As promised, here is my Week 1 plan for my July No Buy. Yesterday was Canada Day so my post is late because I was out celebrating (and not purchasing - yay)! Again, this will be a long one so I've separated it out in case you want to skip ahead.
July No Buy - Week 1 Goals: I think having new goals every week will really help me - I've heard this quote a lot before about goals: "Anyone can do anything for a week." Goal 1:
Purchase 0 material items - no beauty products, no clothes or accessories. Basically nothing non-consumable. Allowable expenses include food and drinks, monthly bills, experiences like movie tickets. Goal 2:
Use up a lipstick - I've chosen MAC Plumful since it's the closest to being finished. I'm going to wear it as many days as I can but I'll allow myself to wear other things too by changing it up for half the day. Goal 3:
Get rid of 3 nail polishes (including minis) - I purchased 2 last month and I want to make sure I'm keeping my full size nail polishes to 15 or less including base & top coats. Goal 4:
Get rid of 3 eyeshadows - Again, I purchased a few last month and I know there are some I can get rid of that I'm not using. Goal 5:
Try a new eyeshadow look - I need to play with my eyeshadows more. I usually end up doing a wash of color with the same 3-4 eyeshadows. I really think I can do all of these this week (#1 will be the toughest - I want to go a whole month but I'm chunking it into 4 individual weeks so it seems more manageable).
July No Buy - Tips & Plans Another awesome article was featured on Recovering Shopaholic this week -
How a Shopping Hiatus Can Help (not affiliated). Posted the day before I started my July No Buy challenge - HOW PERFECT IS THAT? The universe is seriously trying to tell me something here! There's a lot of great points about setting yourself up for success, committing to the goal, and identifying factors that can help or hurt you. I got a lot out of it that I'll share below if anyone is interested (and also as a record for my own accountability). First, I removed temptation and put up barriers to shopping - unsubscribed from ALL makeup blogs, Specktra collection threads, YouTube channels with a major haul component, online retailers. I only kept the channels where they were decluttering, doing Project Pan or Pan That Palette challenges, or where there wasn't a large beauty component. I didn't realize how many messages I was getting per day telling me to "buy" - no wonder I've been struggling so much.. I firmly believe that choices are mostly NOT about willpower and are more about creating an environment that points you in the direction you want to go. It really bothers me when I hear people talk about things like this in terms of just having the willpower to not do something. It's really not that simple and there's a lot of research confirming that. One of the next things I did is create a "love to do - instead of shopping" list. I made sure to include things that I would consider productive rather than just things to keep myself busy.. because part of the attraction of shopping for me is that feeling of accomplishment when I find the perfect item and can cross it off. I want to get those feelings of accomplishment elsewhere. I also made them specific, measurable activities because when I've made lists like this before I tended to get intimidated that the activities didn't have a defined goal or end point.. unlike shopping which tends to be directed at picking up certain items rather than browsing for me. My list is: read a chapter of a book, take a walk, go to an aerials class, stretch or do yoga for an hour, try a new recipe, clean a room, go for a drink/meal with a friend, make a piece of jewellery, try a new makeup look, read an article or watch a video about minimalism/decluttering/simplicity. Whenever I feel like shopping, I'll pick one of these things and do it. Repeat until the feeling goes away. Some of them require attention and some are things I can do while giving me time to think so it's a good mix. I'm hoping to really get in touch with my emotions this time rather than distracting myself with movies or TV shows, games, etc.
July No Buy - Reward One of the major things I want to accomplish with this is not feeling the need to splurge on anything at the end to "reward" myself in any way. I've been successful in not buying for periods of time before but once I start again it snowballs out of control. Reaching my goal is its own reward! That being said, I do think rewards are important.. so if (WHEN) I make it to Tuesday next week without purchasing a single beauty product I'm going to reward myself with takeout at one of my favorite places. Good luck to everyone working on their own goals! You all are a HUGE source of support and inspiration to me and I truly value reading each and every one of your posts.
and MAC blush in Peony Petal; Nighttime wore NYX lip liner in Nude Pink with NYX butter gloss in Tiramisu and MUG blush in Romance. <----- this!!! 
