Mrs Money Mustache: Eliminating Lady Temptations

I’m surprised no one has linked to this “Mitchell & Webb Look” skit on gender based advertising:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hv3qPM8BLdE

Reading through some of the comments here, it seems many of the women feel they need makeup to varying degrees, but I wonder how much of that is honestly just advertising?

I am incredibly blessed to have a wife who has a natural beauty that many other women have to use makeup to achieve. So when she does put on makeup (a very light amount, and maybe 2-3 times a year), the effect is that much more tremendous.

I have one qualm about the comment about Target…I’m assuming it was said because the temptation would be to go shopping for other things in the same trip, not for value or quality of product. Because they are often cheaper for the things we buy than the traditional grocery stores.

I have no problems with someone not wishing to wear makeup; however, I feel that it’s doing the women who do wear it a disservice to call it a “Lady Temptation” and dismiss it without giving some advice on how to keep up one’s personal grooming standards frugally. One can both wear makeup and dye one’s hair on a regular basis without spending a lot of money on it, and, for some of us, it is considered both a pleasure and a necessity. I understand that it would save money never to do either, but that’s not always an acceptable option for everyone. Nor do we do it because we’re attempting to attract approval or affection from the males in our lives – we do it because we enjoy it.

Some of the options for beauty products that exist are to go to home-made and natural products for skin care. A jar of coconut oil from Trader Joe’s costs about $5 and can last more than a year. I portion mine out into little pots and store what I’m not using. I also make home cleaning products myself.

I purchase products on sale with coupons at Ulta and use my Ulta card whenever I go there to gain points, which I then use on discounted products. I rarely spend much money at all on anything. I use quality products with richer color content and I keep my brushes clean. Following sales is the key here. If you identify what you need or require, then wait patiently for a sale before you run out of whatever it is you need, you can often replace it in time without making any large outlay of cash.

For home hair dying, you can go to Sally’s Beauty Supply, purchase a quality hair dye kit and do your own hair for very little money a month. I asked my stylist what she would do if she had little to no money for a visit to freshen up or change my color, and she told me to visit Sally’s Beauty Supply and purchase a quality dye kit there. It costs less and is safe enough to do at home.

Hair cuts are another matter entirely and rely on skill and confidence, but, as with a pair of quality shoes vs. the cheap version, getting a quality cut will last you longer and look nicer in the long run. I go to the salon far less regularly than recommended, but I have a wonderful stylist who knows what she’s doing, so my hair keeps it’s shape far longer.

If a person knows what they’re doing with makeup, it is quite possible to look younger, not older (I’m not entirely certain what the point of wearing makeup is if one is attempting to look aged). Most of that relies on proper skin care and sun protection, sleeping, drinking enough water, and not worrying about how much you’re spending on your makeup. :) Figuring out how to do it without impacting your pocketbook adversely is the fun part.

Awesome post Mrs. MMM. I am 37 and quite white with no intentions of dying my hair anymore. Not too many woman in my age group are not dying their hair anymore but hey I got my first white hair at 15. I am going to have a long, beautiful multicolored braid down my back. Besides no hair color that you can buy can match the beautiful colors your hair can be when you stop dying it!!

I know I’m behind in posting here but just read an article tonight that, though it isn’t money related, I thought would be relevant to people reading this post. It talks about the reasoning behind women wanting to wear makeup just food for thought- http://everydayfeminism.com/2015/07/choices-not-always-feminist/

Mrs. MM, I know where you’re coming from. I used to loathe and avoid makeup, especially foundation and mascara. Then in my mid-20s I got adult acne. Now my skin just isn’t that great anymore and I usually have to wear foundation to keep from looking red and blotchy. I miss being able to go bare-faced every day. On the plus side, I get to express my artistic side with different colors and “looks”. I also appreciate looking older and more polished at work because I look naturally a lot younger than I am.

All this to say that not everyone has the same freedom to choose to go without makeup — I sometimes envy women with clear skin, and I am willing to buy affordable products that have the potential to improve my skin.

Not sure if others have mentioned it but make up and shoes/clothes/etc. go on sale A LOT. Sometimes you can even score free products by couponing. There are still the environmental ramifications to consider but financially you shouldn’t ever have to “treat yourself” via going in debt.
I keep a loose idea of what I may want/need and keep an eye out for clearance. Some new flats, better work pants, a few cute shirts in X color, and so forth, then try to make sure I’m only buying what I need. This works great with kid’s clothes too. Rain jackets on sale for $5- why yes please!
There is also the French outlook of working with what you have and aiming for a classic not trendy style. Good skin care often means hot water to clear the pores and cold to close them, not a thousand creams. Make up is considered a less is more item. Few wardrobe purchases are made but the few that are, are of the highest quality and last for years. This means lots of savings as cost per wear is much less. Oh and hair is not fried to death with blow dryers but waves and such embraced. Working with your hair’s natural appearance and not fighting it, is truly a godsend.

