent it to my landlord a couple of days ago, so she doesn't even have it yet?  On the up side, she's very cool and will hold onto my check until Friday (payday) so it won't bounce.  I just have to send her a copy of the letter I'm sending to my credit union to contest this charge.  

 

[jaylilee]

guys  this is going to be gross so i'm going to put it behind spoilers

Spoiler

I am currently having orthodontic work done, and I have expanders placed in right now. Usually, for adults, the only way to expand a palette is  to basically slice the roof of the person's mouth open and break the jaw  to push it wider apart. THANKFULLY, My jaw, teeth and gums are very healthy so I was able to get away with having expanders in, which is basically shaped to my palate/roof of my mouth and cemented to my molars, and every other day I had to activate it (crank it wider apart) with this little stick thing. This is what they do for kids lol.

So now I am done activating it, but they have to sit for 2 months, to let my teeth sit in place before braces come in. At that point, my whole bite will get shifted over to acommodate space for a tooth (crown + implant that will cost us like 5k, on top of the 7k my braces have already cost...thank good for HSA accounts). My teeth today have been sore and annoyed as I feel certain that my teeth are shifting.

All this has seriously put me on edge all day. I just downed a ton of ibuprophen with milk. but the funny thing i noticed is ... i started looking at makeup. I am realizing that discomfort and stress push me to look for that "happy fix" and that's so dangerous! gah! 

 

[meaganola]

@jayilee I got that wanna-stress-shop feeling yesterday after work (when I'm in pain, I just want lots of painkillers).  Fortunately, I was too tired to actually buy anything.  I also got that feeling today when I went to the grocery store after mailing the fraud affidavit (did I mention that the fraud in question is for FIFTEEN HUNDRED DOLLARS?), but then I have all of the new essence trend edition stuff that's currently out, and I was so cranky that I didn't even want to look at any of the other stuff.  There's something about essence TE packaging -- it's almost always different from the usual packaging, and each collection is usually completely different from the others -- that makes me want to buy it over anything else.  I ended up buying food and food preparation stuff and calling it good.  Oh, and Pamprin.  Because CRANKY CRANKY PANTS.

 

[jaylilee]

@jayilee I got that wanna-stress-shop feeling yesterday after work (when I'm in pain, I just want lots of painkillers).  Fortunately, I was too tired to actually buy anything.  I also got that feeling today when I went to the grocery store after mailing the fraud affidavit (did I mention that the fraud in question is for FIFTEEN HUNDRED DOLLARS?), but then I have all of the new essence trend edition stuff that's currently out, and I was so cranky that I didn't even want to look at any of the other stuff.  There's something about essence TE packaging -- it's almost always different from the usual packaging, and each collection is usually completely different from the others -- that makes me want to buy it over anything else.  I ended up buying food and food preparation stuff and calling it good.  Oh, and Pamprin.  Because CRANKY CRANKY PANTS.

omg fraud!! D: I am so sorry to hear that. That crap sucks. And ouch $1500. The only time we've  ever had to do anything for fraud was when our bank sent us new cards due to the target thing when they re-issued cards to everyone. best of luck getting all that sorted out.

Discomfort (of any kind) and stress especially seem to send me into wanting overdrive into wanting to buy shiny things. It sucks and I need to figure out better ways to deal with it.