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

Happy New Year gifs 2023 Animated Wallpapers, New Year 2023 Images Funny  Wishes HD | Funny wishes, Happy new year 2014, New year wishes quotes

 

 

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):

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!

Curious about the past threads?  Check Here:

Spoiler

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

 

Spoiler

 

Re: 2022 - THE NO-BUY, LOW-BUY, BUDGET-BUY ACCOUNTABILITY AND SUPPORT THREAD

August No-Buy Week Four Update: Well, I've almost made it the full month (kind-of). I figured since the August is wrapping up I should use this to update some of my main focuses this month. Granted, August still has a few days left but I'm dedicated/motivated to be good for the rest of the month so I doubt anything will change. 🙂 Fingers crossed. 

 

  1. I ended up slightly breaking my no-buy with the ULTA 10x points haul, although i used up mostly gift cards and my out of pocket cost was a little under $30 total--I'm not too mad about this because I got so much points out of it and really only splurged on one item. The rest were re-stocks or things I already had in my cart. Although for future planning, I will never make my no-buy during the month of August ever again due to the ULTA 10x the points haul. It would be much more beneficial to stock up a cart at ULTA a few months before this event and shop then. Noted. I've been shopping this event for 5-ish years regularly so I must have been dreaming when I put myself on a no-buy during August. A total face palm moment for me, lol. 
  2. I spent almost $200 on some emergency items I needed for my pets after my rat decided the cement tub on the bottom of her cage was a chew toy. Unfortunately for me, the stainless steel pans I have in half my cage are a bit pricey (like almost as much as an entire cage, lol) but I was glad I was on my no-buy this month because I truly felt guilt-free buying those pans. Not that I would ever feel guilty spending $$$ on my pets since most of my money goes to them anyways, but if I had gone on one of my full-blown shopping sprees before this I probably would have felt major guilt about the shopping I did earlier. Just how I'm wired 😂
  3. Amazon Subscribe & Save: my goal for this month was 12 items of less (down from 69 items at the beginning of the month). I didn't fully accomplish this, I ended up with 15 items total on my subscribe & save that will be arriving September 1st. My goal was to keep this to 5 items or less that are beauty related. I did accomplish this with 4 items that were beauty related: Facetory face mask set, a bar of soap I've been using for ages, shaving oil and a liquid soap. The rest of the items consisted of random necessities around the house (GLAD plastic wrap, laundry soap, etc.) and stuff for my pets that need to be replenished (dry dog food, rat snacks/toys). I think I can do even better next month! I'll re-try this goal in September.
  4. Starbucks: It was very impromptu in the middle of the month to slash my Starbucks spending in half for a budget of $30 although I admit, it probably had to be done. This is the goal I was most nervous about and in all honesty I've only been doing it the very back end of the month. During the first and full week of my Starbucks budget I actually only ended up spending $8.80! Truly, I shocked myself with this one but I'm going to assume this was just an exceptionally good week. 
  5. Clothing/Misc. Online Shopping: This is a category I did really well in, despite browsing around at first I really stuck to my guns by not ordering or buying anything. I'm going through an "awakening" with my clothing currently and am working on trimming down my over-flowing closets and dressers. Until I am fully happy with this, I have told myself I cannot shop for more clothes. This is mostly because I really want to examine what I have, what I want to donate and what I need to stay away from buying (ie. my abundance of jeans, high-heel shoes, etc.) and what I might actually need more of (if anything). This way, I'm making informed choices on my purchases instead of just buying another pair of cute pumps. 

Re: 2022 - THE NO-BUY, LOW-BUY, BUDGET-BUY ACCOUNTABILITY AND SUPPORT THREAD

Well, this week I bought Mens Biore strips (they’re larger and stickier i swear!) cause I used the last of them up.  
My FFF box arrived though that doesn’t count cause it’s prepaid right?  
I’ve been filling my Sephora shopping cart and not completing orders.  Ha, shopping without guilt- though the upcoming sale is going to be 😬🫣.  😁😎

Re: 2022 - THE NO-BUY, LOW-BUY, BUDGET-BUY ACCOUNTABILITY AND SUPPORT THREAD

@heartsmyface Great job! Prepaids don't count and apparently neither does using giftcards in my case, lol 😜 I'm going to start filling up my cart very soon. Going to make it my mission to not make a Sephora order under the VIB Sale. ~wish me luck~ 