I have been frugal my whole life and it’s part of who I am. How the heck do you find a like minded partner? If someone got me flowers on actual Valentine’s Day, I think I would shoot them for paying too much! :)

Many years ago when I was in college, they brought in some sort of beauty “expert” who told us to never go out without at least mascara and lipstick on, as that accounted for 90% of what people noticed. I took that to mean a whole lot of time, energy and money was being wasted for that last 10%… and ohhh the money I’ve saved since that day :-)

I gotta say, I’m still a bit of a whineypants when it comes to giving up my cosmetics. But I’m starting to turn to cheaper, natural alternatives. When you sit down and look at it, we don’t need all of this extra crap that marketers are trying to peddle to us. I do enjoy smearing makeup on my face, but I’m trying to do so in ways that are more financially and environmentally conscious.

And I’m proud to say that I’ve stopped dyeing my hair! It’s been over a year and I’ve fallen in love with my natural hair color all over again. :)

Thanks, Mrs. MM, that was a great assault on wasteful fakeness.

Premature grey runs in my family, I found my first silvers at 16, so I don’t associate it with anything negative.
I have never worn make up – my mother put some blush on me for a ballet recital when I was 5 and I broke out in a rash. The most I tried from there was a little eyeliner. Anything more seems like a lot of work to me.

Just starting reading this blog from the beginning. So far i have enjoyed Mrs. Money Mustache posts very much, maybe i’m a little bias being a lady myself! I’ve never been a big fan of make up. I can’t help but feel like i’m lying to people with my face. And I find it alarming / distrubing seeing other ladies with a pound of make-up on i dont understand why that looks good… With that said I sometimes I do find myself with some foundation and mascara on for special events but day-to-day its just sunscreen for my face.
Side note: I never met a guy that said he prefers i wear make-up, in fact my husband complains when i do wear it! Nonetheless, thanks for this post, it reassures me I’m not alone in my anti-make up sentiments.

Thank you for this post Mrs MMM, I know you share your husband’s concern for the Earth, so hoping you’ll read my two cents worth. Makeup production means testing the products on animals, usually rabbits, guinea pigs, even little hamsters. Animal testing by the beauty and cosmetics industry is very disturbing, and at this stage in the game, as we have been testing and re-testing for decades, it is also unnecessary. But you CAN find companies that refuse this cruel abuse. I only wear moisturizing lipstick that I buy at a health food store from a company that doesn’t test on animals. I buy my shampoo, soaps & creams from LUSH, which is expensive, but I like that they don’t test on animals & I use them sparingly like the luxury products that they are. I signed a petition to stop a large, well-known brand from testing their products on bunnies & believe me, the photo I saw of the white bunny with horribly infected eyes will never be forgotten. I encourage all makeup-wearing women to support companies that do NOT test on animals & advertise that fact loudly. Let’s all be more concerned about the Earth AND the sentient animal beings we share it with.

Thank you so much for this post. It meant so much to be able to reread it this weekend. I wrote a blog post inspired by you.
https://www.themissmoneybags.com/the-financial-beast-of-beauty/

I’m currently reading the book “Perfect Me” by Heather Widdows (2018) for a deeper understanding on the increasingly demanding norms of “ideal” feminine beauty in our culture and how make up plays into that. Borrowed from the public library, of course! I recommend it although it reads a bit heavy like a text book.

My wife and I had a child at an early age(18). With our 22k yearly salary(CAD), we had everything we needed and we actually did manage to buy a house by the time we were 22 whilst setting aside 4000$ a year in RRSP. I had nothing to do with this success. My wife was mustachian supreme as she could do wonders while I, at that time, was dumb enough to entertain a nasty, pack-a-day, smoking habit (not in the 22k as they were bought with tips and I erroneously considered it pocket change…). I was raised in a typical family where the family income was 150k but debt was passed from one credit card to the next while my wife was raised in a household with a single mom who raised 4 kids on 25k a year. (My wife’s mother is actualyl wealthier today than my parents)

Over time though, we did manage to creep up the scale. My wife finished her degree in teaching and I somehow convinced my employer that I was an excellent manager, regardless of a less than impressive ‘on-paper’ education. I had a lucky break where they used me as a ‘last resort’ (3 consecutive burn-outs) and realized I could get things done and from there, within the organisation, my education was not a limiting factor anymore (The down side is I’m sort of stuck there because most other organisations can’t imagine I have the profile for this type of work)

