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View activity, savings and benefits
Redeem items, samples and more
View and track online orders
Reorder it from in-store and online purchases
View saved products
Recommendations from your store visits
Manage your services, classes and events
Complete your beauty traits for personalized recommendations
Payments, contact info, addresses and password
Ask questions, join challenges, and get recommendations from people like you
Discover topics tailored to your beauty interests
Add your photos and get inspired by fellow beauty lovers
From makeovers to personalized skincare consultations
Get inspired, play with products & learn new skills
Exciting launches, parties & more
Explore what's hot in your store
*updated 11/25/18*
The 2019 thread is now available here:
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:
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:
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:
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Thank you so much. I wasnโt sure anyone would reply because it was such a long message and I was/am worried people might think Iโm crazy to buy makeup for some of the reasons I do. I also just enjoy creating new looks and perfecting different techniques. Itโs an art form and sense of self expression for me as well but unfortunately I know I buy mostly to try to make myself feel better and because of what Iโve been through Iโve been coping with a lot of ups & downs. Trauma seemed to help trigger buying makeup. I know how weird that sounds but itโs true. Itโs like a coping mechanism for me too. I did promise my sister I wasnโt going to buy anything else until my credit card was paid off but that promise has failed numerous times already. For example I fell in love with a small indie brand, Smolder Cosmetics, out of LA and my 1st order was a smaller one for like $65 but I just loved their products so much that I now own EVERY SINGLE ITEM on their site. Even shades I may never use simply because I wanted the whole collection and itโs sooooo pretty ๐ not to mention they have this promo code that seems to NEVER expire so far anyway, OMG15 so Iโm always getting 15% off when I buy from them. Even Tarte right now has an offer they sent me of 25% off my entire purchase which I can combine with my tarte rewards points and get an additional 20% off on top of the 25%. So in my mind Iโm not wanting to miss out on those deals as the 25% one they sent expires March 1st. Too Faced seriously screwed up my pre Christmas order and so they gave me 2 offers - one for 50% off sale items and one for 25% off site wide excluding the brand new arrivals... I can go on because I have a gift card to UD too right now and 3 $20 kickback dollars off my purchases too. So you can see those make the temptation even greater, especially when Iโm having a bad day. At the moment there is not much I want on UD because I own about 90% of what is on their site so Iโm trying to hold off on using the gift card and kickbacks until something comes out that I really want instead of buying backups of things I own already. I have even tried deleting the apps and emails from all the companyโs that email me almost daily. I have opted out of text notices from almost all of them except Tarte because Iโm so hooked on them for some reason.
Anyway, I think I need to devise a plan and try my best to stick to it. I donโt think huge goals work for me, like promises I wonโt buy anything until my card is paid off or close to it. Maybe something smaller? Any suggestions? Iโm certainly open to suggestions. I love makeup. Itโs how I relax and have my me time, but buying more doesnโt mean I canโt still have that. So idk I need short term goals I guess. I still think I sound silly or pathetic. It was very humbling and even a bit embarrassed to leave my post and seek out others who understand. So I really appreciate that you took time to reply. Thank you kindly. ๐ค
@Susubee, I'm always trying to find ways to spend less (even if it is buying something I want but making sure that I use a coupon), but I'm also willing to cheer people on if they buy things IF their credit cards are paid off and it makes them happy. If you're putting things on a credit card that isn't paid off, you should definitely take a break and we'll be here to support you. Having a balance on a credit card creates a lot of stress that you don't need, and will make you more unhappy and liable to buy new things.
All of your tricks are good. If you have a really hard time stopping spending, the main thing I would do is have an automatic bill-pay take half of what you ordinarily spend in makeup every month and direct it over the minimum or your credit card payment. For example, say your minimum credit card payment each month is $100, and you ordinarily spend $300 each month on makeup, the automatic bill pay payment each month should be $100+$150 = $250, and then you can only spend $150 on makeup. The goal of course is to go on an entire no-buy eventually, but this baby step will help you forward. Kind of like the trick where people pay off the credit card with the smallest balance first, rather than the highest interest rate, just so that feeling of accomplishment will keep you going.
Good luck and I hope we can help!
Those sale emails are the worst. Sales and gwp. Argh.
A few things that have helped me are:
* Equate the price of what you're about to impulse buy to something else. $25 lipstick? That's dinner out. $75 palette? That's two weeks of groceries or one month of dog food and treats.
