SHE SAID - How To Know When To Buy (Part II)

First off, if you haven't read Part I of this topic, I definitely recommend you do!  Now, on to more ways that I talk myself out of (and in to) purchasing things!

I mentioned in Part I that I stalk the product.  It's true - I try to not do impulse buys.  Part of my stalking strategy includes watching YouTube reviews/tutorials of the product.  One tip when doing this is to watch reviews done by girls who match your hair color/skin tone if possible.  I realize this isn't always easy - but it'll help you get a better idea of what a particular color of any product will look like on you before purchasing.  This tactic definitely helps when purchasing drugstore makeup since they typically do not have tester items.  

For department store makeup, you have the luxury of testers at your fingertips!  You can swatch to your hearts desire to know instantly if you do/do not like a particular color of product.  At a makeup counter you can also have the workers test the products on you.  If you're not sold completely on a product while in the store, have them put it on you then wear it out of the store, away from the salesperson, out of the fluorescent lights, and in to your every day life to see if it really fits YOU.  You are the only person who can decide that, and sometimes you need to sit with it for awhile to know if you're sold on it.

Now let me tell you my biggest secret yet about buying...ok, so it's not a secret, but it may put a new perspective on your buying.  As I mentioned in Part I, Derek and I budget our spending money monthly.  I usually spend the largest chunk of this money on food, so with whats left over I really can't get much makeup.  SO.......I don't really buy makeup until I have an 'event' happening.  What does that mean?  Well, it means I hold out on buying makeup until it's my birthday, Christmas, or a vacation.  Yes, that's right, I just tell myself NO until I have an event.  Of course there are many items I wish I could by whenever - but I tell myself no now, so later I can tell myself yes (yep, that's a Dave Ramsey saying, hah).  Honestly, all of my 'high dollar' purchases have been during an event, or given as gifts, so the rest of the year I'm typically just buying small purchase items here and there (such as my two new gorgeous Maybelline lipsicks pictured in Part I).  

So now that you know my purchasing secrets, does it change how you'll shop for your makeup? 

SHE SAID - How To Know When To Buy (Part I)

Two Maybelline pretties
I bought this week

There's about 45,000 cosmetic products out there.  And if you're like me, you want about 43,961 of them.  Seriously.  So how do you decide when to pull the trigger and spend some cash?  To each his own on when/how/why you want to spend your money, but I want to tell you how I decide to spend.  I've decided to break this up into two posts so I can say everything I want to say on this subject...which is quite a bit!

As you already know from the origination of the blog, Derek and I are Dave Ramsey enthusiasts.  AKA we're stingy with our money.  Kind of.  Basically, we try to budget and not waste money.  Within our budget, we're each allotted $65 of "blow money" every month.  No, that's not drug money, hah, that's blow as in spend-on-whatever-you-want-moolah.  We include eating out individually in that category, so $65 really doesn't go too too far for each of us.  With such a small budget I must choose what I buy very wisely! 

For starters you should know that I do not include my "must haves" in this budget (don't worry, Derek has OKed this!) - for me this means mascara, concealer, and foundation.  If I want to buy additional mascaras, concealers, foundations that DOES count as a blow-money purchase.  Now that that's out of the way, let me tell you the 3 steps I follow when I'm deciding what I'm willing to blow my money on:

1) I think about it - I mean really think about it.  How often will I use the product?  Will it go bad before I use it up?  Do I have other products like this already?

2) I weigh the price against other things I may want to spend my money on - This is going to sound like a joke, but I often times think of money values with the scale of "how many Subway sandwiches will this cost me?" - seriously.  I love me some Subway!  I now also use the weight of 'how many lipsticks could I buy instead?"

3) I stalk the product - I watch multiple YouTube reviews, read articles, gaze longingly at it a few times in stores.

Those steps may sound extreme, but it keeps me from making impulse buys that I'll later regret.  In Part II of this post I'll further discuss how I decide when to spend, and discuss how I choose colors of whatever items I buy (credit to Leah Graham for requesting this topic!)

Is This Our Mission?

Mission - Noun: An important task or duty that is assigned, allotted, or self-imposed.

In our couples Bible Study recently we were asked what is our "mission" as a couple. We quickly both came to the same conclusion that our mission at this stage in our lives was to help others with financial motivation and advice. We are by no means financial experts but we both have studied the teachings of Dave Ramsey and other financial leaders, and most of all, we both know what its like to have a fire burning inside of you with the goal in mind to KILL DEBT!

So here we are, attempting to put it out there that we-want-to-help-you! (Yes, you!) But honestly we're not sure how we're being called to do that yet...so this is the beginning. The beginning of something that we hope will help many of our friends or anyone out there reading. The beginning of us asking God is this our mission? Fingers crossed we're on the right path.

Hopefully over the next couple of weeks/months we will get a better hold of what we want this whole thing to look like. To start things off we plan on doing some different things including making short videos in hopes of educating as many people possible about the world of being debt free and posting blogs about personal finance as well as posts about other random things we might find important to us. We'll also hopefully be fielding questions about these subjects, doing some giveaways and ultimately spreading the word of what we are trying to do. So come one, come all and we guarantee you might learn something.