October 2014 No/Low Buy: Hugs, Commiseration, and Confessional

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Still going strong over here. My no-buy has been reinforced by the fact that the shelf that holds my unopened full size products is literally starting to bend under the weight. I'm waiting for it to come crashing down in the middle of the night! Luckily I used up a face cleanser this morning and I should be done with my toner by the end of the week so that should help.

 
Ugh ugh ugh! I've been doing so great.  No make up all of October.  But I just got an e-mail

from ulta for 20% off absolutely anything.  It expires November 1.  Is it stupid of me to hold onto it and plan shop until November 1 then grab a treat for being good all October? Or does that entirely ruin the point of being good all October?  Should I just give the code to somebody else immediately to avoid temptation?  Why is this so anxiety-inducing?
 
Margiee said:
Ugh ugh ugh! I've been doing so great.  No make up all of October.  But I just got an e-mail

from ulta for 20% off absolutely anything.  It expires November 1.  Is it stupid of me to hold onto it and plan shop until November 1 then grab a treat for being good all October? Or does that entirely ruin the point of being good all October?  Should I just give the code to somebody else immediately to avoid temptation?  Why is this so anxiety-inducing?
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just plan to buy on november 1, and forget about it for now. you're probably gonna change your mind anyway come november 1, and not buy (or not buy too much)!

add: the 'rush to buy' will eventually calm down, so just wait it out. :) /emoticons/[email protected] 2x" width="20" height="20" />

 
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Margiee said:
Ugh ugh ugh! I've been doing so great.  No make up all of October.  But I just got an e-mail

from ulta for 20% off absolutely anything.  It expires November 1.  Is it stupid of me to hold onto it and plan shop until November 1 then grab a treat for being good all October? Or does that entirely ruin the point of being good all October?  Should I just give the code to somebody else immediately to avoid temptation?  Why is this so anxiety-inducing?
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Depending on what you would get, it kind of ruins the point of a low buy... what were you thinking of getting? If you have necessities to replace or gifts to buy, then it might make sense. Although in terms of getting the most bang for your buck at Ulta, I think 20% sales are the best time to redeem points, and 5x or 10x bonus points events are the best time to spend money. 

 
saku said:
just plan to buy on november 1, and forget about it for now. you're probably gonna change your mind anyway come november 1, and not buy (or not buy too much)!
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Oh yeah that's even better. Maybe build a shopping list tonight, and then ignore it completely until November 1. You can re-evaluate your list then.

 
@@saku @@TooMuchElectric thank you! You guys are right, it's not worth getting worried about right now.  I will try to go through my stash sometime between now and Nov 1.  The only thing I can think I am really after is a nude blush but it's not like I don't have other blush options and I probably won't die without that one specific color.  I will also try to make some christmas gift plans and see if it's a good chance to cross things off the list.  But if not I will continue to hold out for later and probably better deals.  

 
2 more items just added to my wish list - why do I read the dang holiday sets thread lol...but I'm doing well this month but I'm still constantly tempted.  10 days to go and the ONLY beauty related purchases have been gift exchange items.  That is if I don't include my sub boxes (but all of those are repaid except beautydna) ....however I have a prepaid ipsy that I send directly to a friend that puts together packages for the troops as I don't need anything & I can't cancel it (ends in Dec)!  Glossy will end next month and I am going to try NOT to renew...  The only sub that I intend to keep up with so far is beautydna and so far 2/3 months have been awesome.

To date I have had $288 worth of stuff for the cost of $80.25 and 2 of the items are excellent (one is a holy grail item) so I intend to keep that sub
 

I'm beginning to wonder if I just don't use enough product as I finally finished my cc cream today - its a 50ml tube - I opened it in Decmeber 2013 and I use it daily - and I think I use a fair amount but its taken me 11 months to finish!  I have opened my spare tube - but it expires in May 2015 and there is NO WAY I will have finished it by then.

 
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TooMuchElectric said:
. Although in terms of getting the most bang for your buck at Ulta, I think 20% sales are the best time to redeem points, and 5x or 10x bonus points events are the best time to spend money. 
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You're brilliant! I never really paid attention to the bonus point events, but that's when I need to spend, and when we have % off, I'll redeem!

saku said:
just plan to buy on november 1, and forget about it for now. you're probably gonna change your mind anyway come november 1, and not buy (or not buy too much)!

add: the 'rush to buy' will eventually calm down, so just wait it out. :) /emoticons/[email protected] 2x" width="20" height="20" />
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You're so right- that always happens with my wishlists. If I wait long enough, I change my mind and take items off, maybe add more, maybe not. That's why I need to be extra careful about impulse purchases, because I'll think, "This is going to be perfect, my HG" and then... it isn't and... I find something better.... and then something better than that... blah blah. :( /emoticons/[email protected] 2x" width="20" height="20" />

TooMuchElectric said:
Oh yeah that's even better. Maybe build a shopping list tonight, and then ignore it completely until November 1. You can re-evaluate your list then.
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Yeah, it's a good way to make sure there's nothing you need that would be good to have at 20% off, but also to keep you from rushing.

As for me, I guess it's good that I don't have access to a F&F code, since I wanted to wait until November to purchase. I wanted to wait until all the cool add-on deals.

