How Much Did You Spend at Sephora in 2020?

[Tamara76]

Hey, y'all!!!  I couldn't find any similar threads on BIC and I am genuinely curious if anyone here pays attention to/tracks their annual Sephora spend?  I usually don't and I have tried and failed to track overall beauty purchases a few times, but I was pretty shocked when I added up my 2020 Sephora spend.  I definitely plan to spend less this year!

***You might also want to watch if you are curious about everything I bought at Sephora in 2020 - all online!!! 😉 

Let me know if you are successful at tracking your beauty purchases throughout the year!

[ather]

@SportyGirly125  I’m scared to even total what I’ve spent. That’s crazy 10% tax. It’s only 5% where I live!

[Tamara76]

@SportyGirly125 @WinglessOne Wow!  That is pretty high sales tax!  It's a little over 8% where I live.  I thought I was doing well this year so far and then I got the Rouge email yesterday🤦🏼‍♀️🤦🏼‍♀️🤦🏼‍♀️  But I'm still doing better than last year.

[WinglessOne]

@Tamara76  I'd chuckle about you re-Rouging in February, but I did the same in March last year, so... 🤦‍♀️ So far this year, I'm a long ways off from rouge. It'll be interesting to see how far I can make it through 2021 before rouging. Anyway, at least you're doing better than you did last year! 👍

[SportyGirly125]

@Tamara76 I feel you. I remember there was a year I re Rouged in January. It’s only February and I’m already close to re Rouging. 

[ather]

@SportyGirly125  😳 that’s crazy!! I’ll probably re rouge in the spring sale tho!

[WinglessOne]

@SportyGirly125  I feel you on the crummy high sales tax. Mine is 10.25% which includes state, county, and city sales taxes. Remote retailers used to only have to collect the state sales tax (6.25%) from me. As of this year, they must all collect the full 10.25%. 😭 I noticed Sephora was only collecting 7.25% sales tax from me last year; I guess that'll change this year. 

Best of luck buying only needs, not wants! It's difficult, but not impossible! (Or so I'm told... 😄 )

[ather]

@WinglessOne  That’s crazy they can only charge some not all. Interesting 🤔 

[WinglessOne]

@ather  Yeah, my state's (and county's, and city's) tax laws are... frustrating. In all the years I've lived here, our combined sales tax has bounced around from 9.25% to 10.5%. On top of our combined sales tax, certain products and services have additional or different taxes, and we still have a hotel tax (so do other cities, but ours is high). 

I'm originally from Michigan and grew up with a statewide 4% sales tax—no additional county or city sales tax. After I'd lived in Chicago for however many years, I remember when friends whined about MI's sales tax rising to 6% and I told them "aww, you guys are adorable... do you know how high my sales tax is?!" 🤣😭

[SportyGirly125]

@WinglessOne The crappy thing is I could go a city over and the tax would be 7.75%  A lot of times I would ship my stuff to work to save on tax.

[RGbrown]

Plus tax, so more like $338. I contemplated a last minute push to at least hit VIB for a split second, but decided there wasn't enough of a benefit even for a mere $43. 

Ulta is a different matter; I haven't fully tallied 2020 yet, but I re-Diamonded several times over...$4-5k maybe? 😣😅

[ather]

@RGbrown  Omg 😳 I’m glad I don’t have ulta here!

[Tamara76]

@RGbrown  I haven't checked my Ulta spend for 2020, but I was disappointed that I didn't get any 20% off coupons til like December so I suspect my spend will be a lot lower at Ulta than Sephora.

[WinglessOne]

@RGbrown  😮 ! 

After saying I wouldn't tally my spend outside Sephora, I did check Ulta—mostly to see how much I saved via reward points. My 2020 Ulta spend is $1834.92, which... eh, I don't feel bad about considering how many points + coupons + promo deals were involved. I don't think I re-diamonded until late fall. 

[CheerMomma]

[ather]

@CheerMomma  Great spreadsheet!! I’m glad I don’t have a shoppers near me. I remember going tooo often when I lived in the city!

[Tamara76]

@CheerMomma I really need to make a spreadsheet like this - such a good idea!!! Thanks for sharing!

[heartsmyface]

@CheerMomma Ahhh you’re so organized to keep track of even your samples!  I’m envious 

[CheerMomma]

its because I’m trying to work out where my money goes furthest lol. There are very few brands Sephora carries these days that I can’t get at Shoppers and their rewards program is rich in comparison. I only get samples I’ll use, masks and shampoo/conditioner so it’s good to see how many of those I get too. 

[missjeanie]

@CheerMomma I keep trying to get into the SDM for beauty, but my in person store is super small, and I find their website kinda clunky.  I see the deals with points though... ughhhh I need to get better with shopping there more.  I also used to love planning a weekend/night away in a larger city about 3 hours away on a redemption event weekend lol! I may or may not do my curbside grocery with an independent store to get more points lol

[CheerMomma]

I totally agree that their website is clunky. Their app is slightly better. I do all of my ordering online, delivery is within a couple of days and beautifully packaged. I like that I can order drugstore, high-end, vitamins, family toiletries all kinds of things from there and earn points too. The app will also alert you to all the dels and offers and give shoes I’ll app only offers for earning me redeeming points.

I used to order from PC grocery stores to get more points but now I use instacart so it’s easy to compare a like for like cart across all grocery stores and I save much more by ordering from Walmart on like for like.I only order from RCSS or No Frills now if I can’t get it at Walmart. 

[ather]

@CheerMomma  I looked up instacart but it’s not available where I live 😭