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

[ElleElleG]

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

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**

[ShortErica]

Hmm... @eshoe. Perhaps you could set a budget of $Y amount to spend on beauty and can only use $X of it for yourself. That way if you spent less on you, you are allowed to use your excess on gifts for others?

With numbers, maybe you say you can spend $100 a month on beauty and only $50 of it can be on yourself. This month since you spent $32.21, you could technically move the extra $17.79 into the spend on others part of your beauty budget.

I'm sure you will figure out what works best for you. I think the main thing it to make purchases in the spirit of your low-buy and then adjust based on what you learn.

[eshoe]

I have to say @ShortErica, that my thought process has definitely shifted and I am exercising more mindful purchases for myself now. Which is a total win! I get much more joy out of finding and buying little surprise gifts for my daughter, and stocking up on Christmas presents throughout the year than buying for myself. 

This little experiment so far has been very positive. I have a planned purchase this week that I’m pretty excited about, something for my sisters (I am their Skyn eye gel supplier) and that should be it for the month.

Still deciding how to allocate sheet masks. Since I don’t include repurchases of everyday items (skincare, brow pencils, my lip crayon, etc), I wasn’t including sheet masks as I use those daily. But this whole thing has me thinking about whether or not that’s actually a need...ok I answered my own question, of course it’s not.

Which leads me to just how far I want to take this🤔

[ShortErica]

Yay! I'm so happy for you @eshoe. I would say one step at a time. If sheet masks are your routine but not a "need" I wouldn't go cold turkey. Plus selfishly I want to see your masking.

[christyrc]

Hi, friends. I did great for awhile after committing to only buying staples. I went five weeks without purchasing any non-staples. 😳 🙌 Then I got sucked in when I saw the Ordinary was back on US Sephora online and I just had to try a couple of things. Hook, line, sinker. 🐟 I recognize I am totally vulnerable to a couple marketing tricks including 1. Threat of Scarcity and 2. New and Shiny. Ugh. I like what some of the previous posters have said about staying away from Instagram and YouTube influensters. I think that would help me a lot and I will try it. In other news, DH and I have decided to go on a super tight budget starting in February. I will still be able to buy staples but I find myself panicking and trying to think if there is anything non-stapley I might want post-February so I can buy it now. I am so bad. 😜

[gillian321]

Those two things are my downfall too! I think the limited quantity and newness sucks me in for the reason that there’s a chance this thing could be the new best “thing” ever! If it’s new then no one has tried it yet to say if it is or isn’t, and if it’s limited quantity then I might miss out on that “new best thing”! I’ve decided that it is soooo rare (like original beauty blender kind of rare) for a release to be the actual NEW BEST thing ever. I’ve bought so many things on impulse because of this and it’s always a fine product that I wouldn’t have jumped at if I had known how fine it was.

[sonnydee]

😀 Its been a full week since I ordered anything from Sephora. I dont think I've made it this long in a VERY long time. Keep up the not so interesting promos! 👍

[sephoraaddict918]

Congratulations @sonnydee!!! 

May those promos continue to disinterest you!

[eshoe]

They did not disinterest me, @sephoraaddict918😂😆🤣

[sephoraaddict918]

Hahaha! There's always next time @eshoe! 

[newcarlee]

Me three on the sleep promo. 😢  Really really didn’t need anything but there were some things I’d been eyeing and the promo just made me cave. I’d missed out on that haute hydrators Sephora Favorites set - it sold out so fast! - so I didn’t even do my usual perusal through my stash to try to stop my buying.  Ack!  Now I have more product back-ups...and a nice DS of the sleep promo

product.

@sephoraaddict918 - thanks for the encouragement! 👍🏻

[christyrc]

😂 @sephoraaddict918

[sonnydee]

thanks @sephoraaddict918. The sleep promo did get me today but all the things I purchased have been on my loves list for a while. So all thought out, planned purchases.😁👍

[faeriegirl]

The sleep promo got me too lol!

[sonnydee]

drunk elephant x 2 (but you got to jump on those they dont last & the products are expensive)

& glow avocado 😁@faeriegirl

[faeriegirl]

I HAD to @sonnydee. It was DE and I’ve been wanting to try it so I couldn’t resist! 😂

[sparklekai]

so here i am for another year.  i feel like last year i did a lot better than i have in previous years.  i did less impulse purchasing, less everybody else wants it so i should buy it purchasing and less omg i only have 48 i need more purchasing.  

this year i feel like i need to work on my its a good deal and i'll go through it purchasing.  basically...JUST STOP WOMAN!         

[tastelikewater]

After about a month, I've bought just one makeup item: a $5 Milani lip liner 😛 I did, however, plonk down $150 on new skincare; how did I not know about Dermstore sooner? My current products aren't doing enough to manage my rosacea, so I'm in the process of incorporating new ones. I'm on the verge of needing to replace my mascara, but I think I'm going drugstore this time, so I don't feel bad about it. 

I have a $75 Sephora gift card from Christmas, but part of me wants to hold out a little longer. That said, the new PMG mini-gloss set is calling my name. "Lauraaaaaa, look at me! I'm so beautiful, and you need me!" 

In addition to doing the challenges I mentioned in a previous post, I've found that cutting down on my YouTube and IG follows has been super helpful. I'm not being bombarded with new products every day, which has created a kind of "out of sight, out of mind" situation. 

Keep it up, everyone!

[gillian321]

Keeping a Sephora gift card for nearly a month is the kind of will power I strive to have lolll

[cianni]

@tastelikewater I’ve done the same with YT/social media! I’m trying to read more books instead, so more reading and less spending is a win-win!

i ALMOST bought a ton of Too Faced products. My local winners had TOO FACED - Peach My Cheeks Melting Powder Blush – Peaches and Cream Collectionaand Too Faced Peach Frost Melting Powder Highlighter – Peaches and Cream Collection Happy Facefor $12.99 CAD, and I ended up giving all 4 I was holding to a woman who told me she was stocking up for herself and daughters. Not exactly a good deed but I’m happy because I didn’t spend, and she’s happy to pay 1/3  of the price! Temptation is hard LOL

[sonnydee]

For those that have been doing this a while....Does it get easier with time? Do certain holidays/seasons trigger? I'm not really struggling that bad YET but just the thought crossed my mind....(I'm on a lower buy with Sephora in particular)

[CC3616]

@sonnydee Yes! It totally does.. This is my 3rd or 4th year on the "mindful" spend! If you keep going long enough it's much easier to say no to things, save your purchasing for when it's smart, not be enticed by every promo (save your purchases for one you really want to try, will use etc), and not feel like you have to have every new release, every LE product etc. 

I personally feel the itch to buy during big GWP bags and during 20% off sephora/ulta sales, so instead of trying to fight it too much try to hold off on as much restocking as I can for them. I love that I'm at the point where I can look at the GWP bags and instead of having to have it, will I use the stuff in it? If not, I wait for the next one. Do I need enough restocked to meet the buy in? No, wait for the next one because just like @cianni said earlier, there will be more sales! Which is a great point. Brands and retailers try to create a sense of urgency with their marketing. Unless it really is a blowout sale, there will be another 15-20-25% off coming.