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**

💜💜💜

[Luvstravel]

@fieldsofclover, I completely understand. I've been telling my self to start saving for my Switzerland trip next year. I Made three orders with Sephora this week and used my Ulta 20% coupon and purchased a Nudestix set on sale at Bloomingdales. I keep telling my self I'm going to slow down working so much overtime, then I shop so back to working OT 🤪 If I don't see you post for awhile, have a great month!

[Luvstravel]

@fieldsofclover, Just placed another order with Sephora because I wanted to try the new Glamglow supermud. Oh well, I ordered the Boscia sleeping mask I've been wanting to try 😊 another shift of OT won't kill me 🙄

[fieldsofclover]

@Luvstravel Right?? Round we go, if we take our eye off the mark even for a minute... 🎡

I'll still be around here whether or not I'm shopping, though... I might be around more to entertain myself, haha!

[fieldsofclover]

Nerd post. I'm going back to a regular office job soon and I have some pretty aggressive financial goals to match, so I want to keep on with my HGs-only-buy and focus on it with renewed vigor for the rest of the year.

I did pass one milestone, where now more than half of all the products I'm using are "loves".

[sprocketta]

@fieldsofclover I don't know how you keep track of all this, much less how you use up so many products.  I feel like I never finish anything.  But mostly I just wanted to say, good luck at the job.  I saw you mention that elsewhere but couldn't remember where to comment.  I hope it goes really well!

[fieldsofclover]

Thank you @sprocketta! I am looking forward to working a more "boring" job again! I'm ready for my life to be a little less exciting (and it's not really boring at all, I'll just get a paycheck instead of chasing invoices).

And yanno, I'm not really a spreadsheet person by nature... this is the numbers version of my photo collages from the empties thread. I'm way better with a visual record of things. But believe me, I've always been that person with two hundred half-finished products in the cabinet... I made a new year's resolution to learn to love using things up, so this is a relatively new adventure for me 😂

[SAlyFitz]

That’s great that you are hitting one of your goals! The success can fuel our drive to continue being disciplined and reaching goals!🤩👏🏼

[fieldsofclover]

Thanks @SAlyFitz! I decided this year that life is too short to just force myself to use up products I don't really like, so it's pushed me to be more careful about what I buy... and now I'm buying less overall, so it's working out!

[KNC24]

I was doing good until the la mer promo came out. I still have la mer from rouge play boxes. I got the new Marc Jacob lipgloss and a lavender agave by bite. Not to bad but an impulse buy

[fieldsofclover]

Sephora is apparently ending its 5% Acorns match next week so I'm considering front-loading my July purchases to take advantage of that; it's not really a splurge since they're already part of our budget.

I haaaate having much backup product stashed for later, so I'm weighing the bit of free money against the annoyance and cash flow to figure out how much to pick up.

[RGbrown]

@fieldsofclover

I had to look up Acorns, but now that I know at least a little bit about it, can you answer this? If I shop online through another cashback portal, say ebates, and use my acorns-linked card, do I get cashback both places? 🤔

[fieldsofclover]

@RGbrown Not in the way you're hoping, which is why I haven't messed around with Ebates yet.

Spoiler

tl;dr - if you shop an Ebates link with an Acorns-linked card, your transaction will show in Acorns and trigger the rounding, but you have to use the Acorns portal link to get the bonus %.

---

The main way Acorns works is by rounding up all your purchases for a given card and depositing them into your account (we pay off our credit cards every month, otherwise you'd only want to do this with a debit card so you're not borrowing money to invest). So if you buy something at TJMaxx for $12.89, Acorns will note that and then make a separate debit for $0.11, into your Acorns account. If you make a purchase that happens to be a whole dollar amount, or you take cash out of the ATM, it will debit a full $1 (we have it set to 3x, so ours would be $0.33 and $3, but that's optional).

On top of that is the "found money", which is like cashback in other programs. To do that you need to use the portal link directly from the website or in the mobile link (I learned that the hard way!). The matching comes from the retailer, usually between 2-5%. There's a huge list of participants (incl. Neiman Marcus, Macy's, etc.) but Sephora has decided to drop out for whatever reason; their end date has moved up a couple of times.

[RGbrown]

@fieldsofclover

Ahhh, ok, thanks! I didn't realize you had to link through the Acorn portal to get the match, so yeah, that wouldn't work. I was hoping that linked card + different portal would trigger CB at both, but nope...I guess they saw that coming lol. My dream of double CB some way some how may never be realized. 🤣

[fieldsofclover]

@RGbrown Yeah, you and me both... sigh 😘

[fieldsofclover]

I went to a new Sephora class this weekend, and since I had finished my setting powder I used the opportunity to restock a couple things and get the free Perk facial ($75 GWP).

I goofed up, though... I needed to get a new makeup remover and decided to grab the new Farmacy cleanser, thinking it was an oil... nope. I'll use it eventually so it seems wasteful to return it when I don't dislike it, but now I have yet another backup and still need to go spend money on a balm or something. Argh.

Edit: I found a bottle of micellar water in a cabinet, so that should last me until July. I won't need anything else before then except scheduled Hum supplements (and ye olde lip pencil 💋).

[Anonymous]

I'll be 49 in a week and am happy with the appearance if my skin( texture,age lines,etc.).In my 30's I used Mary Kay skincare.Fast forward to being broke at42 and the only products I've used are store brand noxema,store brand moisturizing creme.I think make up remover is a waste of money.I use the mousturizer to cleanse my skin of makeup at night even on my eyes( tightly shut of course) and not only dies it remove my make- up but also moisturizes so in the morning it has absorbed into my skin and I don't need a primer for my foundation to go on smoothly yet if I was to use any mousturizer prior then my skin would look oily and my make-up feel heavy.The type I use comes in a jar like cold creme.Also for a little mire the generic if the pink version oil of olay creme that comes in a jar is magnificent and smells very soft.

[curlychiquita]

@fieldsofclover, I'm glad you found some micellar water! 

[greeneyedgirl107]

I had a bad day today and resisted the urge to go and buy some small beauty items!  Plus, I went through my stash of fragrance samples and picked out some to share with co-workers tomorrows as a small "thank you" for putting up with me.  Last week I had to bring in chocolate chip cookies!

[ElleElleG]

Sorry you had a not so great day @greeneyedgirl107 but great job resisting the shopping urge!

OMG that's a great idea, I'm going to go through my fragrance samples and see if I can make some small bundles to hand out!  Your coworkers will love it!!!

[ElleElleG]

I ended up spending far more in May than anticipated though it wasn't makeup related.  At the last minute I decided to attend an out-of-state training which was pretty pricey.  I almost talked myself out of it but I'm so glad I went & I think I took quite a bit a way that I can use for other things in the near future.

June is my birthday month so I need to keep things reasonable.  At the moment I have my eye on an Ulta order so I can snag a few things I've had my eye on for a bit while capitalizing on several bonus offers I have at the moment.  

[mermadelove]

@ElleElleG ✨🎉🎂🎉✨

happy birthday month, gorgeous! We share a birthday month. Yay!!!! 🙂