19/12/2014

The 100 day spending ban

After a few months (ok, most of the year) of being Mrs Spendy, I’ve decided it’s high time to crack down on purchasing and take on the 100 day spending ban challenge in the new year.

The thought of this fills me with fear if I’m honest – no beauty purchases for three and a half months seems like a really, really, really long time. But after looking through the drawers of my stash and realising I might need some sort of intervention, it’s time to get serious and curb the habit for a while.

I’ll be starting my ban on 1st January and aiming to last the full 100 days. I’m setting some ground rules for myself to help make it a bit easier, but I’m hoping that the experience will help me to use up lots of the products I already have at home, save some more money and at the end of it all, use the money I’ve saved for a bigger treat and a charity donation.

My rules are:

- I can only buy beauty products if I have completely run out of that type of product (including those in my stash). I’m weirdly fussy with mascara and foundation so if my daily supply runs out, I’ll allow myself to repurchase a replacement, but that’s it.

- Magazine freebies are ok, but magazine purchases need to be limited to two per month (I have a terrible habit of buying them and only ever reading half before recycling them)

- Bring breakfast/lunch to work with me – since moving to an office in central London I’ve gotten lazy with food prep and tend to buy my lunch out every day. This adds up to a scary amount of money, so as part of the ban I’ll be aiming to bring my own lunch in at least 3-4 times per week, with a day off as a treat.

I’ll still be posting lots of product reviews over the ban, along with more tutorials, how to guides and beauty tips, which you’ve said in the comments of previous posts you’d love to see more of.

I’m hoping these changes will get me more into the mind of saving money and not just making random purchases for the sake of it, but I have a feeling I’ll need some encouragement to keep with it! I’d love to know if you’re planning a spending ban for the new year – it’d be great to have a motivational group around to keep us all on track!

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11 comments

  1. Fantastic idea! Maybe you could publish posts about the things you have resisted?

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  2. Good luck, Kat! Taking your own lunch makes such a difference. A fiver a day just on coffee and pastry adds up. I'm not sure I can self impose a spending ban but I admire you for it.

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  3. I am also starting a 100 day no buy for the new year. I am planning on posting my own rules in a few days

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  4. Good luck! :)

    Stephanie
    http://missstephanieusher.blogspot.co.uk/
    http://www.bloglovin.com/blog/3436251
    xxxx

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  5. I think I'll be doing a spending ban myself. Probably not for 100 days, I'm thinking more all of January and February. I'm pretty sure I won't run out of important products in 2 months, so that seems realistic to me!

    skinstuffbykaty.blogspot.com

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  6. You need to shout at me to do this too x

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  7. I'm just doing #nobuyjanuary as 100 days is just...too long! x

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  8. Brilliant idea, you are inspiring me to try this too. What about vouchers given for christmas?!?!

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  9. Good Luck!
    I should really follow suit.. especially on your first rule. I recently remembered I had a drawer FULL of beauty bits.. So, I'm slowly starting to work my way through them and am ignoring The Body Shops emails of sales.lol :p

    Caroline.x
    notesfromcaroline.com

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  10. That's awesome! I wish you so much luck!

    I regularly put myself on spending bans to keep tabs on what I'm spending, etc, etc. I find blogging on a ban to be a new kind of challenge that I really enjoy. Instead of filling your posts with new products, you can tell them about great things you've been loving forever. It adds a bit of solidity to your recommendations that I enjoy as both a reader and a blogger.

    Please keep us updated on how you're going throughout the ban!

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  11. Great idea! I've a lot going on next year so will be joining you in this 😊

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