Two weeks into my no-buy/low-buy shopping pause

Temptations
Shortly after I declared to the world I was going to pause my shopping, be more mindful and try to cut extraneous expenses out of my life for a year a bunch of life happened. Good life (insert big smile here) but life. I was on track to be debt-free, at zero, net worth positive on my birthday. The bills have settled, and for now I think I can recalculate my debt payment plan. I'm still going to do the 365 days of shopping pause.
Not surprisingly, the spending gremlins snuck into my brain. Yesterday was a great example of what I hope the shopping pause can help correct. I knew I couldn't buy anything yet I still spend over three hours looking at and tempted to get various things. Oh, the shopping ban has just started, this is okay. It's only x dollars, and you're going to get it sometime soon anyway; why not get it now? If you really want to stick to a whole year, just buy this thing now. etc, etc. I'm pretty sure I spent so much time looking because 1) I was tired and 2) I suspect my subconscious knows that will-power can only last so long and eventually I'll give it.

Success
Good news! I actually didn't buy anything yesterday despite all the temptations! I am also very proud of myself for not giving in on any of the 12+ halloween day only sales and products. That was ... unexpected and hard.
Some of the things I did was to
-Calculate the exchange rate and how many hours of work the item would be
-Close the browser windows after emptying my shopping card
-Look in the stores for what I want without any money/cards telling myself I can come back
-Put the phone to charge and go to another room in the house
-Whine to someone about how I want to buy things
-Think of something I would want more that I already paused on
-Look at how much stuff I have now; think if I have something that already fills that role
-Decide when I might be able to buy that item without any guilt (ie I'll get a new cover when it's time to replace my planner or if it breaks; I'll get a sample of that make-up item when it's time to order an essential item, I think I can make it this year without replacing my x clothing item, wait until you've lost the weight and then replace with something nice you love that will last)


A Plan
I've decided that to really stick to my shopping pause I need a good start. I want a goal to get me focused to aid in preventing slip ups. I know it's going to happen, I know life is going to happen. But... I have a goal I've wanted for several years now. Debt-free.
If I trim all the excess (which is going to be really hard with the holidays upon us) I think I can be debt free on my last pay day in February. Four months from now. 117 days. I only have to stick to only essentials (no make-up, stickers, outside coffee, clothes, non-essential kid stuff, etc) for another 117 days and I'll be at the start again. Only 117.

So that's my mantra this week. 117 days. I can do this.

Low Buy, No Buy Starting Points

Some of the advice I've read is to stock up before you start. So bad! This causes me to waaaay over spend and over need to no buy. It also opens up the "gimmie now" monster to all the new things you might be missing. If you're browsing stores opens your eyes to things you never knew you could want (or perhaps had forgotten about). For me, even going to a consignment shop to drop off excess or listing things online can catch my eye.

What has worked?
1. Keeping busy. Try to distract yourself.
2. Inventory all your stuff. Holy crap batman! I never knew I was so lucky.
3. Think about how long those items are actually going to last. I've been rambling about make-up on the blog for a while so let's use an eyeshadow as an example. It takes me 1-2 weeks to use up a sample baggie, full sizes are so much larger! It frightens me that I may have committed to this makeup for the rest. of. my. life (if I chose to use it all up before buying something new). If I buy another 1, 2 or 15... that's almost another year!
4. Budget, or more recording each item I buy. September was just a month to try to be frugal (knowing I had some stress triggers and I didn't want to make it worse by restricting myself to a breaking point).
5. A goal. You need a reason to change. If you have decided to no buy or low buy, you (or someone else or your credit cards) has said "Enough! This is not working.". Without a good motivational thought it's going to be very easy to fall back into older patterns.
6. Positivity!



For a personal touch here's my September story: I can haul like oates when I want. I had an upcoming birthday and a situation which leads to stress shopping. Even with my goal of being frugal, sticking to my debt repayment plan and getting my life back the way I want I apparently think spoiling myself is more important. I'm disappointed with myself, my hoarding, and my lack of discipline. But I need to be kind. Move on. Refocus.

I'm going to do a very long shopping ban as I want to start panning items, and overall continue getting the amount stuff in my house lower. I need to evaluate which subscriptions I will keep (because goodness, I love them! and I think they do help keep me from shopping and I love the satisfaction of using up a mini product). I think I'll keep the yearly (Topbox, BirchBox and Ipsy) and sadly drop the indies (Hello Waffle, Innocent and Twisted, Food boxes) to streamline my budgeting.

