Join me in a beauty product buying ban or come and give me moral support!

[listsandbudgets]

I can't do this alone folks. I've got TOO MUCH STUFF... I also have 2 beauty advent calendars

So I've set myself a challenge. Between now and June the 1st 2024 I will not buy any beauty products UNLESS I've run out of all of that particular type. If I've got a tiny sample bottle of shampoo or conditioner I'll use it all up. All those half used bottles of moisturiser, night cream, shower gel and toner and body lotion MUST GO... the mountain of soap must be surmounted.

My only concession is that I will not cancel the Liberty Beauty drop will get a couple of boxes to cheer me up

So if you want to join me make up your own rules and lets cull that stash

I've got an obscene amount of skincare stashed away - and am trying so hard to sit on my hands and not buy more. I reckon I could go at least a year, if not more.

I need this thread to hold me accountable!

Make a simple spreadsheet. I started one two years ago and it was really helpful.

I didn't include everything I had at the start, as that would have taken days to list everything I had on hand and would have slowed me down. Instead I just made one set of columns for items in and their cost and another set of columns for items finished and their cost (and marked gifts and samples as such). I then put in breaks and subtotals for each calendar month, half-year, and year. I also added a column on the 'out' side for any comments.

I was super embarrassed to see the amount spent on the 'in' columns. I had enough money, but did I want to spend all that money on beauty stuff that mostly ended up collecting dust because I already had tons?

The spreadsheet also encouraged me to focus on using stuff up, so I could see progress in the out columns. Finally, it also helped me diagnose problem areas: why so many candles in and so few out? Which months end up being big splurge months, and why?

I still do spend, and I do buy nice things regularly and treat myself occasionally, but this helps me be much more considered about it.

@EverybodysALebowski Love this idea, I have the same problem with candles! Buy lots to hoard but put off burning them as I'm saving them 'for good' (for what?!). I'm also on the verge of buying the Harrods advent, but the thought of having to add that cost to a spreadsheet is holding me back.

Candles are great as emergency presents, like when my neighbour’s dog was killed by a car, and I gave her a black scented candle - felt a bit embarrassed about it until I saw she’d already built a little shrine with candles and photos of her lovely dog and the black candle looked perfect there.

I rarely burn them myself, and haven’t purposefully bought one for years because of how many I get in beauty boxes/ACs.

@Possimpible It really helped, especially with candles which were my weakness. (I blame the pandemic.) I've only bought two candles in the past two years, one on half-price sale and one unusual mini. This is huge progress for me.

I keep thinking, do I really want to inflate my monthly spend with another nice candle when I already have many, many nice, big expensive candles sitting around unfinished or in storage?

Tracking also gives me incentive to finish up all those half-used things, so I can have easy wins on my out column. Some months I gamify and say two items out before one can come in, which gets me using up dregs and thus making space.

I've been using a notebook which is now a bit messy as I just cross things out as I use them. I'm down to about 90 items now so maybe I will just put them in to a spreadsheet before the advent calendars get opened. It was too big a job to do at the beginning of the year when I started sorting the stash.

I do like a spreadsheet.

Me too. It’s depressing, but I have enough stuff to last for years. I’m not buying an advent calendar either.

I feel I should do a spreadsheet, sounds like it would probably help control my impulse-buying habit, but it’d probably take me a week to do an inventory. :(

Mavis you don't have to put a spreadsheet together all at once. Maybe add things as you use them, to start with, and then work through categories little by little?

I've developed an issue with skincare and body care items, too. Started a few years ago as 'self-care' when my son was tiny, and the pandemic made it worse.

My inventory is almost 200 items including the upcoming advent calendar, even though I'm planning to use a few of those items as gifts. I added everything to my spreadsheet already so that I could rein myself in, rather than being tempted by deals - sad but true! At least it seems to be working so far.

I haven't ever overspent to a super high level as I do love a bargain, but if it'll take me a year to use that new moisturiser then that's a bit silly, really! So I really should do a no buy (unless I'm totally out in that category) for 2024. I've reduced my clothing purchases a lot in recent years, so I think I can do this. Let's hope so!

The only new clothes I’ve bought in the last three years are pyjamas! And that’s because I seem to have lost 10kgs and my old ones were falling off me. And I have enough shoes to last me the rest of my life - oh, except wellies, they invariably spring a leak eventually, I doubt my current pair will last forever, even though they’re the best pair I’ve ever owned, Aigle. Highly recommended although you couldn’t really ride horses in them (unlike Hunter wellies) because they’re pretty hefty and wouldn’t fit into stirrups.

So beauty boxes and occasionally silver jewellery are my only indulgences, and I do intend to conquer the beauty box addiction, with the thread’s help.

