NO SPEND YEAR - HOW TO DO A NO BUY CHALLENGE | HOW TO PREPARE FOR NO BUY AND SPEND LESS ON BEAUTY PRODUCTS - NO BUY CHALLENGE

The No buy mantra – How I managed to do 7+ months of no buy?

How to shop less beauty products and not hoard?

It is definitely not easy to be in so many months of no buy. At that point, I didn’t even buy a single skincare/hair care/makeup product. It looks very tough right? But still I managed to finish it off successfully. I'm proud.

I didn’t plan anything before. I didn’t hoard and then went to no buy phase. That’s cheating my people as it doesn’t serve the point. I have done one month of no buy before. That’s how it started.

HOW TO START WITH IT?

When you are starting out, don’t just jump into 6 months of no buy. There are higher chances of you leaving it in the middle and getting demotivated so let’s go step by step.

One month of no buy is not the one you see a lot of influencers doing. It’s definitely not the one where you don’t shop for one month and then when it ends, you hoard. That’s not how it works. It spoils the whole point of no buy.

WHY TO TRY IT?

No buy should make you a conscious consumer. You must be aware of what you are purchasing.

Hoarding is something which I never recommend. To be honest, I have never been a hoarder of beauty products because I’m a kind of person who believes in saving and tries to be aware of what I’m buying.

If I tell you my experience, it will sum up this post really well. So I will be listing out the things I do and recommend.

SHOP WHAT YOU NEED -

When we go behind what we want (desire), it makes us hoard things. First be clear about what you need. That’s how one should plan.

You may be already having 3 to 4 face cleansers but might get attracted towards some newly launched cleanser. In that case, you want to get the product but you don’t need it at that time. I hope this gives a clear simple explanation of the difference between need and want.

DON'T GO BEHIND RECENT LAUNCHES -

If you really want to control and change the way you shop, then this step might be required. We often get fascinated about every other newly launched product. With such a growth in the beauty industry, you can see brands coming up with a lot of new launches every now and then which makes people go crazy. I’m excluding all the beauty bloggers, youtubers here because it is part of their work to try new launches and provide reviews to their audience. You on the other hand who is not a part of the community need not try every other new launch.

You can wait for a few weeks or months to know others' opinions in general and then whether you still get attracted to it like before. In most of the cases, there are higher chances of change in mind because you might get to know things like it’s not meant for your skin/ hair type or maybe the product doesn’t serve its purpose. This way you can cut down your shopping to a good amount.

FYI. Even if you are a beauty blogger, there is no compulsion to try new launches. Don’t feel the pressure to try them. Peer pressure can be real but it’s you who have to decide.

CHECK REVIEWS BEFORE YOU BUY -

When you plan to get a product, how many of you check the reviews in various platforms before buying? Are you feeling guilty? You might have got a product blindly and ended up not liking it and it will be lying in your wardrobe.

The simple step you could follow is to check the claims of the product and match it with your requirement. Due to a lot of marketing gimmicks, the claims might not really match with the performance of the product. You might try an acne care gel which will end up doing nothing for acne or acne scars but just provide hydration which any other product in your stash can provide. In the end, the product doesn’t even serve the purpose for which you got. This could be avoided if you check reviews.

I won’t say all the reviews you see online are authentic but you will have to find a way through it. There are a lot of people providing brutally honest reviews in the community so you might want to check with them.

GO BACK TO YOUR STASH -

This in turn makes it easier for you to differentiate between what you need and what you want. Go open your cupboard and take a look at the products you own. Categorize them and check how many products you own in each category. What I prefer to do is to write it down. I make a list of all cleansers, moisturizers, exfoliants, sunscreens, hair serums, foundations, lipsticks, etc I own which makes it easier for reference later so that you don’t have to go back and check them every once and then. Write everything down and make an inventory.

When you buy anything new, add it to the list. If you see a huge list, it will be easier for you to control buying what you don’t need. You don’t have to own 3 or 4 serums at a time. Before you can use them all, they can get expired or some products lose their effectiveness within a few months of opening it. So use things up before you bring in new products.

DECLUTTER PRODUCTS -

This is the most essential part which everyone should follow. It in turn helps the consumer to be mindful too. We may buy a lot of products but how many of those products, we actually use? Some beauty products might not suit our skin type or skin tone (in case of makeup products). We have to let go of those products. You can give it away to your family members, relatives, friends, neighbors or anyone who will find it useful.

Decluttering the stash once in a while helps to toss the expired products out of your vanity. In this process you can rediscover your old favorites and use them up before they expire. It in turn helps you to shop less and make the no buy easy. You can easily save some bucks and spend it on what you actually need.

I have covered a few extra points too other than just how to go about no buy. I hope you found this useful. If yes, don't forget to share with your people. Your close one might need this the most so share with them.

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