Spending Hiatus Update: Week Six

Money poster by Howard Sokol via AllPosters.com

This week marked the halfway point in my three month spending hiatus! Woohoo!

The week was surprisingly easy- I just didn't feel the need to shop, and there was nothing unnecessary I really wanted to buy.

I did make one purchase I wasn't entirely sure about: Avalon Organics Vitamin C Vitality Facial Serum. I've been paring down my facial skin care routine lately (not easy with my skin), but I've been wanting something with antioxidants in it, and this seemed like a good choice. Not only does it contain tons of antioxidants, but it also targets cellular repair and renewal, which will hopefully translate into some of my acne scars vanishing (acne + pale skin= ugh). At any rate, after much internal debate, I put this under the "essential" category since I had nothing comparable to it in my routine.

Via Avalon Organics

Is that cheating? I'm not sure. But I have been good so far, so I allowed myself one little potential cheat. And, of course, I'll let you all know if I see any skin differences.

Other than buying facial serum, here's a rundown of what I did instead of shopping this weekend:

• Saw a showing of the play Machinal with Nathan. I was super excited because I liked reading the play, and seeing a play is usually better than reading it, but the show was a teeny bit of a let-down. Don't you hate that?
• Did my own pedicure. I never used to do anything with my feet until my sister Becky staged an intervention this December- now I actually like doing my own pedicures. It's relaxing, and my feet look so much cuter now. I used Lover from Victoria's Secret as my polish, it's a cute rosey pink with a tiny bit of shimmer (and, I'm pretty sure, discontinued).
  
• Chilled out and read. I'm discovering that I really like the Gospel of Luke, and also the magazine Real Simple. Now that I don't shop much, I have more time for just sitting back and reading.
  
• Got rid of stuff. I think being on the spending hiatus has made me more aware of the amount of stuff I have laying around this place. Typically I edit my things pretty frequently, but it still manages accumulate. So this weekend I went through my collections of jeans, lippies, and shoes and got rid of anything that was old or just didn't work for me anymore. Next weekend is sweaters and jackets. Then I'll bag everything up and haul it off to goodwill.

What I learned: not only am I not buying things I don't need, but now I'm more aware of the things I already have. And cleaning house really makes me feel, well, less burdened. It's a difficult process for me, because I do tend to hold onto things, but it makes me feel a ton better in the end.

You can check out the other spending hiatus posts here.

PS: I also tried out a new DIY beauty product that I'll be reviewing later- let's just say I'm getting really into this DIY thing :)