How do you afford your MAC addiction?

[ch33tah]

Share your story. Do you have a great paying job? Do you live alone and have to budget each month/pay cheque for MAC? Do you live at home still and do your parents give you $$ to spend on MAC? Have you got a super nice boy friend who buys it for you? How much do you spend monthy on MAC???

Since about December 2005, I've roughy spent about $250 a month on MAC products, which I consider to be quite conservative. I've got a great job selling high end home fitness equipment where I make wicked commissions. I've been the #1 sales person in all of Canada for quite some time now... so a couple hundred on make up isn't such a big deal. I'm 24 and I don't live at home and fully support myself. Funny thing is I live with my best friend and she is also a MAC addict! Good thing this is my only real addiction. I'm not sure how on earth I could afford it if I were a smoker. Since packs of cigarettes up here in Canada run almost $12!!!! I also think that if I were younger and living at home, there'd be no way hell my parents would shell out $$ for me to buy make up the way I do now! AHHHHH to be independent!

ok your turn!

 

[Indigowaters]

Well...I have a good paying job. But because I set aside money, pay tuition, a car note, 1/3 rent, phone bill, etc., there's not alot to spend on MAC. So what do I do? Overspend!

I have to learn to budget for my MAC cause I don't want to go in and lose my mind. Especially next week when I go to get some Technicolor.

 

[Wattage]

I have a Sugar Daddy.

 

[ledonatella]

Well, I am a makeup artist so I get my pro discount, if it wasen't for that I wouldn't be able to get as much as I do. Makeup pays well sometimes, but not so much here in Ohio compared to like NYC or LA or something. My salon takes a cut of everything (of course) but freelancing is good money, although I don't get the opportunity to do it that often since it's mostly bridal and I am at my salon doing bridal on Fri/Sat. But I do love where I work and what I do, we are the top salon in the area so I cannot complain...Really nothing in Ohio pays all that much unless you are like a union welder or something, which I don't see me doing!

Anyway, I live alone (plus 2 fat cats who believe me are eating me out of house and home) so I have to pay rent, the car, electric, etc. and I am amassing credit card debt due to my makeup addiction which I am trying to curb. I probably spend about $200 a month on MAC. Hopefully I can cut it down a bit in the future, but then again I don't have kids or anything so I get to spend my money on what I want which is nice, so if I want Chinese takeout every night, MAC makeup delivered to my door weekly, and a designer purse collection, then no one can stop me!!


P.S. Sorry about rambling on with the story of my life...LOL!

 

[d_flawless]

i buy it all with my own money, usually it's budgetted in. my 30% discount (i work in the estee lauder companies) ain't bad, either

 

[Indigowaters]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ledonatella Hopefully I can cut it down a bit in the future, but then again I don't have kids or anything so I get to spend my money on what I want which is nice, so if I want Chinese takeout every night, MAC makeup delivered to my door weekly, and a designer purse collection, then no one can stop me!!

I hear you! I just got a purse along with my haul.

 

[kittykat69er]

I live at home and there's no way my parents would pay for MAC.

I cashed my bonds in, and that's my dirty little secret.

 

[midgetfury74]

well as a college student who pays their own tuition, living epenses and all that other good stuff. Thankfully i go to a school where girls are more than willing to pay to get their makeup done esp after they have seen what i can do, so during the semester there are lots of formals with plenty of hair & makeup appointments. (this is really funny in my opinion since im a senior chemical engineering student). Plus on top of that i have an older sugar daddy, who is more that happy to take me shopping and we routinely make MAC stops. so all in all not too bad of a situation, i dont think ill ever get into debt b/c of MAC(knock on wood!)

 

[jessiekins1]

i sell things online, my bf is very generous and i'm on a student loan.

 

[mzcelaneous]

I work full time at a medical office and on call as a freelance M/U artist. I live with my daughter and my fiance in a cozy condo in Northern California. Our scoripion died recently and there are no other pets yet. After paying the mortgage, bills, my daughter's tuition, our weekly DVD hauls, and setting some funds aside in our savings...I spend and spend and spend on MAC!! Have you seen my hauls? I'm crazy!

I will be returning to school next year though which will drastically decrease my spending

 

[Wontpayretail23]

Besides working crazy OT at my job to feed my MAC addiction, I also sell my extras online and weed my collection down often and sell it here or on ebay. I use all that money just to buy more.

 

[stillsoawesome]

Um... my savings bank account I've been shelling money into since I was like 5 and started getting some money in holiday cards from my grandparents! It's so awful! It used to be a decent amount of money but in 5 months I've cut the amount in half! I have a part time job at Bath and Body Works for the summer (but I spend most of my paychecks in the store) but during the school year I don't know how I afford it... I don't have a job although I am very lucky that my parents pay for my supplies (everyone that buys only text books should try being an art student for a year.. its RIDICULOUS how much art supplies add up and its an all year long thing!) and tuition.

I think the main thing is that not only am I an only child but also an only grandchild... my parents dont really spoil me but my grandparents... oh yeah!

 

[ccarp001]

well, i wait tables and still live at home so luckily i have no bills whatsoever! i am trying to enjoy it while it lasts!! : )

 

[mjalomo]

I 'm a teacher;however, I have two kids, a very fat cat, and three dogs. I'm lucky my husband has a nice job & budgets money so I can have my MAC. I've never been refused when I tell him what I want to spend, but my conscience dictates prudence. He started my addiction when he went to South Beach and told me they had a whole store that sold one brand of makeup and bought my first PRO haul.

 

[BlahWah]

I told my husband to give me a weekly allowance for everything because I know I'd overspend, and I do want to move out of my in-law's house, so it's a decent exchange. =P I probably spend about... $100 a month on MAC on average, without taking into account any monetary bonuses which may pop up along the way (90% of which go to MAC, of course).

I seriously consider playing the Cash for Life Lottery just to help out w/ buying MAC... and sometimes paying into our downpayment.. =P

 

[Raerae]

I'm single (well i have a cat lol), living in a 1 bedroom appartment, and work 40 hours a week as a sales assistant for Time Warner Cable Media Sales.

Hehe... I try not to overspend every month but rather go to the counter once at the start of the month with a budget of about 1-150 and get a few new looks. I make sure I know exactly what I want BEFORE i go to the counter. This eliminates the amount of impulse buying I do heh. Then I can spend the rest of the month playing with my new additions.

This way I can get a better idea on what I really need, Vs. What I already have. I could budget in more than that a month if I wanted, but i know if I did that, I wouldn't end up really using everything I already purchase before buying more. So far this has allowed me to avoid having any products that just sit around. And when I do go back, i know what products I can buy that will enhance what I already own, so everything works with everything else.

 

[battipatti]

I scrape together all I can, I'll go help my mom at work a couple days, do a couple sewing comissions, in a couple weeks I'm gonna get a bit of a job baby sitting a sick cat after school. If I focus myself and stop being a lazy bum I'll try to sell some of my creations online. I'm a high school student with no cell phone or car so I don't have much else to spend my money on save for MAC and fabric

 

[XoXo]

Ive spent $4000 on MAC this year, my Mom pays for everything..(im 14)..

 

[lara]

I work for it. MAC items are a business expense that I claim back on tax, but I still work long hours to get the money for them in the first place.

 

[Pushpa]

i work there

but before i just worked and bought but i was never crazy like some ppl i have seen i have been buying for years but i dn't have THAT much mu compared to some i have a decent collection but not an insane amount