A No-Buy February

This post from Young house Love (miss them), has also always stuck with me. I was so impressed at their frugality and discipline. I also love Kristen from Minima. She teaches her clients to carefully choose the things they bring into their lives.  For me, it’s an interesting balance. I’m a huge believer in taking care of yourself, treating yourself, and having fun with your life in general. That’s actually where the name of my blog comes from. Tiramisu for breakfast? Why not? I love buying things and sharing about them, but I also want to be aware. It’s easy to get sucked in, reading blogs, seeing things on Instagram and watching hauls on YouTube. I don’t want to spend my thoughts and time on things I want to buy, and I don’t want to feel guilted into into buying things I don’t want at the mall because I’m easily convinced by sales people.

This January, one of the Youtubers  I follow, LisaLisaD1, did a no-buy month. I watch her videos because I love living seeing all the clothing and beauty goodies she picks up each week. She teamed up with her friend and they both challenged themselves to refrain from shopping at all for one month. I followed along as she shared and decided I’d try a no-buy month out for myself. I went for February, the shortest month (sneaky sneaky). I thought It’d keep track of all my temptations and what I did to keep myself on track. I told a couple of friends I was doing it, but I’ve been waiting until now to post in case I caved and went on a shopping spree. Spoiler alert: I didn’t. Here’s how it went:

2/1: I noticed the new grey super-soft sweat shirts that my Barre studio got in. I was just about to tell the instructor to charge my account when I realized nope, today began my no-buy month.

2/6 On the way to our ski trip in Wintergreen, VA, we stop at the mall. I needed to pick up my work computer from the Allie store and get the security tag removed from a bra I purchased from LuLulemon that was left on by mistake. The salesperson invited me to check out all the pink and red stuff they were featuring for Valentine’s Day and I glanced longingly but bolted out of the store to avoid temptation. I didn’t like the new IT cosmetics mascara I got in the mail from ULTA so I did exchange that for the Too Faced one I know I like. The difference was $0.22. Maybe this was cheating? My boyfriend said it was not.

2/8: I order a subscription to Real Simple from Amazon and feel guilty. Is this cheating!? Still not sure… I notice Nordstrom now has two new colors in these comfy lounge pants that I LOVE.  You guys, these pants are SO soft and wonderful. These are definitely going on the list. (I kept a mental list of all the things I thought about buying but didn’t, so I could decide at the end of the month if I really wanted them.

2/10: I stop by Elements on my lunch break to pick up samples and am tempted to buy the full size Erno Laszlo toner. I’m really loving the oil, cleansing bar, toner, moisturizer system and am worried everything will get out of sync if I run out and have to skip the toner step. I decide I’ll cross that bridge when we come to it and walk out with just some samples.

2/11: Sephora emails to say they’ve picked up the Armani line. I peek, of course, but don’t add anything to my basket. I noticed the Kenneth Cole mules I want from Macy’s are on sale. This was hard to resist. What if they sell out?! Then, I see this coat on Js Everyday Fashion. Stunning. How is this only $72? If I had not been on a no-buy, I would totally have gotten it.

2/17:  I went on the Sephora website to order a gift, and then thought I’d check-in on my Nordstrom shopping cart. The pants I wanted are sold out. 🙁 Such a bummer

2/19. A coworker got a Sephora delivery at the office and I freaked out and made her tell me what she got. So many withdrawals. The vitamin C serum I wanted to try is sold out. This is the worst.

It’s so funny looking back on the notes I took throughout the month. Obviously, some days were easier than others.  I feel so lucky to receive things from companies to blog about (like the Erno Laszlo products in this post), so that definitely made not shopping a lot easier.  One cool thing I noticed is that I rediscovered old products that I’d forgotten about and tired new things that didn’t cost anything extra, like this female version of a “man bun,” that I saw in an ad for Tresemmé.

3/1 No buy is finally over I made it! Throughout the month, I planned on heading to the mall as soon as the 1st came, and splurging on all the stuff I’d deprived myself of throughout the month. It was  Sunday, so I started the day with a barre class and then went to Marshall’s for the first time since February. I was used to stop in there every time it was on the way workout classes in the West End but I hadn’t been there in a month The magic wasn’t there. I even passed up this Kate Spade bag.

I came home and did end up treating myself to a few things from Elements, all of which I feel good about (of course they always throw in extras for me, which makes it even more worth it). The pants I wanted at Nordstrom also came back in stock, so I ordered those. Overall. A no-buy month was a pretty cool experience.