My wife was a fantastic influence on me. We have no debt other than a mortgage, we have 4 kids, of which at least 2 will be a success (my humor), we travel 4 times a year, and left, all together, on lengthy family adventures. For example we crossed Canada and US from east to west (with a fantastic time in Yellowstone).in our 1993 motorhome who’s ridiculously low price came with the added benefit of having to learn mechanics and roadside safety basics. We used a 31 foot 35 year old cruiser (it was loaned to us, but the initial plan was to buy one and resell it for the same price) to travel the Rideau Canal and the Great Lakes for 3 weeks, anchored under starry skies and eating the fish we caught along the way, all budgeted at less than 2500$ of gas and dockage fees with 3 of the kids (the first one was 17 and working by then). The added learning experiences were another 2 hours of mechanical poking around, a few minutes of figuring out who to repack the shaft seal quicker than we were sinking and an anchor we lost that we replaced by searching the local classified adds instead of buying it new at the marina we were forced to dock at (how much better would a new anchor hold?). We’ve been having so much fun travelling on the cheap and the kids can entertain any adult in conversations about what they’ve seen and done.

Sorry, didn’t want to write a blog of my own here, but where my wife had a fantastic beneficial effect on reducing my tendency for consumption and self-indulgence, I had the exact opposite effect on her. And although we consider ourselves wealthy and happy, I can’t help but wonder where we’d be if I had let her influence take completely over instead of watering it down. Of course, I brought a little more adventures to the table, but I also brought more restaurant bills, drink my Tim Horton’s coffee every morning, etc. Over the years, I got my wife to ‘relax, we’re not living in our basement appartment anymore’ or ‘we’re up to 170k a year, we don’t have to worry about a Tim Horton’s coffee.

I hit 40 this april and after a very distressing appointment with my doctor who advised me I had to take cholesterol pills every morning, I started shuffling everything around. I pondered on my lack of physical activities in the last few years (not the worst but less than it used to be), but also on what I put in my plate. I refused to take the pills until I tried a complete shift of my eating habits. I decided to migrate towards a plant-based diet and see if that had any effect. I shifted with no difficulties at all and in 2 weeks I’m going back to see if it’s working (very anxious about that one)

This was the first step in reevaluating my life, although not yet complete. I then started looking at minimalism, and reading up on that topic. I’ll admit, that also gave me interesting perspectives and, eventually I mapped out a plan to retire within 9 years(49).

What strikes me about your blog is that my 18 year old wife was wiser about spending than what we’ve been applying in the last 15 years. Now don’t get me wrong, she laughed when the insurance lady asked if she had any jewelery over 1000$, she doesn’t use make-up and also has fantastic black hair striken with white strands (her white hair started at 13 and I am the one who told her to stop pulling them out because it was beautiful) but she used to be even better (I would have said worse a few weeks ago…). I remember getting an earful because I paid 3$ a pound for clementines, whereas now I definitely could get away with it.

The day before yesterday, we had to use the car and our trip took a bit longer than expected so we didn’t have a supper with us. I recommended we go to the local groceries for a few fresh vegetables, fruits and bread, and she looked at me as if I was an alien. I replied to her look with a ‘what? you used to suggest that all the time!’ and then I quickly had to reveal that your blog had showed me the error of my ways and that she was right all the long. You would think she’d be happy to hear that but she was actually mad that a stranger had to tell me for me to listen more intently… I didn’t see that one coming but she was bang on…

Anyhow, I think I’ve started her up again and this time she won’t be getting any resistance from me. There is definitely not tons of waste. We rarely buy anything new, our cars and motorhome are paid and we find it surprising what high quality furniture some people are willing to part with freely in exchange for us moving it out to make room for new furniture. As mentioned, there is no debt other than a mortgage, but we should have been able to clear that up by now. I just regret the 600$ a month in restaurant bills over the past 10 years, am eyeing the spa as something I might get rid of but definitely will close this winter and do think a closeline will appear shortly. Not sold on the haircuts yet, although the article was strangely timed for me as I had just returned from the hairdresser with a 140$ bill for all 6 members of the family.

I do have a few questions but I’ll hold off until I’ve read all the blog entries, but I am really enjoying the read.

Thanks. This blog is encouraging and helps maintain a feeling of support. Although I’m on to most of your tricks already, it shows we can do better and is motivating. I really like the idea of using my bike to go everywhere and have been shopping around for a cheap used bike trailer…