October 2014 No/Low Buy: Hugs, Commiseration, and Confessional

[chibimorph]

I haven't been particularly active here, recently - but I'm glad to say that I've done well this month! /emoticons/[email protected] 2x" width="20" height="20" />

So far - in addition to my monthly subscription, I purchased some things from an indie LE Halloween release that I had already planned on buying several months ago - if anything, I whittled down my order and asked a friend if she wanted to combine our orders to reach free shipping. I have resisted a bunch of indie bath and body things, but I used up my body wash so I may buy a whipped soap soon. There are several new collections that I want, but if they're permanent or going to be around past October, I'm going to wait to buy it (my goal is to space out my purchases and give myself time to make sure I want those things).

I'm also participating in a Secret Santa exchange, which will hopefully prevent me from buying anything on my wishlist in case my Secret Santa gets it for me /emoticons/[email protected] 2x" width="20" height="20" />

And I agree about the "don't buy things with the mentality of returning them" - especially with makeup (and food... I get really irritated when people return food (even unopened/processed, packaged foods like candy bars) because the stores have to throw it away - I don't know if they're allowed to donate that food to shelters out of concerns it might have been tampered with). It's a good habit to research and think about the products before you buy them. To put it more harshly, constantly returning things is abusing an extremely generous system that protects consumers from products that really don't work for them (like allergies). Other countries don't have such generous return policies - and for things like makeup, stores don't know what happens to a product in between the purchase and the return, and for sanitary reasons they're not supposed to resell returned things which means they have to throw the stuff away or return them to the original brand (to be thrown away). In the end, returning things just increases the prices for products because stores have to take into account the losses.

Anyways... rant over, I hope everyone keeps strong to their no-buy/low-buy plans! /emoticons/[email protected] 2x" width="20" height="20" />

 

[gingerneko]

The sunk fallacy is interesting in regards to cosmetics/beauty items, in that it's only sometimes a fallacy.

I have three eyebrow products that serve the same purpose. I should be reasonable and get rid of the one that fades quickly and the one that's not the right color. I'll never wear those two products again because I know they won't look as good as the third product that I love. 

I also have a bunch of shampoos/conditioners. I don't like the scent of several of them, but I'm still keeping them. The products work fine and the scent isn't bad, it's just not as good as other products. In this case, I think it actually would be wasteful to toss the products.

Agree/disagree? What do you consider worth saving? How do you decide to get rid of stuff?

If you have friends who would welcome these items, why not hand them off? I tend to put good-quality toiletries that don't work for me into my guest bathroom, or give them to family or friends. It's not a bad thing to hang onto something as a backup, but multiples? If you can unload them in a non-wasteful way, go for it. If not, well, I agree that it's wasteful to just toss a product that still has a use and is of good quality.

Some of them could also be swapped here on MUT, if you want to try that.

 

[gingerneko]

I have all of these teas I love and teas I love less. I am trying to drink up the teas I love less. and I have a LOT of different varieties of tea. But I have an urge to buy more teas that I'm not sure I will like??

What you could do is take some of the ones you love less and package them up prettily as a holiday gift or two -- or maybe try starting up a circular tea swap on the circular swap group here on MUT?

-I have so many lotions. I'm pretty sure I post this EVERY month in the no/low buy section. I don't even know how these lotions keep multiplying?! Seriously, I detest applying lotion so much. I rarely use it. I don't even buy it. Why do I have 5 things of lotion?! Gah!!!! 

-I don't take baths!!!!! Why do I have bath bombs from Lush?!!?! 

-I have way too many tarts from Yankee Candle. I don't regret my tealights, I use those for my teapot warmer. But Maybe instead of stockpiling tarts during semi-annuals, I should just buy one or two when I want them!! I have like, 15. From last year. I hardly burn them. I don't regret my larger candles in jars. I love Man Town. But these tarts are killing me. I don't use them, and I have to force myself to. I'm not stock piling these anymore, ugh.

All of these things would make really cute additions to gift baskets for friends or family!

My night routine didn't feel right without a cleanser, so I started using Murad again. Bumps came back. Tried Mario again. Bumps. Stopped using them, and now Cerave Hydrating Cleanser is treating me right. But what do I do now with the other two cleansers? One is half full and one is 3/4 full.

Swap 'em or give 'em away -- or, if the packaging allows it to be hygienic to give away, put them into a 'donate to a shelter' box?

