My Low Buy – What I bought in January

If you caught my last blog post about my goals for 2021, you may have seen that I have a goal to save money and a goal to reduce my skincare, makeup, and clothing. As a part of those goals, I am focusing this year on buying less. I am finding myself on a path of wanting to have less belongings as I find myself overwhelmed in my home by all I own. I love to try new things, but I have not been diligent about things like finishing a skincare item before buying a new one.

I have seen many people do low buys where they set really specific rules for themselves, but I am keeping mine somewhat loose right now. I may end up setting more clear rules for myself, but for right now I am finding my loose strategy to still be successful for me.

So in today’s post I wanted to talk about what I bought for myself in January using my budgeted personal spending.

The first thing I spent money on for myself was my 6 month subscription to Beauty Heroes. I’ve had a number of beauty box subscriptions over the years, but this is the only one I have active right now. I’m not sure what will happen when it rolls around for the next six months, but for now I am really happy in keeping this subscription. They do only send a small number of items in the box (2 to 3 usually) so that also isn’t too overwhelming when I have my goals of using up skincare. It is also usually skincare or body care items, which are easier for me to use up vs. the boxes with a lot of makeup that I have had before (like Ipsy or Boxycharm).

The next thing I spent money on for myself was a pattern for sewing a quilted coat called the Gibson Coat from the Etsy seller itsallinthestitch. I have not sewn the pattern yet, but I have been wanting to make a quilted coat and am happy to have a pattern now for when I am ready. Also it was on sale so I took advantage…

I also purchased a piece of clothing in January. I had been looking at this dress for a while, and did not buy it in December when it was on sale because it did not really fit in my budget then. I think the dress is beautiful with its embroidery, pleating, gathers, drawstring, colors… So when it went on sale again in January I bought it! I have worn it and gotten a ton of compliments on it as well as really feeling comfortable and happy in it. I can’t wait to wear it a bunch more times.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CLgBPFVndIQ/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

The last things I spent my personal budget on for myself was lunch at work once, ice cream for myself and a coworker once, and my membership to Beauty Pie. All low expenses that I was fine spending on in January.

What did you spend your money on in January?

Makeup and Skincare No Buy 2019

Yes you read that title right, I am starting a no buy for 2019 of all makeup and skincare products.  This will be a replacement only no buy for all my makeup and skincare products, and I am going to be doing this for 6 months from January 1, 2019 – July 1, 2019.  After 6 months I will reevaluate and see if I want to continue, switch to a budget, or do something else.

My rules:

• I cannot buy any new products in a category until I have one product left that is at least halfway used up.
  • I am planning to set aside one travel item in categories that won’t count for this number, so if I had one travel sized cleanser and a half used full size cleanser I could buy a new cleanser.  This is just for ONE travel sized item though, so if I have 5 travel size cleansers and one full size that is half used up I still can’t buy a new cleanser.
• I can use gift cards to buy non-replacement items and accept gifts. I will be tracking this though and might change this if it is letting me bring in a lot of items still.  I plan to be thoughtful about any purchases made from gift cards or as a replacement and will track all of that for updates here.
• I have a couple subscription boxes already that I am not canceling at this time, but I might at some point so those are an exception to the replacement only rule.

 

I think that is all of my rules, but will update if I think of any others or make a new rule due to a lack of structure for some area.  I am currently updating my inventories for makeup and skincare so I have all the information on my numbers here at the start. I will also be tracking what is spent on everything (using a gift card or not).

If you like seeing updates like this on youtube, you can always check out videos on my channel. I also am currently posting pictures of my skincare inventory on my Instagram if you want to check that out.

Anyone else doing a replacement only no buy or have you done one before? Let me know!