I found your ten kgs @MavisMcMinty! Do you want it back? 😵‍💫
I don’t spend on clothes (very evident if you met me. Some of my Dr Martens are so old they’re “vintage”. I’ve been wearing them for over 30 yrs and now I’m fashionable again.)
Skincare is my weakness. I did a preliminary makeup chuck out the other day. I think I can do better. The sachets are not medications, but sample lipsticks. The blue cushion I have washed off and will use to transport sunscreen.

I got rid of a load of open mascaras today. I need to be more careful about only using one at a time.

will go through and reply to you all later..

good news.. ive run out of hair oil but i'm resisting buying more.as i know.there will be some in AC next month. I have some Nuxe dry oil I will try for a bit instead

bad news... Ive already failed . I found myself ordering a sample of Jo Malone perfume last night. still at least it's free and it will be small.. for some reason Facebook tend to target free sample adverts at me.. can't think why 😂

still onwards.and upwards (or.downwards for the stash)

I've also unsubribced from various email lists. Elemis, L'occtaine, CLarins, Elizabeth Arden and Yves San Laurent will no longer plague my inbox with enticing offers and im sire others will go along the way.

I would notice because my skin would be a bright red, rashy, itchy, screaming mess. My skin needs good quality products that are ph balanced (soap is so drying and strips your skin if it's natural barrier) and not full of crap, cheap fillers that make me break out in hives.

It's not about appearance for me. It's about skin I can live in without wanting to scratch my own face off.

It depends on the soap. I buy handmade soap from a local producer. It's extremely nourishing (and expensive for soap). But you're right. Normal soap is atrocious if you're skin has any tendencies towards dryness.

@MavisMcMinty you definitely don't have to inventory everything for a spreadsheet! I didn't, I could and would never have gotten round to recording everything that was in the cabinet of doom and would have given up. I just started on the first of a month recording what came in and what went out. And it doesn't have to be a spreadsheet either; a notebook would work fine too. For me it was just that, like @OchonAgusOchonOh , I do like a spreadsheet and data and such.

I don't find soap drying at all, but I'm fussy what i buy.
Handwashes tend to be horrendous for me.

I now wash myself in shower oil - ie Bioderma. (Giant bottle, lasts forever). Thank you itchy, dry menopause skin.

I can’t bear foaming cleansers, it’s probably the only one of the vast Elemis cleansing wardrobe that I don’t like/use. I have a couple I’m grimly working my way through - particularly the Zelens one as it’s supposed to be exfoliating, but it’s a massive bottle and I’ll probably be dead before it’s empty. (Dead but with smooth glowing skin.)

I'm the same. Hate them. I love a nice cleansing balm and I'll tolerate a cleansing oil but hate foaming cleansers.

I've started putting them in the shower. It doesn't seem too bad using them there.

I like washing my face in the shower so don’t mind a foaming cleanser then but am fussy about them. Currently using Tatcha The Rice Cleanser which is nice. I think my favourite is the Curel one though.

You've all got me thinking I should buy new clothes instead of face wash I certainly need a new pair of jeans and my coat is getting a bit manky so perhaps I will look for those instead.

I am not sure I can bring myself to a spread sheet. I know I probably SHOULD but it seems so much effort and I'm not even quite sure where all the stuff is in order to catalogue it. @EverybodysALebowski Hopefully if I did, the in column would be fairly empty - or at least it's meant to be that way.

Another one who's not keen on the foaming face washes. I've got a No 7 one and honestly it just seems so light touch and not smooth and creamy like some of my others. I'll probably use it to the bitter end of course since it cleans my face!

I've just found 6 large bottles of Listerine in the cupboard under the stairs. Everyone denies all knowledge and I'm fairly certain I'd remember buying something like that especially as I very rarely use Listerine!

Also found a huge bar of soap lurking in at the back of my sock drawer - I'm slowly coming to the end of a massive bar I started in late July ... it's just gone on and on and on and I can't wait to see the back of it! Honestly I've got enough soap to last a life time.

I hate most foaming facial washes. I like the ones I have that have a neutral pH and are in those pumps that produce a soft foam. They always contain ceramides too. Non-drying or stripping. They’re not used to clean my face, but to ensure that there is no cleansing oil or balm left on.

Well done on unsubscribing from the marketing emails, Lists - I bet that will help a lot with temptation! I've done that for some, but should be more ruthless if I'm on going a no buy for the foreseeable. I hardly ever go on Facebook anymore, so they can't get me that way.

Buying clothes, shoes, coats, etc. that you actually need is a good idea, I think - rather than skincare or makeup that might expire before you get to it. I'm pretty happy with my wardrobe now and trying to shift to decluttering a new category...not sure what.

I'm also currently saving up for car insurance renewal and ds' Santa present (Nintendo Switch). Not fun spending, but those upcoming expenses are helping keep me on the straight and narrow! Nothing skincare etc. bought for 14 days now.