2018 - THE NO-BUY, LOW-BUY, BUDGET-BUY ACCOUNTABILITY AND SUPPORT THREAD

[ElleElleG]

*updated 11/25/18*

The 2019 thread is now available here: 

Spoiler

https://community.sephora.com/t5/Beauty-Confidential/2019-THE-NO-BUY-LOW-BUY-BUDGET-BUY-ACCOUNTABILI...#M342753

Hey all!  For the last few years the lovely @lnum has hosted this thread to help us stay motivated on our no-buys and low-buys. In an effort to keep her work alive, here is the 2018 edition.

The purpose of this thread (from lnum):

This thread is a support system for all of us who are trying to maintain a budget and keep our beauty spending limited. Post here when you have a weak moment, post here to hold yourself accountable, post here when you just need someone to talk to, post here when you have advice for all of us, and post here when you make mistakes but also make gains! Many of us post here to keep track of our monthly purchases. Anything you need to say, we are all here for each other. There's no judgement here.

Feel free to share your goals, items that tempt you, missteps (we don't believe in failures), and any successes.  Above all else, encourage and support one another.

Here's the OP from 2017 as well as the link for those interested: 

Spoiler

lnum wrote:

Welcome to Year 3!

My motto for this thread is that I strongly believe, even on a budget, you can have the things you want that make you happy without feeling like you're limiting yourself. 

This thread is a support system for all of us who are trying to maintain a budget and keep our beauty spending limited. Post here when you have a weak moment, post here to hold yourself accountable, post here when you just need someone to talk to, post here when you have advice for all of us, and post here when you make mistakes but also make gains! Many of us post here to keep track of our monthly purchases. Anything you need to say, we are all here for each other. There's no judgement here.

I am so excited to spend another year with you all. If it wasn't for the first two years of this thread, I would never have been able to cut down my beauty spending. My goal for this year is to maintain low spending on beauty, and cut down my clothing purchases. I will be funneling that money into traveling, which is what I have done in the past and it's a great goal that truly motivates me. 

I'm still so proud of everyone for making it through 2015 and 2016, limiting ourselves in the beauty product area in order to improve our lives in other areas. We all did great and here's to another year of learning and saving!

Here is a link to the 2015 thread: http://community.sephora.com/t5/VIB-ROUGE/2015-The-No-Buy-Low-Buy-Budget-Buy-Accountability-and-Supp...

2016 thread: 

http://community.sephora.com/t5/VIB/2016-The-NO-BUY-LOW-BUY-BUDGET-BUY-ACCOUNTABILITY-AND-SUPPORT/td...

 2017 thread: https://community.sephora.com/t5/VIB/2017-THE-NO-BUY-LOW-BUY-BUDGET-BUY-ACCOUNTABILITY-AND-SUPPORT/m...

Interested in Some Challenges to Help You Use Your Stash?  Check Out These Threads:

Spoiler

Pan It! 2018 Challenge: https://community.sephora.com/t5/Beauty-Confidential/Pan-It-2018-Challenge/m-p/3604337#M317498

Use Your Foil Samples Challenge: https://community.sephora.com/t5/Beauty-Confidential/Use-Your-Foil-Samples-Challenge-January-2018/m-...

The Perfume Challenge: https://community.sephora.com/t5/Perfume-Posse/The-Perfume-Challenge/m-p/2633976#M18939

Mask of the Week Challenge: https://community.sephora.com/t5/Skincare-Aware/Mask-of-the-Week-Challenge/m-p/3615125#M44343

**are you participating in a challenge that I failed to mention?  if so please let me know I can link it here**

💜💜💜

[pinyo]

I’m in the same boat as you @RGbrown! My madness was a year before yours and I literally have enough of everything beauty related to last me 2 lifetimes. I luckily limited my beauty purchases in 2017 to about 1/10 of my spending from 2016. Almost everything I bought in 2017 were necessities like hair care and a few lipsticks I’d been wanting for a few years that finally went on clearance. 

Lets hope we stay strong in 2018! My 2017 experience was very liberating and I’m looking forward to panning a lot of my products this year!

[RGbrown]

@pinyo

As nice as a new palette and lipstick practically every day is, I'm looking forward to going back through everything I managed to amass and actually putting it to use now. Almost everything I have has only one or two uses, but I want to show it all some love this year! I'm not sure I wear enough makeup often enough to actually pan anything, but I'd love to see some signs of use on some of this stuff.

[pinyo]

Same here! I think I'm going to focus on a few products this year so I can hopefully hit pan! Space is such a huge commodity for me that soon enough, I'll literally have to sleep with my makeup. 😄 so sad, yet so true. It's such a great feeling when I use a product and immediately proceed to toss the container lol @RGbrown

[RGbrown]

@pinyo

I hear ya...both my makeup and my skincare are overflowing! I'm currently making my way through skincare, body wash and lotion samples trying to clear some space back up...

...So I can fill it with more stuff 😄

[bakeamuffin]

I hear you @RGbrown! 2017 was all about building my stash and getting into quality products, rebounding from that will be tricky haha 

[RGbrown]

@bakeamuffin Yes, that sudden "what do you mean I'm not going to buy *everything* anymore?" is gonna be tough. A new palette a week is a tough habit to break lol. 

[lnum]

Thanks for keeping the tradition going! This thread helped me completely cut out my beauty spending, and even do a lot of general cleansing of “stuff” I thought I needed, which is still an ongoing process. Hope we all have a wonderful year saving towards our goals, and decluttering our lives. 

[ElleElleG]

THERE YOU ARE @lnum !!!!  Glad to see you!  You have been quite an inspiration and I'm hoping to reduce my purchases to a more manageable state.

[jesscheems]

I feel like every time I say anything I jinx myself. So here, let's start off the year differently by just saying nothing...

_________________________________________________________________________

(just know I was here and my head is sort of in the right place :D)

[ElleElleG]

LMAO @jesscheems !! I'll give you a virtual hand slap whenever you need it

[jesscheems]

@ElleElleG Muchly appreciated LMAO ❤️ (I don't know English anymore nor how to control spending hahahaha)

[Susubee]

I'm just going to go ahead and check myself in here. I just went through my credit card report and got slightly dizzy. Unless I actually run out of something and don't have a comparable replacement, I'm putting myself on timeout until at least Feb13th, Mardi Gras. 

[ElleElleG]

Gah I hate that feeling @Susubee !!  

[itsvictoria]

@Susubee Smart!  Maybe for Mardi Gras this year, I'll kick back on some purchases.