I got the brilliant idea to try a no-buy month in May recently while doing what else - shopping. I realized that I had gone to the mall every weekend for the past month, and I was starting to feel a little bit of buyer's remorse. Now don't get me wrong, I am a smart girl when it comes to managing my money (hello, accountant over here!), but I wanted to see how much I could really save up in a month if I wasn't shopping every weekend. Plus, I knew I had a closet full of clothes and drawers full of makeup and beauty products just waiting to be loved again. At the same time, I knew if this was going to be successful, I would need my partner in crime
to embark on this journey with me. Luckily for me, she
reluctantly
agreed to take on the challenge.
We both agreed to close out April with a bang, so we had a sushi dinner date and headed to Target to see what we could find. Chelcey scored this adorable little black dress (every girl needs a LBD) on the clearance rack -
the clearance rack
- for less than $20. I found this striped top tucked in among the sweaters and had to have it. As we made our way to the home decor section, I decided to splurge on this pouf as well. I had been eying it every time I came in the store, just waiting for it to go on sale, and tonight it was!
Finally, we wound our way to the office section where Chelcey grabbed a notebook, and then the beauty department where I picked up a new concealer. Does anyone else have a specific route they take through Target like we do? Anyway, as we finished at the checkout, we both realized we wouldn't be able to set foot in Target for a month, for risk of breaking our no-buy challenge. While that may seem like a difficult task, I am so excited to rediscover the hidden gems that have been hiding in my closet and bringing out old beauty favorites I had pushed to the back of the drawer. It's the perfect way to channel some creativity, by re-imagining things that you thought you would never use again.
Chelcey and I will be documenting this journey on Instagram, and we'd love to have you take the challenge with us! Just use #nobuymonth and/or #savingmoneyishard when you post your own Instagram photos. Show us how you breathe new life into the pieces you had completely forgotten about, and we will feature our favorites in our next post in this series. Also, be sure to check out Chelcey's blog - she has some great tips for getting through the month, including avoiding all e-mail ads that stores may send to you ten times a day.
Good luck!
xoxo,
Amanda