No Buying Toiletries in May Challenge

sarah*a

Ladies its that time again! I admit most of this text has been copied from previous thread starters

Welcome all newbies and regulars to this very friendly and chatty thread where we give lots of lovely tips on how to use up your stash and lots of :grouphug: if you need them.
Keep up the pampering and keep down the spending. Let’s make the naughty step an empty and lonely place this month (rather than one so long that it can be seen from space! :doh: )

We are eternally grateful to Katie Clampet who set up this fab challenge in January 2010.

Here's her original challenge post:

"No buying any new toiletries, cosmetics, perfume etc... until I have used up ALL the ones I already have. I got a huge amount of (really nice) stuff for christmas but I am going to resist the urge to browse Boots, Asda, Superdrug etc, and pop another tub of cream, face scrub, shampoo or conditioner into my basket. I reckon the stuff I have will last me until possibly June. I have decided that the money I save I will put into my special holiday account.
Anyone else?"

Lots of us have taken part in the challenge over the past few months and are making great progress in reducing our stashes and unnecessary/excessive spending.

Regulars ignore this, but a quick resume is always helpful for newbies;

Why not add the challenge to your sig as a reminder?

How about taking a bit of time to do a stock-take and see if there are any gaps in your stash that you might need to spend on this month? Some of us set a budget for the month for essential purchases or to help with withdrawal symptoms, others like to go cold-turkey!! Other ideas which some people find useful: Listing everything out so you can cross things off as used to increase the sense of achievement, and putting a sum of money in a pot each time you use up an item to save for something you really want, or simply to assist in making future essential purchases "cash neutral".

Remember the challenge is about making the most of your money, enjoying your products, finding which products really suit you best and are worth buying, giving yourself a well-deserved pampering and breaking the habit of buying for the sake of buying. In money-saving tradition, it should also be about making your products l-a-s-t as long as possible (although the temptation of using an unloved shower gel extravagently to finish it off is sometimes too much to bear!)
Brand new products (or opened perfume) sell well on ebay
Unsuitable products can be used for other jobs (shower gel/shampoo as handwash etc)
Some items can be returned to certain stores for exchange (for essential items or gifts!!) without a receipt
Unwanted items can be recycled as gifts or for gift hampers (saving the money you'd have spent on gifts)
Unsuitable items can be donated to charity as mentioned earlier.
It helps to avoid the places where temptation lurks for you; be it QVC, Boots, Bodyshop, the supermarket toiletries aisles, grabbit board, online toiletries browsing, seductive department store beauty counter offers etc. Remember retailers are making offers and promotions all the time, so there willl always be another deal!

Good luck all for May and remember to keep popping in for inspiration and support, and to report your UU's and IN's.

Welcome to all newbies - the more the merrier . Please introduce yourselves so we can welcome you properly!

Oh - and anyone thinking "OMG my stash is FAR bigger than all of theirs, I cant possibly join" - believe you me, we have been doing this challenge for just over a year some of us - you wont scare us, and I can almost guarantee that someone somewhere will have had more and survived.... we are very supportive (and protective - so dont be scared !!) oh - and we are nosey!!

Useful abbreviations!
WIBA? - Will I Buy Again?
UU - Use Ups
IN - Self explanatory - stuff you've gained into your stash - warning, lines may be given out for unnecessary purchases or you may be sent to the naughty step!
WNBA - Will Not Buy Again!
Glitch - when a shop/online store make a pricing mistake so you end up paying less or even get freebies!
PYN(M/T/W/Th/F/Sa/Su) DELETE AS APPROPRIATE! - Paint Your Nails Monday/Tuesday...... it allows everyone to try and finish those dastardly nail varnishes with group support! You can never be too groomed for this thread Also see PY(T)N... - for toenails!
Splutterer - the stage where an item is nearing the end of it's life and spluttering - also the most annoying and seemingly never ending stage!
GWP - Gift With Purchase - a sample or mini sized item
HG - Holy Grail - this is the product you would go back for time and time again, it does the job brilliantly, and is either economical, or so fantastic price becomes no object!
NPI - Near Purchasing Incident (OMG we all have those!)
LHJ - Long Haul Job - for those products - love 'em or hate 'em - that never seem to end no matter how often you use them
PRCP -Pink Rose Candle Philosophy. From Erma Bombeck who said, 'If I had my life to live over again I would have burned the pink candle sculptured like a rose that melted in storage'. Don't keep things 'for best' or 'for a special occasion'. That day never arrives. Give the best to yourself now and enjoy it. (Thanks to McCulloch29 for introducing this thought provoking sentiment to us)

If anyone can think of any more we can add to the list so newbies won't be intimidated by our jargon!

Graduates

Here is a list of our lovely, fragrant ladies who have polished and pampered their way through their products and managed to get their toiletries stash under control. Ladies - congratulations :j You are an inspiration to the rest of us, xx . Thanks also to Inapickle who suggested we start the Graduate list. To join the list of graduates let us know by posting that you are graduating in big colourful letters, that way the OP can easily spot you and add you to the list, or better still - pm the OP as the thread can move really quickly! You may also wish to add how many products you have used up during the challenge, good luck ladies xx

1.mineallmine - graduated with honours March 2011
2.Bronnie - graduated with honours March 2011

MAY
Come on ladies :beer:

Good Luck Everyone!

sarah*a

Joining us again ... or for the first time?