My FOREVER LOW BUY KIND OF rules are as follows:

Do I love it absolutely need it have nothing like it? It's okay to get. 

Is it something I hate and feel it's a chore to use like lotion, lip gloss? NO NON NO 

Do I have so many of them that I'll never use and it just wastes precious space? NO NO NO

I want to save my money!!! 

But Julia, Butterfly Pea Tea steeps blue and turns purple with honey. And $7 wasn't a bad price. 

Yeah, well, if it tastes like crap I'm going to force you to enjoy every last penny of it!!!! Because I'm not wasting $7 here! 

-NO MORE TEA. ELIMINATE ALL UNFAVOURITES, AND THEN MAYBE I WILL ALLOW MYSELF TO PURCHASE CZAR ALEXANDER FROM CHADO TEA.

-USE UP EVERY SINGLE DAMN LOTION AND SHOWER GEL AND THEN NEVER PURCHASE OR RECEIVE ANOTHER AGAIN FOR LIFE. (I'm a bar soap girl, and okay with buying multiple bars at once to not have to buy any for a while. But I have enough to last me months, so, I don't need any at the moment.) 

-NEVER STEP FOOT INTO LUSH AGAIN, I HATE BATHS, AND I FIND THE REST OF THEIR PRODUCTS OVERPRICED FOR SOMETHING I CAN MAKE AT HOME. (I make pretty bad ass bath bombs DIY at home. (As gifts for people, since I hate baths.)) 

-NO TARTS. NO CANDLES. I HAVE MAN TOWN ALREADY. AND MAHOGANY TEAKWOOD.

These are great rules. They're pretty similar to the ones I'm putting into place for myself. Body washes are one of my weaknesses. It would take me years to work through what I already have. Literally.

 

[TooMuchElectric]

If you have friends who would welcome these items, why not hand them off? I tend to put good-quality toiletries that don't work for me into my guest bathroom, or give them to family or friends. It's not a bad thing to hang onto something as a backup, but multiples? If you can unload them in a non-wasteful way, go for it. If not, well, I agree that it's wasteful to just toss a product that still has a use and is of good quality.

Some of them could also be swapped here on MUT, if you want to try that.

Definitely. When I say "get rid of" I don't necessarily mean throw away. I offer my usable castoffs to friends/family or add them to swap packages. 

 

[gingerneko]

Definitely. When I say "get rid of" I don't necessarily mean throw away. I offer my usable castoffs to friends/family or add them to swap packages. 

I'm the same way. I tend to look at it as 'someone else may love this' -- I hate throwing out things that aren't poor quality, past code, or just plain bad. 

Annnnd...

I hadn't formalized my low-buy but I've decided it's about time. I started informally last month about mid-month. Since then I have:

• Cancelled ipsy, BeautyBox 5, and Sample Society. (I cancelled GlossyBox a few months back.) My last boxes didn't wow me, and I came to the conclusion that Birchbox has been a consistently good value (and I have an annual sub), especially given the points, but the others, not so much. Generally, if there's something I really want, I can try and swap for it. After I looked at how much I accumulated that I was intending to swap, and realizing I bought mystery sample boxes just for the sake of swapping materials, I decided it was high time to stop until I'd de-stashed significantly. 

• Maintained my PopSugar sub, because it provides my little 'treat' spending in a more controlled fashion, plus, I intend to use some of it as gifts in the future when the items match up with someone I know. This may seem contraintuitive, but if I know I'm getting a box of cool items of a few kinds, I won't be as likely to impulse-buy them.

• Set parameters for buying:Replacement of staple items
• Gifts for others since the holidays is coming
• A bargain on a wish-list item that isn't too spendy, and only one per month.

Also added to this is paring down my wish list significantly. I may want ALL THE PALETTES NOW DAMNIT, especially all the holiday shinies, but I'm trying to look at it from the perspective of how many of those things are dead-ringers for items I already own. Considering I have about four MAC 15-pan palettes full, a MAC blush palette full, and a large ZPalette, plus all the not-yet-depotted things and a dozen or more large premade palettes... eyeshadows are my weakness. I need to buy less of them, and only if they are unique, unrepresented in my collection AND of colors and finishes I'll actually use, or a replacement for one that breaks or gets nasty and needs to get tossed. 

I also began reducing my stash, separating out items I won't ever use for donations, for swap, and for stocking stuffers and gifts. This isn't just my cosmetics items, either... things like candles and accessories fit in here.

