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2019 - THE NO-BUY, LOW-BUY, BUDGET-BUY ACCOUNTABILITY AND SUPPORT THREAD

updated 12/31/19* The 2020 Thread is here 2020 - THE NO-BUY, LOW-BUY, BUDGET-BUY ACCOUNTABILITY AND SUPPORT THREAD

 

Hey all!  Welcome to Year 5 of the No/Low Buy thread 😲

 

Since 2019 is LITERALLY around the corner so I figured it was time to get this thread started.  The 2018 thread can be located here: https://community.sephora.com/t5/Beauty-Confidential/2018-THE-NO-BUY-LOW-BUY-BUDGET-BUY-ACCOUNTABILI...

 

For reference here's 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.

 

The 2017 OP and link:

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...

 

Challenges to Help You Use Your Stash:

Spoiler

 

 

Re: 2019 - THE NO-BUY, LOW-BUY, BUDGET-BUY ACCOUNTABILITY AND SUPPORT THREAD

@ShortErica thanks! I put brush cleaner and makeup remover as smart buy skincare, using the logic that a. It’s technically for my skins benefit (dirty brushes wreak havoc!), especially the makeup remover, and is part of my skincare routine. And b. I’m on essentially a no-buy for makeup, and I dont want to open the floodgates by creating a gray area, especially because I know I’ll need to keep buying remover throughout the year 😂

Re: 2019 - THE NO-BUY, LOW-BUY, BUDGET-BUY ACCOUNTABILITY AND SUPPORT THREAD

Great reasoning @cianni and it makes it easier for me and my makeup no buy too!

Re: 2019 - THE NO-BUY, LOW-BUY, BUDGET-BUY ACCOUNTABILITY AND SUPPORT THREAD

For 2019, I am finally ready to join this low buy thread! 🎉
I didn’t purchase much makeup this month, which I feel quite happy about! I think a great deal of it can be attributed to the fact that I have a subscription bag (Ipsy $20) right now. Every time I get tempted to buy something, I think about how I’m already going to receive new makeup at my door and resist new purchases. The other makeup purchases I made were a Sephora order to redeem the 600 point Milk Makeup perk and a small order with UD direct for their glitter liner birthday gift redemption. My cosmetic purchases totaled $43.54 this month.

Overall, I’m happy with how my low buy is going, but I’m hoping to decrease it further to just my subscription expense. Maybe I will switch to different sub in the next few months tho. I have been using an expense app to input my expenses on the go so I can keep track of everything better. I find the instant tracking much more helpful than my excel spreadsheet I used to use haha (which was usually done after the fact)

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Re: 2019 - THE NO-BUY, LOW-BUY, BUDGET-BUY ACCOUNTABILITY AND SUPPORT THREAD

@Guessgal I like that chart app! I agree real time is much more helpful than inputting to excel a couple times a week. It's great when there's good point perks that help us stick to our goals too. 

Re: 2019 - THE NO-BUY, LOW-BUY, BUDGET-BUY ACCOUNTABILITY AND SUPPORT THREAD

Thanks  @CC3616 A friend introduced the Expense app to me. Idk how I never thought of it, but it’s been a Godsend 🙏🏼

RE: 2019 - THE NO-BUY, LOW-BUY, BUDGET-BUY ACCOUNTABILITY AND SUPPORT THREAD

So I slowed down on buying makeup but have been into Japanese brushes. A promo gets me here or there but not as bad last year. I find myself spending money at beautylish. I’m trying not to buy anymore brushes until next month. This month I got the Wayne Goss air brush , Sonia g pro fave set, Sephora pro rose gold set, Sephora pro Hakuhodo brushes that are the app, the Chikuhodo holiday 2018, and nib Sephora pro Hakuhodo set. Almost forgot I preordered the Wayne goss synthetics set. 🤭

Re: 2019 - THE NO-BUY, LOW-BUY, BUDGET-BUY ACCOUNTABILITY AND SUPPORT THREAD

I'm on a low buy as of this morning.  I did make two purchases this month from Sephora, but they're small and I'll use what I purchased.  The main thing I did was buy clothing for my work wardrobe during the January sales.  The prices were very good, but I bought a lot at once.  This was needed, too, but it's scary to spend that much all at the same time.  I have a lot of skincare so I am using that up before buying backups of backups.  I'm looking forward to spending less until the next big sale!

Re: 2019 - THE NO-BUY, LOW-BUY, BUDGET-BUY ACCOUNTABILITY AND SUPPORT THREAD

Yesss @curlychiquita!! Work clothes are hard because they’re definitely necessary, happy to hear you got a good price! I also stock up when the sales are good, I know I’ll wear a black or navy pencil skirt forever, and professionalism is so important. Are you doing the pan challenge/empties progress with your skincare? Come join meeeeee it’ll be fun!! 😂🤗🤗

Re: 2019 - THE NO-BUY, LOW-BUY, BUDGET-BUY ACCOUNTABILITY AND SUPPORT THREAD

@cianni, I've posted in the pan it and empty threads before but not recently.  Usually because I'm bad about taking the time to take a picture.  I should do that, though!

