little white truths

So I've had a gut-load of my beauty spending ban and I think it's time to tweak the rules.

I'm doing this not because I don't think I can make it to October (promise ; ) ), but because having a newborn - despite the joys involved - has meant that I've lost many of my personal outlets and, quite frankly, I need something.

One outlet that's gone for now is reading, which I used to do every night before I went to bed, but these days my head is so mushy by day's end that I can't read more than a sentence. So that's on hold.

I've also temporarily lost my enjoyment of food and coffee. This is mainly about the loss of ceremony: I can only remember a few occasions these past two months when I've been able to enjoy a full meal or coffee in its completeness, without interruption, warm and fresh. As any parent will tell you, it's like babies KNOW when you've just sat down and you're about to put that first mouthful in: and that's when they wake up and start crying. I think the loss of ceremony also stems from the fact than I'm eating twice as much as usual because I'm breastfeeding, so each meal feels like less of an event and more like a chore.

Mex and I are also finding it difficult to find time for us because Ally is usually asleep around the 7pm mark, and I need to go to bed as soon as possible after her if I want to get a reasonable sleep. So there's a loss of couple time there that I'd say most couples face once children arrive on the scene. We still find time for us, but certainly not as much as we once did and I suspect we'll need to find a better balance in future, once we've found our stride a bit more in our new lives.

Anyhoo. I realised last week that I'd stopped going to my local café two or three times a week as I had been, so there's at least $10 per week that I'm saving. I've also suggested to Mex that we only have one meal out a week rather than two because the experience of eating out isn't quite the same when one of you is rocking the car pod as it sits between you on the table, or I'm eating one-handed because I'm breastfeeding Alizé at the same time: even though I always feed her before we leave, all too often she decides she's hungry again just as our meals arrive - of course!

I guess what I'm getting at is that I've cut some costs out, meaning I've got a little extra in my pocket each month. And one outlet that has managed to survive the changes to our lives (aside from this blog) is my interest in beauty products and my ability to enjoy them. No matter what kind of day it is, I still manage my twice-daily skincare ritual and play with my makeup - even though it may take me half a day sometimes to do a full face, having to apply different things in the spaces. Plus my wind-down ritual at night is no longer reading books but scanning beauty blogs, because that's all I have the head for.

And because my beauty collection has dwindled these past six months, I no longer have 564 back-up moisturisers in stock. Plus I'm now only subscribed to one monthly box (Violet Box) and one quarterly (The Parcel), so there's not a truckload of stuff coming in on a monthly basis like there was before.

So what I've decided to do is change my spending ban to a low buy. I think I can allow myself that much! I'll stick to a $50 monthly budget and limit myself to one non-essential purchase per month. So some months I might only drop $12.95 on a new Shanghai Suzy lipstick, while others I might spend more than $50 on something from Mecca.

I'm going to stick with the aim of streamlining my collection, so I'll follow a 'one out, one in' arrangement with skincare and a 'two out, one in' arrangement with all makeup items except blush and eyeshadow - purely because it takes a thousand years to get through products like those!

As for what happens once 9 October comes (that's the date my spending ban is meant to end), I suspect what I'll do is renew any subscriptions I want to renew, maybe buy a few products I really want, then keep going with a low buy.

Why? Because if Project Pan has taught me one thing, it's that beauty products take so long to get through! And I don't want to find myself with drawers of stuff that's not getting used: I want to have a quality collection that frequently sees the light of day.

Phew. Now to check my wishlist and get shopping, because I need something...