During my end-of-year State of the Sandra assessment (yes, this is a thing) it came to my attention that during 2017, I spent far, far too much on myself. “Well, no durr, you went to Disney World twice,” you may be saying to yourself. Except I’m not talking about the back-to-back Disney vacations we enjoyed in 2017; those were incredible experiences, and worth every penny.
No, I’m talking more about all of the stuff I purchased. The largely unaccounted-for stuff that ate up every bit of discretionary income I had, and then some. And the really depressing part is that for the most part, I hardly remember how I spent it. Wax, for sure; my stores are fit to bursting. Soap; eight bars’ worth of a product I ultimately wound up binning. Video games that went nowhere, movies that have languished on to-be-watched lists, and a revolving door of clothes, none of which ever seem to fit my always-changing figure. Mr. Finger Candy suffers from a similar spending problem with respect to video game DLC and Apple TV purchases.
And as it turns out, amassing stuff, particularly stuff you can’t even remember purchasing, is an excellent way to feel deeply unfulfilled, and possibly a little ashamed that you were such a fool with your money in the first place.
So hot on the heels of two excellent trips to Disney, Mr. Finger Candy and I are setting limits on our mostly mindless discretionary spending, with an eye to another (longer, just as blowout-y) Disney/Universal vacation in 2018. At this point in our lives, we’ve just decided to prioritize experiences (particularly those of an amusement park nature) above things. We have enough things. What we are lacking is living.
And so this may be one of the last wax posts you’ll see for a while; this Rosegirls haul from before Christmas is one of two orders that were waiting for me when I returned home from Florida, and I’m actively avoiding all of my favourite vendors in an effort to curb my over-spending in the new year. Don’t call it a no buy; it’s really more a low buy, or a moderated buy. I’m not turning off the tap entirely, just slowing things to a dribble. I’ll keep you updated on how I do. 🙂
But back in December, when I was spending pre-vacation money with reckless abandon, I placed a rather large order with Rosegirls for a number of replacement Mini Melters, as well as some cute traditional chunks and nearly all of the holiday Mario blends on offer. I did not exercise much restraint!
I’ve shared no photos of the replacement Mini Melters, because for the most part, it was just a whole lot of beige and brown (all of my favourite bakery blenders, from Waffle Cone and Vanilla Bean Noel, to Marshmallow Smoothie and Royal Sugar Cookie) with a tiny bit of Raspberry Sauce red thrown in for good measure.
But of the new blends on offer before the holidays, I snapped up two bags of Holy Cannoli Twinkies (left) and Christmas Wish Peeps Cake (right.) Christmas Wish, a festive blend of pine trees and iced sugar cookies, is an odd favourite of mine; blended with sugary sweet marshmallow Peeps, it’s positively scrumptious. And Holy Cannoli Twinkies, a classic Rosegirls Raspberry Sauce blend, is fan-freakin-tastic – a little sweet, a little tart, a little cakey and a whole lot fruity, it was love at first sniff.
I love creating my own blends with Mini Melters, but there’s always something to be said for Rosegirls’ classic chunks, and in such charmingly pretty colours, too! Of the many scents on offer, I grabbed three bags in Crazy Pants Wackadoodle (left), a super potent blend of juicy apples and rich sugar cookies, Strawberry Mango Peeps Cake (centre), a Peeps-enhanced blend of one of my favourite fruity duos, and Dunk My Donut Cuppa Cake Noel (right), a disappointingly light combination of cinnamon sugar donuts, cupcakes and Vanilla Bean Noel. I get that distinctive VBN note and not much else. I’m going to tuck this scent away for a bit and see if it comes around with time.
Saving the biggies for last, these jumbo snowflakes (a bit bigger than my palm and twice as thick) came in an assortment of Rosegirls’ popular Super Mario-inspired scent blends. It’s been my fun little holiday tradition for three years now to grab whatever’s available in these festive scents; I don’t think it would have felt like Christmas without them. 🙂
Starting with the topmost snowflake in purple, we have Up on the Castle Top, a favourite fruity-bakery blend featuring Berry Creme Brulee and Rice Krispie Treats. I think this smells like old school berry Bubbalicious bubble gum, the super smackery kind. Going clockwise, the green snowflake is Go Tell it on DK’s Mountain, a bracingly strong blend of cologne-y Sweater Weather, pine and Vanilla Bean Noel. I’ve no idea why I like this scent; it’s entirely unlike any of my usual scent preferences.
Continuing on clockwise, the dusty rose snowflake is in the blend that sold me on all things Raspberry Sauce, Yoshi the Red Nosed Dino, a nose-tinglingly tart combination of my beloved Raspberry Sauce and pistachio smoothie. Yes, pistachio; I stand beside you in your shock! But wow, this scent is wonderful. I look forward to melting it all year. Down in the 6 pm position, the pale pink snowflake is in Koopa Troopa Assault, another bracingly strong blend of pomegranate, lemon, Raspberry Sauce and Marshmallow Smoothie. With both of these ultra strong blends, I should get a solid six or more melts out of each snowflake.
The turquoise snowflake is in Koopa Klaus is Coming to Town, a warm and cozy blend of zucchini bread, coconut and sugar cookies. Rich and sweet, this delightful scent smells like the very best kind of Christmas baking. Finally, closing out the wreath with the rose red snowflake, we have Manic Mario Madness, a new-to-me blend of Mac apple, blueberry and vanilla ice cream. Apples and blueberries – can’t ever go wrong with that combo. The three Christmas lights are samples in Up on the Castle Top.