Use it or lose it July

Okay - things are settling after the baby. It's time to evaluate some of the things I own. Welcome to the monthly Use It Or Lose It! where I decide if I want to keep a product or simply to use it as much as I can before tossing it and never replacing*.

Here are July's picks:

Jergen's Natural Glow in Fair/Light. This has been packed in storage and I don't know if it's still good. It's about half left. I remember if I use this right after showering I had the smoothest legs firv2-3 days. 

Nexxus setting spray. I LOVE this! Same thing, been in storage. Even before that however I was in the pattern of only using it on special dates as it is (or was super) expensive. Here, 5 years later it's still mostly full. 

Avon Mark cranberry exfoliating beads. I used to love this. Found a brand new package never opened from, yup, storage. I'm going to toss this in the shower. 

Avon foot works watermelon spray. Another love from storage. This is pretty much scented baking soda spray that cools the feet and keeps the stink down. Perfect for after a run. Like above, discontinued so I'm hoping to use it all up this month. 

Avon refreshing mist in Vanilla. Another love stored away to be recently found. I actually have a second one of these so my goal is to pan this one too. The problem is it smells so good I'm always craving Rice Krispy squares. 

August 1st if these are still remaining I'll decide to keep it/use it up or sacrifice it to makeup gods in my trash can. 

Do you have any lost loves you need to rediscover or remove? 

How long does it last?

Mostly a note to myself for recall :) And a note to update this as I think of things.

Shampoo and condition : replaced in late January, conditioner depleted, shampoo almost empty. Estimated 4 months per average size bottle. This week for five days, each shower has been "the last use of the shampoo bottle". It still has "one more" use left. 

Sample Baggie of eyeshadow: one week with daily use (darling girl still at the nerd table, my pretty zombie bride, hello waffle artificial) 

Sample of blush : two and half weeks. Yup, I used my full sample of happy ending from my May vanishing cabinet before I jump into my hello waffle blushes. 

Glitter Fix: one year(!) I'm thisclose to completely using the glitter fix from my GDE OTM last year. I've used a second one and other adhevsives but I also use this one to swatch. Let's call it even at about one year. 

Eye cream: I'm on my third sample eye cream tub and it appears the 3-4 months I use it falls close to the recommended six months. This actually has me thinking subscriptions may be the way to go as it feels like I'd never finish a cream before it "goes bad" and the smaller pots are healthier. 

Nail polish top coat: forever! I can't believe I haven't emptied one in the last year. I do switch it up, but I would have thought the mini from julep would be empty and it still seems to have lots. 

D.O. A fairly steady 3 months. I usually buy 2-3 at a time, twice a year. I actually just got a year and half (pushing the lifespan here but I think I'll be okay) at Costco. 

Q-tips: a box appears to last a year. Wow! 

I feel paying attention to my product usage can ultimately help me obtain my spending/saving goals and lead to more mindful shopping. And much less hoarding if I can fight "it's a good deal, I'll use it up, it doesn't go bad". I'm starting to see some of the worst (aka no returns for me and ultimately wasted) money I've spend is on "good deals". Recall my shoe decluttering? Mostly good deals. I have seven chapsticks I want to test out as they were "good deals". I'll buy food off my grocerry list that doesn't get eaten as it a "good deal".

I need to be frugal, thrifty and place my money on what I value. Only sometimes is that a good deal. :) 

Of shopping and minimalism; Saving and mindfulness

I often feel like this huge contradiction as I want to be more minimalist but I do like shopping (and in many ways have been trained to shop as therapy 😜).

I also want to be clutter-free (or very clutter reduced).

So why the boxes and the make-up? What's going on?

For me, when I say minimalism I mean more cutting down the waste leaving only the things I love. I come from generation of hoarders (for originally good reasons - it was hard to be a homesteader, farmer for the last hundred years) so the desire and need to hoard runs deep within in. By longing for minimalism, I think I can over come this and end up in a great happy place of tidy. Of clean and neat. I also want to spend my money on what I value, and I'm so tired of being in heaps of debt. It happened so fast (refresher, life event caused an almost $100,000 swing of finances leaving me $65,000 in debt). I've been busting my behind to get out. A couple months ago, I began the habit of emotional shopping again - which has benefited my blog. It's so much easier to write about things I've bought than things I feel.

