30 Day Spending Ban

Hi, my name is Moe and I am a shopaholic.  I love to buy new things with the intent of trying them out and reviewing them sooner or later on this blog.  I like to think I have my spendings in order, but the truth is that it has gotten out of hand recently.  I honestly don't need to buy any more things, aside for food, for a very long time.  

In my last post, 101 things in 1001 days, two of my goals on there were to go on spending bans.  I figured I would kick start my list by putting myself on a 30 day spending ban.  I picked 30 days for now because there shouldn't be any major sales going on in Sephora or Ulta within those 30 days, and the CVS beauty clearance sale should have started at the end of my spending ban.  

After this spending ban, I will give myself a little break and allow myself to participate in all the drugstore beauty clearance sale, and will put myself right back on the 100 day spending ban.  This one will be a bit trickier since I want to end right before Sephora has their VIB sale.  Apparently I'm timing my spending bans so that I will be able to participate in more sales at the end of it... 

My rules are quite simple.  I will start on May 8, 2015 and will end on June 7, 2015.  During this time, I am not allowed to purchase anything that is not necessary for my survival.  I am allowing myself to purchase two boba drinks but no other additional snacks.  I just need to know I can be strict with my budget to see that I am capable of limiting unnecessary purchases.  

And of course what kind of challenge would it be without any motivations at the end?  After the ban, I will be rewarding myself with a MAC lipstick in Plumful, which is something I've been lusting over for over a year now, and a Tangle Teezer, something I just suddenly have to try.  

On top of my spending ban, I will also be decluttering something every day for the next 30 days.  I will admit, some days the product I will be decluttering might be a packaging to something I've opened ages ago, but that'll still be one less thing in my room.  The decluttering will take place on my instagram, and I will most likely do a round up of things I've decluttered in my finale post for my spending ban. 

So as a recap....

Start Date: Friday, May 8, 2015

End Date: Sunday, June 7, 2015

Not allowed to buy: makeup, skincare, haircare, clothes, shoes, accessories, stationary, snacks, or anything unnecessary for survival

Allowed to buy: 2 boba drinks

I have some hauls in my queue that I haven't gotten around to posting yet.  They will be up after this post, but I will definitely not that those products were purchased before I started my spending ban.  

This will definitely be a challenge for me as I love going to target and walking out with at least something in my hands.  I think my main plan for this challenge is to limit myself from all the temptations and go straight home after work every day.  I will definitely need a lot of luck and would love to hear any helpful tips and tricks from anyone who has gone through any sort of spending ban before.

Monthly Declutter: October 2014

I accidentally took an unexpected break from blogging the last few weeks.  I have no excuses but I just felt uninspired when I have time to sit down and blog and felt like I was just meeting some blog post quota.  Anyways, I have a few blog posts to catch up on that I missed in October, so I will get on with them before I move on to November posts.

I've noticed that I tend to buy things a lot more often than I get rid of them.  Recently I've been feeling like I've been hoarding a lot of my things so I want to start a monthly series where I declutter 10 things a month.  It was really easy to find 10 things to get rid of this month, but I'm sure it'll get harder as the months go on.  Hopefully this will help me live a more minimalist lifestyle that I hope to achieve in the future.

So here are the things I'll be decluttering for the month of October:

Up&Up Multipurpose Solution.  I have not worn contacts on a regular basis for the past two years so this solution is definitely long expired.  I have no need for contacts solution and definitely don't want to use expired solutions for my eyes either.
Bon Bon Brand Nail Polish.  A friend of mine gave this to me as she was decluttering a few years ago.  I gave it to my sister, who gave it back to me.   This is an old nail polish and I don't feel like dealing with the thick and goopy formula, so out it goes.
Old panty & pair of socks.  I have a bunch of panties that are old; I got a bunch before I enter college, so I'm slowly going through them now and tossing any out that have holes in them and slowly replacing them with sexier VS ones.  I somehow manage to always get holes on the heels of my socks, and this one is no exception.  Seeing as I have many other socks in my closet, I will be tossing this one out.
Small bottle of VS Sweet Daydream.  Way back when Victoria's Secret was still selling the Sweet Daydream scent, my sister and I bought one, but we both enjoyed it.  So I decided to purchase a smaller bottle and take it with me to college.  Unfortunately, the bottle was cheap (from Daiso) and the plastic scent is now mixed with the actual body spray.  Not a pleasant scent to wear at all.
Travel size St. Ive's Apricot Scrub.  I purchased this so many years ago, I can't believe I kept it this long.  Unfortunately I read that the actual apricot seed in the scrub is really damaging to your skin so I honestly haven't used anything that harsh for my skin.  I prefer St. Ive's Oatmeal, Green Tea, and their Grapefruit scrubs better.
Clinique lipgloss, ELF lip balm, Ulta Cream products (x2).  A handful of old and unwanted lip products.  I think I'll have a bunch of old lip products to declutter in the future.  These particular ones are either really old (Ulta ones), not a big fan of the texture (ELF) or the scent (Clinique).

Hopefully I'll be able to go through my belongings each month and declutter them little by little so that I'll only have products that I really love and enjoy.