Re: 2022 - THE NO-BUY, LOW-BUY, BUDGET-BUY ACCOUNTABILITY AND SUPPORT THREAD

August No-Buy Week Three Update: This week went a little left field because I forgot ULTA holds their annual 10x the points perk day in August. Although I worked my way around this quite a bit because I've been hoarding ULTA gift cards for the past year or so and somehow continue to acquire more (it's almost like my loved ones know where I like to shop, lol). Despite this, I really did not want to go overboard since the main point of my no-buy was to acquire less and shop less. I set my mind to only replenishing items I needed or getting items I knew were going to get used up. With the 10x the points, the used gift cards things were already looking not too shabby but rakuten blessed us all by giving us 9% cash back on ULTA during the 10x points multiplier day. I figured I would share what I bought, how many points I received on the order and the amount of money I actually paid out of pocket vs. gift card. 

 

Order #1: 

Screen Shot 2022-08-25 at 9.58.52 PM.png

 

 

Out of Pocket Cost: $24.00 ($100 gift card used)

Rakuten Cash Back (9%): $11.16

Total (Minus Cash Back): $12.84

Points Earned: 1,181 (approx. $53 in ULTA pts)

 

 

 

Order #2: 

Screen Shot 2022-08-25 at 10.04.46 PM.png

 

Out of Pocket Cost: $4.77 ($50 gift card used)

Rakuten Cash Back (9%): $4.93

Total (Minus Cash Back): -$0.16 🌟

Points Earned: 413 (approx. $17.50)

 

 

Overall, I'm very proud of myself for keeping things minimal and getting to use up some gift cards in order to maximize my returns on both cash back and in ULTA pts. even though I technically did break my no buy (even though @Loretta55 claims it doesn't count haha!) Next year, I'd actually like to flip my schedule and go on a no buy for multiple months before August and then create a very large cart thats ready to be ordered during the 10x the points multiplier. 🙂 See y'all in August 2023 😛

 

Re: 2022 - THE NO-BUY, LOW-BUY, BUDGET-BUY ACCOUNTABILITY AND SUPPORT THREAD

You did an awesome job with your spending on your haul @QueenMarceline. Believe me no way I came as close to out of pocket spend as you did. I also need to start a no/low buy in the near future. If you have any wants perhaps a trade can help.

Re: 2022 - THE NO-BUY, LOW-BUY, BUDGET-BUY ACCOUNTABILITY AND SUPPORT THREAD

@Loretta55 Thank you, I don't feel too guilty about it haha!

Re: 2022 - THE NO-BUY, LOW-BUY, BUDGET-BUY ACCOUNTABILITY AND SUPPORT THREAD

My "no buy" (weekly update coming sometime in the future) has inspired me to take a peak into other spending areas of my life since I'm not currently actively shopping (just for the sake of shopping) at all. I'm honestly quite shocked at where my research led me: Starbucks. I'm almost embarrassed to share the amount of money that I spend on Starbucks weekly. I usually get my very over-priced and very over-sized coffee (with a couple of modifications/customizations which adds a few bucks on to the order, yikes) as well as a little breakfast to nibble on before I head into work. I usually get this order 3-5 times per week so if we called it an average "4x per week" my weekly Starbucks total would stand at around $60/week. Big major yikes. I value my morning "me-time" far too much so I know I can't cold turkey my way into this one but I thought it was fair to limit myself to half of my current weekly spending amount. I'm setting a strict budget for Starbucks to $30 per week or less going forward, which means if I order my oversized coffee and breakfast sandwich 2x per week my budget will be pretty much maxed out for that week. Wish me luck, y'all. 👀🤣

Re: 2022 - THE NO-BUY, LOW-BUY, BUDGET-BUY ACCOUNTABILITY AND SUPPORT THREAD

@QueenMarceline good luck!!! Are there any iced coffees from the store you like? You could have your own iced coffee and just get the breakfast food from Starbucks, trying to help 🥰

Re: 2022 - THE NO-BUY, LOW-BUY, BUDGET-BUY ACCOUNTABILITY AND SUPPORT THREAD

@lmaster That's honestly what I think I'll end up doing 🙂 I'm excited for it to cool down because I make hot coffee in my keurig after I finally found some k-cups that actually taste like something 🤣 but when I've tried to ice those they just taste... icky, lol. Today I started out the week strong by skipping the Starbucks in the morning and settling for drinking hot coffee inside of my house before work and making a light little breakfast. 