I think for the summer I will keep up my subscriptions and cut it down to two indie make-up boxes in the fall (please help me pick!). I will continue to post my hauls. I will continue to swatch. I am going to start "shopping my stash" and pulling out more comparisons. I also want to chat more about being frugal. I going to be more mindful. I started the subscription boxes as I wasn't taking care of me, and I did not have a routine (other than brushing my teeth before bed). Wouldn't it be great to have a written remind how long products last? My plan is a couple more purchases this summer (shimmer me, the august femme fatale release, another two). I'm building a huge list of wants for my birthday, and closer to the date, I'll decide what and how much I can spend. Ideally, I will be cashing in points for presents, and not truly affecting my (very tight) budget much. I will be getting my back my laser focus on debt elimination, building my emergency fund, and continuing to work on me.

Did you want details of my "shopping ban"? Did you want to see my budget and debt repayment goals?

More interestingly, I spent about one monthly payment after finishing my final student. Do you find you have to relax, just blow some money, and not care for a bit before you can go back and do it again?

Shopping Ban February Update

I've mentioned this before, and I've drafted a few posts. I think it's time I make it an official "shopping ban". It is essentially like how I've lived (or some days tried to live) and what I've budgeted for. I've come to realize I'm from a long line of hoarders, and I've come to the point where I want to start to embrace minimalism again. I can't control too much of what the two young kids have, but I can control my possessions. The amount I have wasn't a problem when I both lived by myself and had the dispoable income to purchase AND save AND own a home AND pay down my students loans in a time-frame I was comfortable with.

I've done amazing at paying down my debt. I'm still under half-way to debt-free based on my peak point last March. I think I can do better - well, better for being on maternity leave (which my disposable income will probably decrease upon returning to work as childcare costs will increase). I think I also need to drive some points home to me. Most importantly:

I shop when I am stressed. 

I shop as motivation.

I shop to feel good about myself.

I shop when I feel I've made a mistake.

I plan on counting my clothes, as I have too many. I was on my way to paring it my wardrobe down to (my) bare minimum when I unexpectedly became pregnant. The four very full garbage bags of clothes I had removed from my closet, many too big, never made it to the donation bin. After the baby was born these "too large" clothes were too small. I moved most of my stuff into storage, I lost the weight, I became pregnant again. My "too large" clothes don't fit. I've acquired clothes along the way.

In short, I have lots of clothes, and I don't know how and when they will fit.

I can't tackle this problem overnight, I love so many of my clothes, and I don't want get rid of something before I'm ready. In the past 12 months I sold over $5000 of my clothes to pay off debt, and I'm absolutely honest and crazy that I miss many of them. But I am going to start at step 1.

A six month shopping ban. 

I've decided from February 1st to July 31st, I will not buy any clothes with the following exceptions:
1. Clothes for my toddler for her birthday (and again around the fall)
2. Dresses for the girls if our wedding happens in the next six months
3. I have some weight loss goals tied to clothes. i.e. when I hit and maintain a weight I can buy this item.
4. If I start a new job, and require an updated professional wardrobe.

I do want to extent this official shopping ban to other areas (which I'm observing my behavior to see which areas I have not cut in the past four years). But for clothing (and really one store in particular) I've done amazing at staying on or under budget.

However.. the announcement of my engagement, setting a date with the husband equivalent, finding and placing a down-payment on dress, the husband equivalent realizing weddings cost money and the places/dates he wants are booked, the wedding date revoked, and my shopping because I felt silly for buying a dress (and jewelry to match) has shown me what I was afraid of.

Once I open the purse strings, a flood of spending occurs.

I want to try six months free to understand myself and my desires more. I'm five days in and it's been hard. I've done it. And, now internets, you know I'm trying it. I can't tell you why it's so hard. yet.

I'm still going to post subscription box reviews as long as I receive them and see value in them. There will be many, many boxes I want to buy that I will pass on. I am still going to post about my debt. I think this helps keep me accountable, and helps me work through my emotions. I'm still going to post random thoughts. Hopefully, I'll be posting more about my running.

To up the ante on this ban, and to make it different than my usual struggling to not spend/stay on budget, I've decided for now until the end of March I am going to put $20 a week in a savings account. I'm going to add what I make from cleaning out my closet and selling items on eBay in this account. I want to see the number. I've already spoken with my partner, and he is okay that I keep this separate, and that I don't plan on using it for debt repayment, or wedding costs. I think I need to see the number. I'm also so sick of selling my things on ebay I want to be done with a mass reduction before I return to work.

Five days and no purchases. Not even those cute boots.