Spending Ban: Day 100 Update

I have to apologize for skipping my 75 Day Update - it was purely due to a lack of organisation on my part and my move back to University getting in the way of pretty much everything. However, I am pretty happy to say that today is Day 100 of my Spending Ban and technically it is all now coming to an end. 

It feels absolutely unbelievable that 100 days could have passed me by so quickly, it really has brought home to me just how fleeting time can be. I also want to point out that unlike a lot of spending ban posts that I've read I really didn't feel time drag on at all, the whole process (despite my one slip up when I went to Amsterdam) has been really rather painless. I haven't avoided going shopping with friends, I've been into Boots and Superdrug for essentials and I've managed not to break my spending ban. It is entirely possible to browse, to window shop! In fact, last week I spent about an hour swatching and talking about make-up with a friend of mine and I didn't feel like I had to buy anything. If anything I felt better than I used to because I could enjoy learning what new products were out without impulse shopping and making myself feel guilty. 

I mentioned in my 50 Day Update post that I wanted to quickly walk you through how my spending ban is going to make a lasting impact on my life. I've been thinking about it a lot and I've decided that I'm not going to go beauty shopping more than once a month and I'm going to wait until the end of each month before going shopping. I will set myself a budget and over the course of the month I'll work out what I really actually want or need and then at the end of the month (knowing exactly how much I can afford to buy off my "wishlist") I'll go shopping and will stick within my budget. That way I can still buy things that I want but don't necessarily need without any feelings of guilt. I'm not going to stop shopping, I'm really not the sort of person who could live by a strict one-in-one-out policy, but I feel as though my new system will make me more sensible with my money and will mean I don't buy products that go unloved. The fact that I had enough products to use up and review over the course of my spending ban (more than enough in fact) says a lot about my previous beauty hoarding.

A spending ban is also a fantastic way to save yourself money, if you've considered going on one to save up for a holiday, a social event, a special purchase then I would highly recommend it to you. I managed to go on a holiday that I wouldn't have been able to afford if I'd been shopping all summer and I've spent the rest of the money that I used to spend shopping on socialising more often. I felt a lot happier being more social and I realised that I can afford to do more than I thought I could. I've always valued having experiences over having things but sometimes its easy to forget that not buying a lipstick could mean that you could afford to go for a coffee with a friend, or not buying another body lotion and hair mask might mean you can afford to go on a cheap day trip at the end of the month. The little things do matter but your happiness matters most of all. Use any challenge you set yourself as an opportunity to ask yourself questions and to work towards making better choices in the future. I feel like my spending ban was a worthwhile experience and I'd definitely consider doing it again in the future, although for now I think it has taught me as much as I needed it to. 

Have you ever gone on a spending ban? Would you consider going on one?

Please check out my wonderful October advertisers Everything's Rosie and Cynical Suzy.

Follow me via: [Bloglovin] [She Said Beauty] [Twitter] [Facebook]