As the posts begin to come in I will update our register - can you please post 'I'm In' in nice big colourful letters or PM me so that nobody gets missed off the list (this thread moves quickly sometimes )

Roll Call May 2011

1: sarah*a
2: sunshineyday
3: ma-ri-ella
4: VALM
5: theonlynuttytart
6: footymadgal
7: Becky 2
8: sofababe
9: Mingle
10: Twod
11: vivh
12: catslovelycats
13: Alton Towers
14: Fiasco55
15: elfen
16: bunnykins
17: ACCA Girl
18: pinkfluffybabe
19: thevicster
20: rachel84
21: bev97
22: EssexHebridean
23: debidoodle
24: minerva_windsong
25: Flirtini
26: LittleVoice
27: PudseyDB
28: Kaz2904
29: mcculloch29
30: Nitty
31: Absinthe Fairy
32: scrappie
33: InaPickle
34: seasideDreamer
35: adilade
36: Little Miss Lexi
37: sundance218
38: charlie792
39: poppy_f1
40: Dr_Roberto
41: bargainbetty
42: missykaren
43: flutterbyuk25
44: xoxo
45: Jacks xxx
46: PrincessPlaty
47: sawan82
48: mad_scientist
49: Rachel021967
50: rosemary54
51: Lemon Tree
52: juliebunny
53: alfiecat
54: Mags30
55: hanval
56: marie2
57: bohemianrose9
58: Alanis
59: asset2004
60: SJP
61: trudij
62: lynseydee
63: maggirl
64: trudiuk
65: annieb30
66: carlislelass
67: MorrisonsEmployee
68: mummyofonechild
69: Living proof
70: Willow92
71: lizziebabe
72: ames100
73: fru-gal
74: roseyrobin
75: Ayeshalush
76: paula74
77: gwen80

sarah*a

I'll kick us off with a stash list for May - I need to get it down in black and white (and red) to shake myself more than anything :rotfl:

Updated List
The number in red bold is the TOTAL of each item I have and the number in black bold are ones I am using:

Various minis 4 / 0
Face Cream Day 1 / 1
Face Cream Night 2 / 1
Eye Cream 2 / 1
Face Serum 2 / 2
Shampoo 3 / 1
Conditioner 3 / 1
Hair Treatment 2/ 1
Showergel/Body Wash 4 / 1
Cleanser 5 / 2
Toner 1/ 1
Toner Tabs 4 / 1
Lipbalm 4 / 4
Handcream 4 / 3
Footcream 1 / 1
Cooling Foot Spray/Gel 1 / 1
Face Wipes 3 / 1
Hand Scrub 0 / 0
Pkts Wave Pads 4 / 1
Face Scrub 1 / 1
Body Scrub 1 / 1
Body Butter 7 /1
Body Lotion/Moisturising Mist 3 / 1
Face Masks 1 / 1
Body Spray 2 / 1
Spray/Roll-on Deo 1 / 1
Toothpaste 2 / 1
Perfume 3 / 2


Total Items 71 / 34

My goal is to get everything down to 2 / 1 or less

April was a very bad spend month for me :mad: and I'm determined not to spend anything in May

sunshineyday

I'm back in again for May, thanks sarah*a for starting this month's thread,

ma-ri-ella

thanks for starting this months thread :P will post my final outs later on the april one (not the tesco ins tho lol as they were free:P)

VALM

I'M BACK IN FOR MAY AS WELL. although I will probably be on the naughty step already on Thursday this week as I'm planning to purchase the OPI TSV (depending on price). I do NEED a couple of items from the kit but could easily forego the colours in there but then again the kit contains silver shatter - like I said it depends on price. Will report back on Thursday. Sorry in advance. lol

theonlynuttytart

Hello new thread!:wave: IM IN FOR MAY!

one UU to report, a tub of luxury foot cream that i was invited to do a trial on..... WIBA? yes if i knew who had made it! ha ha

my confession is...... gulp.... i havent been near the number 7 counter in boots for 4 months! even with those tantalising free gifts!

i just dont know what is happening to me!:rotfl:

sarah*a

theonlynuttytart wrote: »

my confession is...... gulp.... i havent been near the number 7 counter in boots for 4 months! even with those tantalising free gifts!

i just dont know what is happening to me!:rotfl:

wow! that's impressive :T:T Keep it up

footymadgal

I'm back in again for May too. Thanks for the new thread, Sarah. I will have to spend my BS Groupon voucher this month so there will be more ins for me than there were in April. Hopefully, my UU's will more than match them though!

Becky_2

I am in again for this month.

Not planning on spending anything in May unless my eye cream runs out. In April I bought a facial moisturiser and a facial sun cream.

Good luck to you all

sofababe

I'm in!!!

Its my birthday month but I'm going to ask for money towards getting my hair sorted :eek:, so there is absolutely no reason I'd have any ins during May at all