What is a Splurge?
A prequel to budgeting for beauty in 2024
I want to share with you my plan for beauty spending in 2024, but before I can do that, I need to figure something out. What, exactly, is a splurge?
It’s a term I use a lot, and in fact, a lot of my beauty spending is me splashing out on more expensive things. But I don’t think a splurge is defined by its price point. At some level, a splurge is something we didn’t need…but we wanted it. A splurge isn’t necessarily bad value for money…but it could be. I think a splurge can be defined by three things: lack of necessity, price point, or the time at which we bought it. Let’s get into it!
Lack of necessity
A splurge, at the time we buy it, is not a necessity.
Buying a winter coat when you already have a perfectly good winter coat? The new coat is a splurge. Buying body wash when you still have half a bottle of a body wash you love? Splurge.
For me, I am content to say that replacing things way, way ahead of their wear-out/use-up point is a splurge. That doesn’t mean I won’t get good use out of the replacement. It simply means I’m not following a cycle of replacing things when they need replacing.
For my beauty budget purposes, here are a couple of examples of items that are NOT necessary because I already have plenty in that category. These are items I do not anticipate replacing this year.
All makeup except for mascara and lip gloss replacements
Workout/athleisure leggings
Sandals
Scarves
Price point
When I buy something at a higher price point than its usual replacement, I consider it a splurge. An item could be a legitimate replacement, but price point matters. For example, when I buy the Laneige moisturizer to replace my night cream, it’s a splurge because Laneige is about twice as expensive, ounce per ounce, as my regular night cream.
I’m not saying that an item at a higher price point is a waste or bad value for money! Buying expensive things and using them up or wearing them out is the way we get good value for money. I’m a huge advocate for using nice things every day or as often as possible.
The timing of a purchase
I touched on this above, but for me, in order to be considered a replacement, an item needs to be purchased close to the finishing date of its predecessor. Purchasing something six months or a year in advance of replacement makes the item a splurge.
What about candles?!
For me, all candles are a splurge. They are an unnecessary extra that adds joy to my life.
2024 budget considerations
I think my 2024 beauty budget will include a monthly rule about how many splurge items I am allowed to purchase. I don’t anticipate changing the annual budget amount, but our income is running a bit lean in these first few months of the year. It would be prudent of me to be careful with my spending, especially right now.
Skincare, for example, is an area where I splashed out in 2023, buying more expensive cleansers and moisturizers just because I wanted to. In 2024, I want to hold myself accountable for both the price point and the decision to splurge. In January alone, I can see I’ve already splurged on five treats, though the total amount spent is well under the $200 I have budgeted for the month.
Why does restraint matter? If I have an annual budget, isn’t that enough? Why put other boundaries in place? I’ve talked before about how I believe low-buy behavior helps us reduce not just our actual spending but our desire to buy new things. For me, I can see now that staying within the confines of my annual beauty budget requires some periods of restraint during the year. Right now, this first quarter of 2024 is one of those periods when I need some restraint. The year is young; I want to be smart with the money I’m allowing myself to spend on beautiful things.
Images courtesy of Igor Rand (top) and Rosa Rafael (bottom) via unsplash.