2022 & 2023 - THE NO-BUY, LOW-BUY, BUDGET-BUY ACCOUNTABILITY AND SUPPORT THREAD

[ElleElleG]

Hello, hello! Welcome to Years 8and 9 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):

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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!

Curious about the past threads?  Check Here:

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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...

2021 https://community.sephora.com/t5/Beauty-Confidential/2021-THE-NO-BUY-LOW-BUY-BUDGET-BUY-ACCOUNTABILI...

Community Challenges (These Can Help You Use Your Stash):

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Pan It! - 2022 Challenge
Makeup Challenge of the Week 2021/2022
💕😌Mask of the Week Challenge 😌💖
100 Days of Lipstick Challenge
Show Me Your Nails 2.0
100 Shades of Eyeshadow Challenge

*Feel free to PM me if there are additional challenges that should be added*

[Saradestin]

@ather Thank you! I feel accomplished (almost 😁)

[newcarlee]

A 1 month update here on my No-buy through June: TL;DR - it’s a massive failure.

When I instituted my No-buy, my plan was to shop my stash particularly in skincare and makeup and in that, I did well. But I fell down a fragrance rabbit hole and purchased a couple candles - one of which was due to my GWP weakness! - and a bottle of limited edition JML cologne. But now I am holding on fragrances too as part of my No-buy until June!

My only “allowed” purchase now will be sunscreen, which I had forgotten about when instituting by No-buy. But that’s a need, not a want. I hope everyone else has been managing to their goals better than me.

[QueenMarceline]

@newcarlee Stay strong! I know mine went fairly well but I want to extend through March. I'm realizing my product out vs. product in ratio was quite... different for a while now so i have a ton of back-ups. I'm now shopping my stash and being more critical of the products I have. Also not allowing myself to purchase more than 1-2 backups MAX. (only allowed 2 if I'm more than halfway finished with a product). I've also been using The Offical Anti-Haul Thread to talk myself out of products and why I don't need them and it's surprisingly been a great help 🙂

[ather]

@newcarlee  I think we all slip up but getting back on track is a good thing!!!

[Guessgal]

I nearly placed a big lippie order, but saw this on Reddit and it stopped me. Thought I’d share in case anyone else is in the same boat!

shoutout to valkyriae on Reddit - I don’t have a Reddit account or I would’ve added a comment on there 😊

[ElleElleG]

@Guessgal I know this hurt because you are the lippie queen 👑!

I can relate though, I have so many unopened and unused lipsticks that I need to just let go of because they have expired (including one from the last in-person Sephoria 😢). Some new releases have tempted me but walking into my room and seeing all the lip items stops me from adding to a situation that's been out of control for too long.

[Guessgal]

@ElleElleG Whoa the last in-person Sephoria was end of 2019, which is only a tad over 2yr… that seems super quick for unopened lipsticks to go bad 🤯 I hope it wasn’t one of the custom engraved YSL lippies, if you bought any from that booth. I got “Sephoria” engraved on mine and wouldn’t want to part with it!

[lmaster]

@Guessgal this is exactly why I'm trying really really hard to stop impulse buying just because it's new! Well,,, sure we all love a good launch,,,, but really we only have one face,,, and I actually do want to use the products I have,, I've passed on a few ND palettes,,, even though they are gorgeous!!! I just can't keep feeling overwhelmed by my collection,,, although I did buy a couple pmg palettes,,,, however I got two palettes for 93$ couldn't pass that up

[ElleElleG]

@lmaster @Guessgal I am both glad, and sad, that I missed that glitch.

[Guessgal]

@lmaster Same, I also caved during the PMG glitch and got some motherships, but it was definitely a now or never situation. I was quite content with my PMG collection before, but never tried a mothership and it seems like that is her most raved about product so I thought maybe now is the chance.

[lmaster]

@Guessgal that deal was epic!! I bought 3 & 6 which ones did you grab?

[Guessgal]

@lmaster I got the bundle for 4,5,6 since I already had the smaller six pan version of 1,2,3 😊

[lmaster]

@Guessgal that's great!! At that price it was literally a steal

[ather]

@Guessgal  Isn’t that always what happens!!!! 

[QueenMarceline]

@Guessgal A very good point and a reason why I'm on a no buy. So many backups.

[Saradestin]

@Guessgal yes, we have to remember that everything expires sooner or later so let’s use our favorite things before the rest.

[Mellmars1185]

@Guessgal Thanks I did need this!  Especially for any lip products!

[QueenMarceline]

As promised, I'm back to update on my Amazon Subscribe & Save order (the one that previously had 78 items in it, yikes!). Today was the last day to update and I've been sorting through it weekly since the beginning, so it was more of a "last minute changes" type of day. 

My goal for this month was to have 10-15 items that I NEED in this subscription box. It felt pretty good knowing that I'm actually going to need all of the items coming in on March 1st. I was able to hit my goal by having a total of 13 items that are mostly for my pets and not myself. I did add on four beauty related items that I need and one candle that I really wanted and I know which will get used. Great progress. 🙂 

The March Order:

Details:

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The beauty related items I ordered are: Vichy Thermalizing Water- I keep the minis by my bedside and am on my second to last bottle, one lasts me about 2 weeks on the bedside so I figured I'd order two and hope they last me the entire month. The OGX Shampoo-I actually don't use this as a shampoo I use it as a brush cleaner (might be controversial) and I'm all out. This was a fantastic price so I chose to buy it on Amazon instead of at ULTA. The Moroccan Rose Shave Oil-I run through these like bread and butter. My legs are super prone to dryness and itchiness especially after shaving so I need to get one delivered every month (at least). I'd usually get more but I have a couple back-ups on hand so I think just one will suffice. The Body Shop Milk & Honey Bar soap-I've been using this as a staple for a while and need a re-stock this month. Plus a little bonus of my Chocolate Layer Cake Yankee Candle... no justification for this one other than I love this candle. This was my "treat yourself for completing a ~sort of~ successful no buy". 🙂

As stated, most of the items are for my pets (which I'm pretty proud of). My dogs like baby food as a food topper and so do the rodents that I own as well as my special needs animals getting their meds disguised in the mushy baby goodness. So all of these are an absolute MUST in my house and I got through about 2 packets daily (if not 3). The cat treat food is for an animal that can be picky at times with their meds and have outsmarted me but can't resist these, I have a few on hand but I figured I'd get a handful more in the order because it's a true need. The coconut chips and baby snacks are used as animal snacks (for the rodents), which I'm running low on this month. The little rodent chew toy is self explanatory, they like these in particular... I don't ask questions, I just meet their demands 😂 

[ather]

@QueenMarceline  Great job cutting back!!

[QueenMarceline]

@ather Thank you, it was definitely a huge cut back. So many less boxes! 🙂

[Mellmars1185]

@QueenMarceline Great job at cutting back on your subscription products!