 
My orders this month are creeping up... I felt like I had to redeem $60 in credit at Hautelook before it expired, so I ended up spending $55 on that for free shipping + tax. It's something I'll wear until it literally falls apart. I don't need it, at all, though, so I still feel like it was a silly purchase.

I spent $170 on high end brushes, which I've been planning for months. And now I'm done buying brushes, like, forever. I don't need anything else, and anything I want can wait for a few years.

$25 on BeautyDNA,

$30 at TJ Maxx for acrylic drawers so my makeup isn't falling all over the place and shattering,

$15 at Ross for a dress,

$15 on a 50% off indie eyeshadow collection from my wish list.

I have been waiting for a basic 20% off code at Ulta so I could redeem 2000 points on a nice flat iron. I got the amazing 20% off entire purchase including prestige coupon, and still stuck to my plan of only buying the single flat iron. No holiday palettes, no more lipsticks, just redeeming points on that one item.

And I have a F&F coupon burning a hole in my pocket at Sephora, but I'm not getting anything with it! Nothing!

And no memeboxes either!

I feel like I'm doing such a good job of resisting purchases, yet I'm still at a whopping $335 this month. SO FAR. :( /emoticons/[email protected] 2x" width="20" height="20" />

 
I am very proud of myself today. I had a cart filled with Memeboxes and I walked away from it! Instead of pulling the trigger I went through my open Memebox orders and realized I have 7 (!) boxes coming to me between the end of this month and the middle of December. I definitely don't need anymore boxes.

Plus, I've been doing some (allowed) shopping for a a Secret Santa I'm participating in and I haven't made any purchases for myself. Not even a sample bag of eyeshadow!

Oh, and I've finished quite a few products this month.

I'm feeling really good about how I will end the month. This is the most on track I've felt in a long time.

 
curlytails said:
I am very proud of myself today. I had a cart filled with Memeboxes and I walked away from it! Instead of pulling the trigger I went through my open Memebox orders and realized I have 7 (!) boxes coming to me between the end of this month and the middle of December. I definitely don't need anymore boxes.

Plus, I've been doing some (allowed) shopping for a a Secret Santa I'm participating in and I haven't made any purchases for myself. Not even a sample bag of eyeshadow!

Oh, and I've finished quite a few products this month.

I'm feeling really good about how I will end the month. This is the most on track I've felt in a long time.
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Good job on the Memebox win!! That's definitely a strategy I've used before too. Usually an easier one for me is visualizing all the various items in my stash and then thinking about what will probably be in the boxes I've chosen. Makes it real easy to back off quickly, because I really do want to use all the products I get from them, but I only have one face. 

 
My no buy is not super strict, but I have been trying to avoid buying makeup since I just have way too much and shouldn't accumulate more. But I have something in my Sephora cart that I really want. I won't say what, but it's $25, which is totally reasonable, and I put it in there 2 days ago. I decided to sleep on it for a while and see if I still wanted it, and I do, but I don't know if that's good enough justification to actually buy it. Hmmm.

 
I went ahead and cancelled my Fortune Cookie Winter Soap box.  Based on the spoilers I have  a sensitivity /allergy to an ingredient in the hydrate me and cuticle butter and don't use the OCD so I'd be getting a bunch of stuff I won't use and I already have an 18qt Rubbermaid bin overflowing with samples and minis plus a 3 drawer mini cart nearly full of products.  I am running out of space.

And not adding to my stash is one of the main purposes of my no buy.

 
Ok with 3 days to go, I have spent $51 on myself. The rest was gifts so I'm not counting it. I'm not too upset. One was something that was legitimately now or never, one I really wanted to try, one I did not need. So not a complete no buy success but definitely not a disaster either. I can live with it.

Officially off no buy until January! Then it's going to be an attempt to go hardcore no buy/project pan from jan-April so good luck to everyone! I know this time of year is hard :( /emoticons/[email protected] 2x" width="20" height="20" />

 
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dancersmum said:
To date I have had $288 worth of stuff for the cost of $80.25 and 2 of the items are excellent (one is a holy grail item) so I intend to keep that sub
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Some thinking that helps me a bit: SRP on an item is not the measure of its worth. The retail value of the contents of a sub box is irrelevant if they're things you wouldn't buy if they didn't come in the box. A $400 sweater sized XS has a value of $0 to my plus-sized self. a $50 hot-pink bangle has $0 value to my hot-pink-hating self. Those things only have value to me if I sell or trade them, or give them as gifts, and that requires an investment of time (for swapping or selling), or a proper recipient to match (in the case of gifting). If I get sent something awful, I'm not going to gift or donate it for someone else to hate!  

I find the value in the boxes lies in being able to test things out, not in the numbers -- and another thing to consider: once you find a skincare regimen you love, how many exfoliators/eye creams/serums/etc are you going to try, and try for long enough to see a difference? Especially after you find that HG item you mentioned!

My value in a box amounts to: How many of the items in it do I love, intend to use, or find appealing? How many of them can be gifted or swapped if I don't like them? I cancelled Glossy because the more generic boxes without customization tend to not appeal to me much any more, while BirchBox has been better and better all the time at sending me things I actually want. 

 

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