I'm also not letting myself buy any more colored beads for my beading projects -- I could use a wider variety of metal spacers and assorted findings, but I have more colored beads of various types, shapes, colors, etc., than I could possibly use any time soon. I want to buy a stamping kit and a couple of different typefaces sometime soonish, but I've told myself I don't get it until I go a few months without blowing a ton of cash on jewelry supplies that aren't immediately needed for a current project. 

 

[CurlyTails]

I need support lol.

I purchased 2 memeboxes last month.

I'm at a point where I know I should cancel them. It makes financial sense, and it makes practical sense- I don't think I'm really going to enjoy what's in them, and I got them mostly to use a coupon code.

Can someone please just tell me to cancel them already? It's so hard to let go.

I say cancel. With Memebox you know there will always be another box release that you'll like better and you can use the money toward one of those boxes.

 

[crazycatlady82]

Almost a week of no buy...I want to buy an indie collection for $24 that benefits Vietnam vets...but I also really want the vice 3, and the new hello waffle collection. Staying strong. Friday is pay day...that's my weakness.

Also...I will return my ulta purchase. I don't buy things thinking that I'll return them. I want to love all the pretties...but last week I realized how much I spent on make up and how I need to stop. We just bought a house and we are getting married in December...I need to use what I have and enjoy it before enjoying more new pretties.

 

[West Coast Beauty Addict]

Sorry I have not been active much this month.  It's not really a no buy but a thoughtful buy.  I need some fall/winter clothes for work and to replace some things.

My goal is to not buy things I don't love and not to have things sitting around that I never use or wear.  So far I have stuck to that goal.

 

[West Coast Beauty Addict]

I think you're okay in returning the items this time, no point in stressing over reselling over ebay, but it's helpful to remember for the future the hassle with returning items (and the self driven guilt - this gets me every time and I hate it.)

I know.  It just adds one more thing to my to do list when I have to return something.

 

[West Coast Beauty Addict]

So an update from therapy.

At this point it is more about the stuff that accumulates that I don't use and just starts to stress me out.  

We talked about better / newer being the enemy of good.  I always want to try the new product, even if what I have works for me.  

I also have issues making small decisions.  Not big decisions, just the little ones.  So I end up buying more so I don't have to decide.  

I over analyze things to death, especially the little things.  So decision paralysis sometimes kicks in for me.  

We talked about how I can choose not to decide now.

This has taken some time but I am accepting this.  I am also learning that too much stuff causes me stress because I have to find a place for it and use it before it goes bad.  

 

[TooMuchElectric]

I get decision paralysis too. It's the main reason I love Trader Joe's: I don't have to choose between 10 brands for every single item on my list.

As far as online shopping goes, I overanalyze everything, get overwhelmed by the options, and either spend way too much or walk away in exasperation (after having wasted SOO much time in front of the computer trying to make any decision at all).Ugh.

 

[jaylilee]

omg i've been missing for a while ;-; sorry guys! Life was crappy and I needed a break from a lot of things, but I'm back now!

As for how things are going in october, surprisingly not a single makeup purchase has been made since september, and I'm pretty proud of that. I guess the second I stop stressing about a "no buy" and "not buying" and "must stick to a plan" that's when things naturally fall into place for me and I just stop...thinking about it. I feel like I sabotage myself when I put myself on a no-buy because that good ol' survival instinct of hoarding in the face of scarcity kicks in.

I also hit pan on my nyx brow cake which woooohoo! about time. Only took me 14 weeks (i posted it on instagram and when i hit pan i went back to see when i started using it again). Finishing the whole pan will probably take well over a year though, and then there's the other side with the darker brown....total wakeup call. 

 

[CurlyTails]

Welcome back!

 

[tulosai]

Just letting everyone know I did cancel the two Memeboxes!

 

[CurlyTails]

Good job!

 

[kawaiisofoxy]

welcome back @@jaylilee !  We missed you!

I've been very successful lately, but now I'm taking part in an indie exchange (not MUT related) and I'm having so much fun stalking for my person!  It's helping me because I love shopping for her, but I'm actually not too tempted by everything!  Yay!  My only slip-up was ordering 2 perfume oil samples, but they were only $5 with FREE shipping and I've been wanting these for LITERALLY MONTHS.  So I'll call that my "had a bad day" shopping, and as long as I'm good for the rest of the month, I can still get my planned purchase of indie shadows.  Trying not to give any enabling details, but I'm pretty sure I went more into it upthread.

