Using More, Spending Less Challenge Results – September 2022

Beauty Shopping ban by Nana

Albeit a bit late, I am back with my results for September. I haven’t forgotten about this challenge. You may or may not be interested in reading, but I will continue to post as this has helped my results considerably over the past 3-4 years since I embarked on this journey. 

I know that I keep mentioning the great results, but hopefully early next year I will finally sit down and write the post some of you may be curious to read – how much did this challenge actually help me? I now do have quite a bit of data and comparatives to show you. 

September’ Purchases

  • Miin Cosmetics Beauty Advent Calendar – £103.4
  • My Little Box October – £16.35

In September I ended up spending a total of £119.75 on beauty products which is rather ok given the purchase of an advent calendar. 

September’ Empties 

  • Belif True Cream Aqua Bomb 10ml – worth £6.26
  • Gallinee Probiotic Hydrating Face Cream 30ml – worth £35
  • Bath & Body Works Gingham Cleansing Hand Spray – worth £1.32
  • Bath and Body Works Gentle Foaming Hand Soap in Cherry Frost – worth £3.06
  • Ziaja Jeju Unscented Micellar Water 390ml – worth £2.59
  • Pantene Hair Biology Shampoo Cleanse & Reconstruct With Micellar Water 250ml – worth £5.99
  • PACKage Melt Me Softly Nose Strip – worth £0.96
  • Rated Green Cold Press Tamanu Oil Soothing Scalp 50/200 ml – worth £4.3
  • Belief Moisturising Eye Bomb 5ml – worth £6.25
  • LovBod Melting Mask For Hand – worth £4.3
  • All Natural Houttuynia Cordata Care Toner 30ml – worth £4.37
  • Ice Professional by Natura Siberia Repair My Hair Shampoo – worth £5.89
  • Bath and Body Works Vanilla Cloud Gentle Gel Hand Soap – worth £4.24
  • Innisfree Dewy Glow Moisturizer with Cherry Blossom & Niacinamide 15ml – worth £6.91
  • Revox Niacinamide Serum – worth £5
  • Hubislab Botol Ampoule Premium Active 30ml – woeth £12.13
  • Omorovicza Moor Cream Cleanser 30 ml – worth £11.96
  • Pai Skincare Light Work rose hip Cleansing Oil 28ml – worth £18

In September I ended up emptying £1131.64worth of products. This resulted in an allowance of £65.82.

Allowance from posts 

Allowance from Reviews – £40

Allowance from Social Media – £1

Total allowance from posts: £41

£65.82 (allowance from emtpies) + £41 (allowance from posts) – £119.75 (September’ Spending) – £2450.2 (previous closing balance) = – £2463.13

September nearly pushed me into that territory that I promised myself I would not get into ever again or at least that I would try to avoid at all costs – going over the -£2500 limit that I am still trying to recover from ever since 2019/2020. However, I did manage to escape it, if you will, and the only reason why that is is due to the fact that my gift with purchase order at Cult Beauty was canceled. It is better this way! 

In September I made only two purchases in the end, but one was quite significant and not necessarily planned. I have no regrets whatsoever as am super happy with my Miin Cosmetics advent calendar. This edition is better than the last in all ways that count – product-wise, design-wise, etc. 

My second purchase consisted of my monthly My Little Box subscription which I have no intention of giving up anytime soon. I missed these as they’re not the typical beauty boxes, but rather French lifestyle boxes. They are cool and have this little something that makes me super appealing but that is hard to put into words. 

Overall, September was an okay month. I did get closer to my imposed limit of -£2500 but I am glad that I refrained from some of the more expensive beauty advent calendars plus I did “work hard” to publish more reviews than I have in a very long time. This was the idea behind this whole experiment. While not overspending and over-stashing are key aspects, the main reason why I started this whole experiment was to push myself to write about the hundreds if not thousands of beauty products that I have accumulated over the years and that are currently just sitting in my stash, unopened and unloved. So far, so good I would say. As always though, it could be a bit better. 

How was your September?

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2 Comments

  1. o
    Reply

    Wow, it’s been more than 3 years of my stash controlling spreadsheet. And it will soon be 4 years that I’ve been reading your blog.

    I monitor and try to cap my stash in terms of its size only, not value, and this has helped me a lot. I know how much I have. Over the years now I understand my usage patterns so I have an idea how long it will take me to finish something and on numerous occasions I’ve refrained from spending money because I have too many things and ive got enough of every kind of product to last me years. I don’t remember those cool offers that I didn’t buy (with a heavy heart and lots of regret at that moment lol) but I do regret succumbing to other offers because I see those things and I have no idea when to use them. I also feel OK with (semi) controlled indulgence. All in all keeping track of what I have and placing some limits has been a good excercise. Also in terms of my skincare routine because now I remember better what I have and to use it (I can also see what type of products are redundant for me because I can’t be bothered to use them on a regular basis)

    1. Nana
      Reply

      🥺 oh, cannot believe we have been on this journey together for four years already! Also, great job at keeping your stash shammed. Definitely did better than I could ever hope to 🙃

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