2021 - THE NO-BUY, LOW-BUY, BUDGET-BUY ACCOUNTABILITY AND SUPPORT THREAD

[ElleElleG]

Hello, hello! Welcome to Year 7 of the No/Low Buy Thread.  

        *Many thanks to all who have participated over the last few years.  While I don't

         post often I do read the notifications sent to my email and I cannot say it enough,

         You all are truly amazing!  Thank you for your dedication and support!!

For reference here's the purpose of this thread (from Thread Originator, @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.

A note from lnum (2016):

Spoiler

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!

Interested in past threads?  Check Here:

Spoiler

Past Threads:

2015 https://community.sephora.com/t5/VIB-ROUGE/2015-The-No-Buy-Low-Buy-Budget-Buy-Accountability-and-Sup...

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

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

2018 https://community.sephora.com/t5/Beauty-Confidential/2018-THE-NO-BUY-LOW-BUY-BUDGET-BUY-ACCOUNTABILI...

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

2020 https://community.sephora.com/t5/Beauty-Confidential/2020-THE-NO-BUY-LOW-BUY-BUDGET-BUY-ACCOUNTABILI...

Challenges to Help You Use Your Stash:

Spoiler

* Coming Soon *

[ElleElleG]

Thanks for bearing with me! The 2022 thread is officially up, here's the link: 2022 - THE NO-BUY, LOW-BUY, BUDGET-BUY ACCOUNTABILITY AND SUPPORT THREAD

[QueenMarceline]

@ElleElleG Thank you so much for posting it 🙂 I have been looking forward to the new thread

For anyone also interested, I was a bit inspired by this group and thought it could be fun to do an Anti-Haul thread to help us along with our no/low buys, if you're interested you can find it here:The Offical Anti-Haul Thread 

[Guessgal]

I've dipped my toe into a low-buy in previous years, but I think in 2022 I will make it more of a solidified goal. Every year, when Sephora does their sale on sale 20% off, I order on the the last day (Jan 1st) so that my Sephora spend balance resets. In doing so, I wound up saving a lot of money this year already lol because all the mini Huda Beauty palettes I wanted sold out by the last day 😂

January and February are usually the easiest months for me since I'm still on a high from holiday shopping, but I hope I can stick to my resolve the rest of the months. I'm pretty well stocked for skincare so I think I'll survive. Only thing I need at the moment is a Head & Shoulders shampoo, since I'm noticing a little dandruff recently. If I succeed with my low/no buy, I will reward myself by joining @Mcakes annual BIC Galentine's Exchange the following year! I always wanted to join, but I typically participated in Christmas ones so the timing was too close.

[ElleElleG]

Yessss welcome to the dark side @Guessgal  😉

[QueenMarceline]

I feel like my low-buy has not gone as good as I'd like it to go (not a total fail but, I need to do better type-of-thing). During all of February I'm officially going on a no buy. 😁👀I feel like it will be hard for me to do, but it'll also help with my project pan and to feel like my low-buy is not a total bust. Wish me luck, I'm going to need it.

[Mellmars1185]

@QueenMarceline I am with you in February.

[QueenMarceline]

@Mellmars1185 Yay! We got this 🙂

[lmaster]

I'm still pushing myself to not give in to fomo and stick to a Low buy

[QueenMarceline]

@lmaster Same here. I've been using my ULTA: 21 Days (of Beauty) Sale Event Thread to kind of vent my way through it. Since that event is usually where I over-buy stuff I literally do not need because of the sales price and the FOMO attached to not snagging the deal that day. It's oddly become a bit of my self-accountability diary at least for that shopping season and it kind of feels good to be realistic with myself, for once. 😁😂

[lmaster]

@QueenMarceline I've learned my lesson on hoarding skincare! 🤣 They do have great deals, and sometimes there are a few products I'll cave for,,, luckily this time with the Ulta 21 days, I've not felt super pressed to buy anything. Whewww!!!

[QueenMarceline]

@lmaster You're stronger than me because it feels like I'm always tempted, almost every day of the sale to get something. I'm trying to be good and stick to "the list" of things I really want and the things I actually use and can get a good deal on. 

[lmaster]

It's taken years to get to this obedience level 🤣🤣🤣 @QueenMarceline I would cave at nearly every gwp from Sephora

[QueenMarceline]

@lmaster Haha, one can only dream I learn such discipline one day. ULTA is usually my high "danger" zone, especially their online site/app, coupled with the sales, multipliers, GWPs, oh MY. 😂I remember a few years back I literally almost took part in every single 21 days of beauty daily event. I'd buy them all "just to try". Oh boy, how many of those products were decluttered or given a new home. My wallet hurts. 😁😂🤑

[SportyGirly125]

@lmaster @I like to start the new year by throwing out old beauty items and seeing how much I have in stock. I bought a lot during the holidays because they were on sale ☹️ I cleaned my beauty room stash today and you don’t even want to see the bag of old lippies I threw away that were a couple of years old. It made me sad to see them in the trash. The good thing is you will realize how much stuff you have to still use before opening something new up. 

[lmaster]

@SportyGirly125 I try really really hard to use everything a few times 🤦 I'm going to focus on my Mac and Melt lippies for awhile now 😊 what I really need to do is a clothing purge 😆

[SportyGirly125]

@lmaster I did that in the Summer where I cleaned my whole house twice by myself.  Most of it was either kids clothes and shoes from 15+ years ago.  After having kids, my old shoes didn't fit anymore since I went half a size up ☹️.  

[lmaster]

@SportyGirly125 oh my goodness!! I bet that felt so good though!! 

[SportyGirly125]

@lmaster it really did. 

[ElleElleG]

So the good news is I’ve kept my spending low … the bad news is I was the worst at checking in during 2021 🙃🙃

I’ll start the 2022 thread for those who are interested!

[ElleElleG]

@Mellmars1185 @QueenMarceline @lnum I'll post the updated thread tomorrow!! Thanks for chiming in!