Stay strong ladies!

 

[saku]

i'm still doing well! i've only spent $27 so far for october on beauty stuff and it's awesome! i actually wanted to buy something and now it's on sale, but for some reason still can't pull the trigger on a $21 purchase. i'm torn haha! i'm getting paid tomorrow so maybe i'll get it then...or maybe not! we'll see...

 

[goldendarter]

I'm back on here, and I need to just lay out my plan. It's been in my head but seeing it on screen will help with keeping me accountable. I stopped following these threads earlier in the year when I realized that my student loans were coming out of deferment in November which meant the holidays weren't going to be too fun. I took the attitude (and still have) that I would rather spend my extra money on luxuries rather than add extra money to my loan payments for a lot of reasons, not the least of which being that if I died tomorrow I wouldn't want to die having deprived myself for no reason. I can make my loan payments easy, I just have to cut back on my personal spending. I was ok with that then, and still am.

My plan, such as it currently is:

- Cut back subscriptions: I've been slowly doing this over the last few months so it wouldn't be cold turkey. Gave up Ipsy first since it was my least fav, then Blush bag since it was getting less interesting, and I finally cut my second BB yesterday. That one was painful, but I cashed out on points so it was a good time. I am giving myself leave to resub if a good code comes out since I do a lot of my skincare shopping on BB due to the points.

- Cut back on Meme Boxes: Notice how Memebox got its own section? Ugh. These are my kryptonite. I've actually done quite well the past two months, but I splurged a bit here and there since I knew I wasn't going to be able to in the future. As of today, I am allowing myself to buy the globals and mask boxes, and the pore boxes if they restock, but absolutely nothing else. It's going to be BRUTAL.

- Keep moving through my stash: The best thing I can do to keep myself from buying new stuff is visualize that drawer (moisturizer, cleanser, etc). I have a nice little stash and with several more Memeboxes still in my future I won't be hurting for the staples. Since joining the "trash" and "empties" threads here I have been able to keep track of what I'm using and I love it! Makes me look forward to moving on to my next samples and products, which is a major motivator for moving through products.

- Nail Polish: Late 2013/Early 2014 I slightly lost my mind and had a bit of a nail polish binge. As in I went from maybe two polishes that had been around since high school to over 200. Yeah. So I am finally embarking on a project to cut back on polishes. I'm going to start by working my way through wearing each of my minis and see what to keep, what to trade, and what to trash, then work through my Juleps, then the rest of my polishes. I'll keep my tools since they don't take up too much space and will always be useful, but the horde I've got going on has got to go.

- Brick and Mortar - A SiJCP opened right down the street from me this month. I've managed to stay away through sheer force of will, but I know I'll find myself in there eventually and just have to use my self control. I'm also bad about splurging at Ulta about once a month. No more. Only the basics, but I shouldn't need makeup staples for at least a few months. I also pop into the Dollar Store every now and then because they sometimes surprise me with their nail items. That one will be hard because it's so easy to justify "it's only a dollar!" purchases until you take a step back and see how they add up.

- Expriations! - Over the past week or so I finally went through my entire stash and wrote everything down in categories. Then realized I hadn't noted expiration dates and had to go through it again, which was a good thing! I could impress upon myself exactly how much I had for a second time! Helped me see which items I need to use up first, and made me realize how many dang moisturizers I have. Jeez. 

- No signing up for subscriptions just for one month - No matter what the promo. Just say no.

So, I have obviously broken most of these rules this month since they weren't formalized until the last day or so, but moving forward I have hope. And I'm so glad there is such an amazing community like this here on MUT where we can help each other out and hold each other accountable! Excited to see how well I can do for the rest of the month, and sending positive vibes to everyone here as well!

 

[CurlyTails]

I've made the last of my allowed purchases, so no more shopping for myself unless I need actual replacements (and there is only a .01% chance I will need ANYTHING). I am planning on participating in some Secret Santa stuff, so my only allowed shopping will be for my swapee.

And no more Memeboxes! I have too many coming to me in the next couple of months to be backlogged any further.

 

[jesemiaud]

Yeah...I've been ordering daily from Sephora with the 150 point codes. BUT...they've all been items for gifts (one thing per day, lol...stocking stuffers in the $1-$3 range) or allowed items. I'll probably continue to order daily as long as there is something I can find that's within reason. I've managed to redeem 1500 points (also for gifts). Still feeling in control. /emoticons/[email protected] 2x" width="20" height="20" />