Re: 2019 - THE NO-BUY, LOW-BUY, BUDGET-BUY ACCOUNTABILITY AND SUPPORT THREAD

@curlychiquita I’m the same! What I actually did was take three pics at the beginning (one for products that started full, one for products that were about half-full, and then one of products that are less than half-full) and I just keep using the edit photo option and putting X on ones I finish LOL. I can keep lists and track dates, but I don’t always love keeping empties around, I wanna recycle and move on 😂

Re: 2019 - THE NO-BUY, LOW-BUY, BUDGET-BUY ACCOUNTABILITY AND SUPPORT THREAD

That's a good tip for the empties photo! @cianni If you like Bareminerals, they have skincare recycling program where you get points for turning in empty bottles of skincare. It also includes sunscreen. I have a few bottles now and Im thinking of joining up so I can get some foundation next year 🙂 Will post in the empties thread soon!

Re: 2019 - THE NO-BUY, LOW-BUY, BUDGET-BUY ACCOUNTABILITY AND SUPPORT THREAD

Alright! My January credit card has officially cut off, so my low-buy January is over. I’m going by card statements to make it easier to compare over last year.

 

drumroll please.... I have spent 66% less on things deemed unnecessary this month over January 2018!!!! While not perfect, I’m still SO happy. ultimately, my goal is to spend half overall of what I spent last year in unnecessary things, so I’m feeling good about this start.

 

The main thing I’ve learned over the last month is recognizing what is something I think I need vs something I actually need. A lot of you ladies helped me out with setting more consistent rules earlier in the month, so thank you for that!

 

Tips/tricks I’ve learned - timing and waiting is EVERYTHING. if a promo, sale or GWP is really tempting, wait a week. Most of the time after a week I’m either over it, or it’s OOS. And if I am tempted to pick something new up, instead of just grabbing it, I’ll go home and see what I have that does the same job. Half the time I don’t even realize what I have! 

Re: 2019 - THE NO-BUY, LOW-BUY, BUDGET-BUY ACCOUNTABILITY AND SUPPORT THREAD

@cianni Awesome job!! I do that waiting trick for non-beauty wants quite frequently and it's so helpful. If I keep thinking about it for x amount of time, I must really want it! 

Re: 2019 - THE NO-BUY, LOW-BUY, BUDGET-BUY ACCOUNTABILITY AND SUPPORT THREAD

@CC3616 always!! I’m so impulsive haha but I always use and appreciate the things I waited for more!

Re: 2019 - THE NO-BUY, LOW-BUY, BUDGET-BUY ACCOUNTABILITY AND SUPPORT THREAD

Not to harp on being January birthday buddies, but doing it especially when this is your time of the year to celebrate is super impressive @cianni. Hopefully you make even bigger strides in February. I think the idea of waiting will be a super beneficial strategy for you and anyone else who applies it. Great job!

Re: 2019 - THE NO-BUY, LOW-BUY, BUDGET-BUY ACCOUNTABILITY AND SUPPORT THREAD

@ShortErica trust the temptation was STRONG lol! But there’s been a ton of clothing drives and stuff around where I live/work because it’s so cold now, and it’s putting it into perspective for me that I have soooo many things while there are still so many who have very little. 

 

THat being said - I do regret waiting this morning on that new SF luxe set 😂😂 man that was gone quick!!

Re: 2019 - THE NO-BUY, LOW-BUY, BUDGET-BUY ACCOUNTABILITY AND SUPPORT THREAD

Maybe there will be a restock @cianni. Or at least Sephora will have plenty of reasons to make new and different luxe kits you can snag in the future.

Re: 2019 - THE NO-BUY, LOW-BUY, BUDGET-BUY ACCOUNTABILITY AND SUPPORT THREAD

@cianni: CONGRATS!! I love your goal! It’s not a no-buy - let’s be honest, really hard to just cut off - and measurable.  

Thanks for the tips also!  I agree that waiting is key, as is reviewing your stash. Glad these tactics are working for you.  

 

Re: 2019 - THE NO-BUY, LOW-BUY, BUDGET-BUY ACCOUNTABILITY AND SUPPORT THREAD

Thank you @newcarlee! Yeah I thought I could do a no-buy, but that isn’t realistic, especially because there’s so much grey area. Plus we work hard for our money! There’s nothing wrong with a little splurge, it’s just about being more aware of where you’re spending money and why (I’m kind of treating this like a diet for my wallet😂 - am I spending because I’m bored or because I actually need something?)

Re: 2019 - THE NO-BUY, LOW-BUY, BUDGET-BUY ACCOUNTABILITY AND SUPPORT THREAD

Congratulations @cianni!!! That's an amazing accomplishment with reducing unnecessary spending! giphy

 

Re: 2019 - THE NO-BUY, LOW-BUY, BUDGET-BUY ACCOUNTABILITY AND SUPPORT THREAD

Thank you @sephoraaddict918! Just doing a little scroll through this thread and I can tell a lot of us are doing pretty well in January! We got this!! 🥳🥳

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