Summer No Buy | Two-Month Update

Happy August... Not going to say it, you all know what I am thinking.  Yes, I am starting to crave the fall because I am more than over the super hot temperatures and the humidity.  Seriously OVER IT!  If we could have fall-like weather all the time, I would be the happiest camper on the planet.

On to the Summer No-Buy update... month two.  It's a pretty boring one because I didn't purchase a single thing.  Not a nail polish, not a makeup item, not even any body care stuff.  I know, BORING, right?  Well, it may seem boring to everyone else but to me, it is a major victory and I am blown away by how easy it has been to retrain my focus onto bigger and better things.

Even more than NOT buying anything in July, I actually started another purge of my nail polishes and while there aren't very many that I was willing to part with this time (in comparison to the previous destash), I still got rid of close to 40 more bottles.  FORTY!  My new collection stands at 271.  There are definitely more that I can get rid of but I need to get past the mental block that is making me keep them.  It's been close to 3 or 4 weeks since I have even worn nail polish on anything other than my toes and that's only changed every 3ish weeks.  So really, 271 bottles seems like slight overkill!  However, Rome wasn't built in a day so I will continue to check back in with my collection and make changes as needed.

So, there is one month remaining until the end of the Summer No-Buy so let's see if I have a more exciting update for you come September!

A Year of Changes

As I sit here, looking at the last few days of before my 38th birthday, I find myself looking at my life and seeing many changes that need to happen to make me a happier person.  Negative start, right?  Well, it's not nearly as negative as it sounds.

For starters, I am a happy person.  I have a wonderful, loving husband; a beautiful, smart and amazing son; a family who loves me unconditionally; and a brood of animals that never fail to bring a smile to my face.  Not to mention a full-time job that I enjoy getting up for everyday; a group of friends that enjoy my company as much as I enjoy theirs; and all the major necessities of life... car, home, food, clothes... blah, blah, blah.

However, I can look back over the past few years and see that something went awry when it comes to taking care of my own personal happiness.  When my uncle passed away 4 summers ago, I was an avid reader and book-blogger and in dealing with grief, I found I couldn't concentrate on reading so I moved to watching YouTube videos... which led to filming videos and collecting all of the things (nail polish, makeup, candles, bath crap... you name it, I want and need it).

As I said, looking my 38th birthday in the face, I realize that I am ready to make some changes.  Not only do I want to fix my diet (or at least start a diet) which we will get into later, but I would like to re-evaluate my 'hobby'.

Nail polish has been a huge part of my life for the last 4 years and while I absolutely love painting my nails, I am tried of the constant need to have the most current collections and the time needed to swatch each collection and take pictures, film the review, edit and upload... it's about taking back my life.  Enjoying the polish and not feeling like my hobby is my job.  It's so amazing being able to get new polish collections for free but I am beginning to realize that the downfalls of spending all my time online isn't necessarily worth the benefits of a house full of nail polish.

Saying all that, can I actually sit here and say that I am 100% ready to throw in the towel?  No, not 100% but I am right there... looking the end of YouTube in the face and not feeling overly bad/sad about it.  So what's next?  How exactly do you end a 4-year hobby and something that has ultimately changed your life?  Is it something you do cold turkey or do you slowly make the transition?  I am usually more of an instant gratification gal... rip off the bandaid, right?

Well, let's see how it goes... start small and work our way to the feeling of personal happiness.  Making myself smile when I think of JUST ME is so important and I am ready to make the changes necessary to make it happen!

Here we go...