Re: 2022 - THE NO-BUY, LOW-BUY, BUDGET-BUY ACCOUNTABILITY AND SUPPORT THREAD

@QueenMarceline  hahaha, I can’t drink coffee hot.  It needs to be on ice with heavy cream.  

Re: 2022 - THE NO-BUY, LOW-BUY, BUDGET-BUY ACCOUNTABILITY AND SUPPORT THREAD

@heartsmyface That's the best way so I really don't blame ya one bit lol!

Re: 2022 - THE NO-BUY, LOW-BUY, BUDGET-BUY ACCOUNTABILITY AND SUPPORT THREAD

@QueenMarceline that's a HUGE step!! 🙌

Re: 2022 - THE NO-BUY, LOW-BUY, BUDGET-BUY ACCOUNTABILITY AND SUPPORT THREAD

@lmaster Thank you. I did it again today, so far this week... no Starbucks 🙂

Re: 2022 - THE NO-BUY, LOW-BUY, BUDGET-BUY ACCOUNTABILITY AND SUPPORT THREAD

@QueenMarceline wow!!! I'm impressed 

Re: 2022 - THE NO-BUY, LOW-BUY, BUDGET-BUY ACCOUNTABILITY AND SUPPORT THREAD

August No-Buy Week Two Update: Last week was filled with random temptations and this week was too but a weird phenomenon happened, lol. I keep forgetting that I'm on a no buy and have to remind myself. So many websites I've visited and started building a cart until it hit me "oh... wait... you're on a no buy, duh!". I personally found this to be a bit comical. Furthermore, this week my rat decided to chew through a cement mixing tub on the bottom of her cage (I've owned 11 total rats in the almost 3-ish years of rats ownership and I've never seen anything like it). So I had to drop around $200 on replacing the pans with stainless steel ones to avoid that to be a possibility in the future and also around $50 on random necessities/accessories I needed to move them in the upstairs portion of their cage, all in one day. Now, we patiently wait for our pans to show up but that definitely threw me for a loop especially in the month I'm not supposed to be buying anything at all. At the same time, I'm glad it worked out like this because I know for the next 2 weeks (at least) I won't be purchasing anything and can still call this a successful no-buy. Although I also figured out it's a lot more fun to spend $250 on things you want vs. the things you need🤣

Re: 2022 - THE NO-BUY, LOW-BUY, BUDGET-BUY ACCOUNTABILITY AND SUPPORT THREAD

@QueenMarceline   Well that’s good news and bad at the same time.  

I’m doing okay-ish.  I accidentally unplugged my timer today doing split training against the wall so I’m mildly disappointed I’m back at 0 and haven’t restarted it yet, but at the same time I’ve had a successful week.  I did make some beauty purchases but I did them with Sephora $100

points redemptions so ended up spending under $20.  Not too bad.  Hahah, I’m still starting from zero so maybe the universe considered that cheating😂🤷‍♀️

Re: 2022 - THE NO-BUY, LOW-BUY, BUDGET-BUY ACCOUNTABILITY AND SUPPORT THREAD

@heartsmyface Aww, so sad about your timer 😞 we all love her. Restart her, it's not cheating it's simply the right thing to do haha!

Re: 2022 - THE NO-BUY, LOW-BUY, BUDGET-BUY ACCOUNTABILITY AND SUPPORT THREAD

I know I don’t have a great track record in the no buy/low buy thread but I think I’ve found the perfect hack to keep me honest and enthused about practicing self control.  A count up timer and a personal cheerleader!!!   What’s more motivating than watching numbers go up cause I earned them????  So far it has been almost 36 minutes since my no buy officially commenced and I’m feeling good!😆😆😆

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Re: 2022 - THE NO-BUY, LOW-BUY, BUDGET-BUY ACCOUNTABILITY AND SUPPORT THREAD

That is a fantastic idea @heartsmyface!

Re: 2022 - THE NO-BUY, LOW-BUY, BUDGET-BUY ACCOUNTABILITY AND SUPPORT THREAD

@heartsmyface this is so smart! It will definitely hold you accountable, you've got this doll 

Re: 2022 - THE NO-BUY, LOW-BUY, BUDGET-BUY ACCOUNTABILITY AND SUPPORT THREAD

@lmaster Thanks:). I’ve completed a whole day now!  😄

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