March No-Buy Update | My No-Buy Year Challenge

I can’t believe the first quarter of the year is already done – and I haven’t bought anything new. It hasn’t been without temptations, but it’s really been a wonderful exercise of discipline. (For the rules, see this post)

Every month I like to write down some observations or lessons I’ve made from this no spending challenge.

March No-buy lessons:

• Calculate your hourly rate. Think of your money in terms of hours of your life. This has been a big realization for me, how many hours of your life in exchange for this item or experience – and is it worth it? For example, if you make 20$ an hour and those high heels costs $80, is it worth four hours of your time?
• Item longevity. Oftentimes, things last long things last much longer than you think. Take a blush or t-shirt as an example. I’ve been using the same blush for over a year know almost everyday and I have yet to hit pan on it. Whereas I’ve also has t-shirts that I grow tired of, long before they get any visible wear on them. By taking care of your pieces, and selecting things that are more timeless and less seasonal, you’ll get a lot more out of them. As the reality is, many of them will last you awhile anyways!
• Sample size. How many perfume or cream samples do you have lying around in your bathroom drawers? I’m guilty of over-saving those items in the event that I travel and prefer to have smaller items to bring along. Instead by using up those samples that often go bad before they are ever used, you’ll be surprised by how long they last and what new favorite products you may find. You can also save those small jars to use to fill in with those products later on.
• Simplify your routine. This is an obvious one, but not always an easy one. I’ve been victim to having been sucked into marketing that tells me, ‘see those beautiful South Koreans, they get that flawless skin because they use a 7 or even 10 step regime, so buy all these products!‘ While there may be some truth to it, and I really do admire the porcelain-like skin of many of my South Korean friends. The truth is often somewhere in between and can depend on a lot of factors that an essence and a double cleanse may not necessarily solve. That being said, while you may have used 7 items, maybe you can achieve similar results with only 3 or 4. Sometimes less is better, I know this has proven good for me so far!
• If it’s broken, try to fix it! This past month my highlighter that used to be a half highlighter, half bronzer compact had broken, leaving me with only the highlighter half in tact. Then my clumsy self somehow managed to break it even further and now all that remains are a few pieces. I began a hunt because I thought this product is no longer usable, I now need to get a replacement. Once I started using it though, I found that aside from minor crumbling, it was still usable, so for now I can continue using up what I have #nobuywin!

March Spending Recap

This month I did good! It’s the first month I didn’t have to buy any replacement products/items! There was a close call with a broken highlighter, but the no spend managed to prevail!

No-Buy Travel Fund Balance: $640.69

The contributions from this month are coming from the $470.69 that’s in the post from last month as well as:

• +$170 from the No-Buy (the estimated monthly amount I’m no longer spending on my No-Buy items)

While I didn’t add any additional income this month, I hope in April to do some spring cleaning and bump that number up!

I’m so amazed at how quickly this number keeps climbing – what could you do with the money that you’re currently spending on non necessities? What would you spend it on, if you saved it instead? Share in the comments!!

Monthly Spending Updates:

• January 2019
• February 2019
• April 2019
• May 2019
• 6 month update
• 12 month update

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