* Put stuff in your cart but don't check out. Chances are, you'll go look again the next day (when there's a completely different sale email) and take most of those things back out of the cart.
* Join a project pan and start collecting 'empties' to post; if you're focused on using what you have, new stuff is less appealing Bc it'll interfere.
* No regretting past purchases. No guilt. That's the past. You can only change future spending choices, so approach each one thinking about whether you will regret that purchase later or still feel good about it.
* Post here when you DONT buy something. It's rewarding for you right now to purchase; find ways to get positive feedback for not making a purchase.
* Set limits. Whether it be time (no X for N days) or money (only $Y this month) or number of purchases (Only on purchase per week/month or only from certain stores or if certain discount criteria are met.)
* If it makes it easier, figure out what you CAN spend per month and keep that separate somehow - PayPal, gift cards, prepaid debit, cash - and only buy things from that pool.
* Make rules you can keep, and stick to them. It's actually kindof liberating to look at a sale email or a new release and feel absolutely no pressure to buy or not to buy because you've already made that decision on a larger scale.
Came up with a couple more:
* Join some of the "challenge" threads. They'll also help redirect your focus to using your collection instead of building it.
* You mentioned you have duplicates of a lot of items. Maybe go through and make sure that nothing is nearing expiration. Then think about whether you will actually be able to use your working item and you backup before either expire. If the answer is no (and it's not part of a looking-only collection), you might consider either gifting or selling unused product.
You have taken the first step in overcoming the problem by telling other people what you are going through in your struggle to stop spending. It's hard, but it can be done. It might be helpful to check out the Spenders Anonymous website. It's a 12 step program, and those work for some people and not for others, but they do have a list of strategies that might be helpful for you.
You can do it! Would it be helpful to set up a savings account that you deposit the cost of a lipstick, or an eyeshadow palette in to when you are just about to buy something?Perhaps seeing that balance grow would give you some positive feedback that would help you keep to your goal. Good luck!
I have failed miserably for February. I made Rouge. I do always spend a lot this time of year because of conference stress (three weeks to go with that so I know my shame isnโt over). Not feeling so great about this but iโm Trying to get back into the low buying.
@heartsmyface, I know what stress buying is like. Just aim for the future! I've purchased a lot at Sephora already this year as shown in the monthly haul threads but I think I'm stocked up - I'm going to try to hold off on the Huda and Viseart palettes that I want until April (An entire no-buy month - I will see how it goes!)
5 days into my Lenten No-buy, and I want this gwp, So.Much.
Someone tell me I don't need $19.50 worth of cotton balls!๐ฉ๐
What about the gwp is tempting you so much? Is there a certain product youโre wanting to try or is it just that itโs โfreeโ? @Susubee
I honestly think it's the darned bag ๐คฆ๐ผโโ๏ธ๐คฆ๐ผโโ๏ธ๐คฆ๐ผโโ๏ธ I have a serious bag hoarding problem. Theyget me every time. And this one also comes in lilac. ๐ That and the fact that I've been wanting to try their eye primer. (Emphasis on Want vs Need.) I do, however, need cotton pads. I've almost finished with the horrible ones from my project pan. What I do not need is $20 worth of cotton pads. ๐
Thanks for talking me down, everyone. At some point it will get easier! (On the bright side, I've reached zen state about watching everyone else go crazy over TF Festival Collection since all pressure is off me trying to decide to/to not buy.)
@Susubee You don't need it, it's all Ulta-branded makeup and will annoy you later!
Don't have a fear of missing out, @Susubee! Something just as good will be offered at Ulta after Lent!
do you want it because you're actually interested in the items in the gwp or because it is a gwp?
How many of those products do you really need or love? Ulta seems to have a lot of great GWP, so hold out for one when you are closer to running out of cotton balls @Susubee!
Thanks @Aaliaa ๐.
One thing that helps me is watching "Will I buy it" or "products im not going to buy" videos on youtube! Specifically samantha march's ones..I just found her about a week ago and she does a very good job of vocalizing why she doesn't need particular products. It's something about listening to someone else's reasoning that makes it easier for me to think that way too! I'm really trying to shop my stash more this year. However, I do still really like to just go walk around sephora once a week (I find it relaxing is that weird).
Yes, Anti Hauls are the best. Once Kimberly Clarke started the Anti Haul trend we were sharing each new edition as motivation which seemed to help a lot.