Project Low-Buy 2015, Update #1: What I bought, what I didn't buy, and thoughts on careful shopping

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It's been about a month since I introduced my three-month low-buy challenge for 2015, so I'd say it's about time I shared my progress so far! Just to quickly recap, here's the basic gist of the challenge:

GOAL: Reduce frivolous buying by spending no more than $75 out of pocket over the course of three months.

RULES: Other than basic living and blog or work-related expenses (outlined here), all purchases must be counted towards the budget. The budget can be increased by selling items I already own or if I receive a monetary gift. Purchases made with rewards points, referral credits etc. do not count towards the budget.

So, have I stayed on track so far? Keep reading to find out!

First, I'll share the things I did end up purchasing.


Haul #1: A few odds and ends from the Birchbox shop.

Many of the items in this "haul" were actually free samples—the items I "paid" for were one Sumita Color Contrast Eyeliner, two Tokyo Milk Dark lip balms, and a three-pack of mini Klorane dry shampoos. I'm using the word "paid" in quotation marks because a large portion of the cost was covered by Birchbox points, so my out-of-pocket cost was only $8.09. PSA: Always review your monthly samples! POINTS!!!

Haul #2: Some "Happy birthday to me" bits and bobs from Sephora.

I ended up getting about $25 in unexpected funds at the beginning of the month (I'll explain why later), so I decided to treat myself to a couple of things from Sephora as sort of an early birthday present. I got the Bite Beauty Luminous Crème Lipstick Duo in Tangerine/Lingonberry (reviewed here), the Urban Decay Ammo Palette, and of course the free birthday gift (which is a very nice set of Nars lip pencils this year). I also purchased a Sephora Flash membership, because I mainly shop online and often find myself only wanting one or two things, so I hope that will discourage me from finding "filler" items I don't really need to meet the $50 free shipping minimum in the future. Total cost out of pocket: $40.49.


Haul #3: Four plates. Yes, plates.

I didn't anticipate needing any new housewares during the low-buy period, but shit happens and I found myself needing to replace a couple of my dinner plates all of a sudden. Whoops! Luckily, I found these cute floral print Corelle plates (pictured above with a bounty of tater tots) on Amazon for cheap. Mmm, tater tots. Total cost out of pocket: $17.42.


HAUL #4: Two Memeboxes.

I had a bunch of Memepoints in my account, so I was able to get the Leaders Mystery Box and Lunar New Year Mystery Box without spending a dime out of pocket. Unfortunately I don't have many points left after grabbing those boxes, but hey, it was nice while it lasted. Total cost: $0.


Other items I purchased but didn't take photos of:

• A phone case off eBay (boring!) for $8.19
• Some computer games for $6.69. This is one area of my spending I should probably keep an eye on—I buy random games on Steam, GOG etc. all the time when they go on sale for a couple bucks. Which of course means I have tons that I haven't played yet—including the ones I spent $6.69 on earlier this month. Whoops!

TOTAL FUNDS SPENT: $80.88


Think I went over my budget? I sort of did, but I also didn't. I received extra funds this month from two sources:

• Ebates: Oh Ebates, you old so-and-so. I used it quite a bit when I was doing my Christmas shopping last year, but didn't really keep track of how much cash back I had earned, so I was absolutely SHOCKED when I got a Paypal payment for $25.74 at the beginning of February. Normally it's way less. Moral of the story: Use Ebates when you shop online, because it does add up. (If you don't have an Ebates account yet, sign up through my referral link to get a $10 gift card bonus after your first $25 purchase!)
• Birthday gifts: I received $150 in cash as birthday gifts, which also shocked the crap out of me because people don't usually give me money as gifts. Seriously, I'm lucky if I clear $50 during any typical gift-giving occasion. I've decided to be boring and responsible and only add $50 of it to my frivolity budget though. The rest will go towards something more practical, like buying groceries and vitamins. I sure know how to have fun!

TOTAL FUNDS ADDED TO BUDGET: $75.74

TOTAL FUNDS LEFT IN BUDGET AFTER FEBRUARY PURCHASES: $69.86


I honestly sort of lucked out with the Ebates thing and the birthday cash, but if it hadn't been for those bonuses, I probably would have skipped the Sephora order to leave extra room in my budget. Spend it if you've got it, and if you don't... don't.


Now... how about what I didn't buy?


I almost pulled the trigger on an Innisfree order last month because they were offering free shipping to the US on orders over $30, but luckily I talked myself out of it, because that would have totally killed my budget at the time. And honestly, the products I was interesting in buying (hellooooo moisturizer) weren't things I really needed at the moment. I enjoy the novelty of trying new products and sharing my experiences for the sake of this blog, but when I take a step back and look around me, I realize that I actually do have a bunch of stuff that I haven't written about yet. So the "it's for the blog" excuse doesn't really wash either when I have several unopened, similar products lying around. So many goodies, so little time. And only one face. Sigh. If a dozen people beg me to review a specific product then that might be a reason, but otherwise... nope.

I'm also trying to be more discriminating with my purchases. I've been getting rid of a lot of old makeup and skincare lately, and it just doesn't feel very good to get rid of a moisturizer (or foundation or whatever) that's still 2/3 full. Sometimes we expect products to work for us and they just don't agree with our skin for whatever reason, but some ill-fated purchases could have been avoided with a little additional research. For example, I just got rid of a mostly-full bottle of Bourjois foundation—if I had looked at more photos online before I bought it, I would have realized that it was really yellow-toned and soooo not a good color match for me.

At the same time, I don't always have tons of time to research a small purchases (like drugstore foundation). It's tough to strike a healthy balance between saving time and saving money, because 20 minutes spent looking at pictures of makeup is 20 minutes I could be using to do work or improve my skills or something. But maybe wearing foundation that doesn't make my face look weird does actually improve my life in a way and therefore is worth it. But then I start to wonder, how much time is "worth it" per day to spend on your beauty routine (as opposed to other areas of self-improvement)? Thoughts?


Anyway, I've taken away three key lessons from this month:

• Never underestimate the power of Ebates and rewards points,
• Spending a bit of time researching beauty purchases is worth it, and
• Always anticipate replacement plates. ALWAYS.

What do you think of my low-buy so far? If you received a large cash birthday gift, would you spend it all on fun stuff or do something practical with it?


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