So there we have it, the fragrances that will be scenting my home for what I hope is many, many months to come. Low buy no buys are so much more satisfying when you have a stash to work through, and boy, do I have a stash! So I’ll be working through that, all while studiously ignoring all but the most tantalizing of wax offerings. Gotta keep my eye on that Disney prize. 😉
Finger Candy 
Hey, nice haul! I’m in the exact same scenario, except when I started tallying up my haulage spending, the number got so scarily large so quickly, that I stopped. I am setting a wax budget AFTER a no-buy, low-buy isn’t cutting it at the moment. Oh and I have to finance a new-to-me used car, because mine is sadly being totaled:( Therefore, it could be a long time before any wax budget is available.
I do have a few hauls to share this month and the beginning of next. After that, I’m tapped out.
From your order, Christmas Peeps Cake, Go Tell It and Koopa Klaus sound delicious. My nose can’t seem to handle much of RG’s fruity stuff. Hey! maybe my no-buy will finally inspire me to combine more mini-melters, because mine come up empty in the inspiration dept., too similar, possibly? Enjoy your-last haul-for-awhile, I’m hoping to make a huge dent in mine.
Oof, doesn’t it get frightening when you really sit down and make a concentrated effort to figure out exactly how much you spent? And how it just sort of dribbled out, with not a whole lot of accounting for where it went (even with historical blog evidence to remind me that yes, I did own that thing once.)
Oh no, I’m sorry to hear about your car. It was a write-off after your accident? Car shopping is my absolute least favourite thing to do probably ever. I hate playing the games – just tell me how much the freakin’ thing is already and I’ll pay you a reasonable amount. Why are we bartering and bargaining like a couple of fools? Aargh, sorry, that can’t help matters. Fingers crossed that used car shopping goes well for you.
And I managed to abstain from SMT’s customs thing yesterday, but yikes, it was close for a few moments there. But I seriously have SO MUCH WAX, and specifically, so much SMT wax (I got a couple of custom pies right before Christmas, including a great one using that Apple Cider Latte scent I love so much; I’ll have to send you a piece, because it turned out really well.) But I’m flush and then some when it comes to wax. I need to behave.
Hit me up if you’re looking for any Mini Melter suggestions, although I’m admittedly not great with your preferred kind of scents. I’m more those fruity notes you don’t like (I’m not hugely fond of RG’s strawberry; it has an odd kind of gummy note to it?) but I can try!
Custom pies before Christmas? Lol, guess I’m glad I missed it?!😂 Ooh, that ACL sounds extra yummy rn!
Listen, I’ll see your SO MUCH and raise you DOUBLE! I should take a pic of my wax mountain and document it…maybe.
I am going to be filling the blogging void w/a Notes From the Stash feature to help with the whittling down.
Re: my car, Thank you. I’m going to be sad to see it go, even if it wasn’t worth the cost of repairs😂😂 Met with the field claims rep today and resisted quoting Tyler Durden w/every fiber. “The things you own end up owning you.”
Adulting has sucked the life outta me lately.
Ah, sweet, maybe I will seek melter inspiration. I’ll get to them someday.
I can’t even imagine what Tyler Durden would have to say about all this wax business. I’m sure it wouldn’t be flattering (and full of bullshit declarations of machismo, to be sure.)
I like the Notes from the Stash idea – some accountability of where this stuff goes after it’s photographed and you’ve blogged about it. It’s the part of the candle experience that often gets left out, I find – you know, the actual use of the darn things. I keep intending to do some more extensive Mini Melter recipes, but if 2017 taught me anything about blogging, it’s that my wax posts are not particularly popular, and I put far more work into them than I see out of them. So maybe taking a step back is not a bad thing (I know it’s not.) But like you said, I would like to show some accountability for this low buy no buy, and a great way of doing that is to actually show this stuff “in the field,” as it were. But…does anyone care? Around my blog, not really!
Interesting, my wax posts get all the traffic, with the exception of 3 fellow tea fans. My blog evolves with my interests, which is most def wax and it makes sense that’s what ppl like about a self- proclaimed wax blog, but I also love discussing books and my collections. My miscellaneous collectible post from last May was a personal fave, because it was all me, ya know? Not a waxy description in sight, but it probably garnered single-digit views, meanwhile SGA and SuperTarts posts get astounding daily #s and I’ve only done once or twice. I don’t have it figured out except I must be interested in order to write, or else that’s too much work to me. Am I the only oblivious blogger that doesn’t feel obligated to put up certain content?
Actually, strike that, I’m reworking a popular post because it’s so outdated that it bothers me to know ppl find my blog via a subpar post.
If it’s any tiny consolation, your wax posts are a breath of fresh air that I love. I’d happily send more wax readers your way if I ever decipher the blogroll widget, (speaking of not having things figured out) I’ve attempted it 3 times and it glitches or fails every time, wth WordPress?
Oh wow, I’m sorry for being so incredibly tardy to this reply party. Yikes, head still in the vacation clouds one month on…
Okay, blogroll and WordPress – I’m sorry, I barely know what’s going on with WP myself these days. Jessica mentioned that she’s been having some difficulties as well, and Julie over on Blogger said that stuff has been wonky for her. Is there something in the blogging air right now? Sure seems like it. I’ve never even tried to install a blogroll – maybe something to try out soon and see how badly it goes.
Like you, I don’t feel obligated to put up certain content, but there was a time last year when I noticed that I was buying stuff just for the sake of having something to blog about. That’s not a direction I’ve ever wished my blog to take, nor my finances – I was glad when I discovered what was happening and put on the brakes, because the frustrating part is, attempting to “buy” readers wasn’t working either. I seriously got ONE like on my Melting Duck post, and it was cute as heck and not overly insidery. Those posts are just nothing that people seem to like right now. How odd.
I’ve been guilty of the ‘buying for blog’ issue myself. I always try to have a second reason to justify, but many times w/o the blog, I’d probably pass. For example, I recently placed a spring preorder because I realized I have only 1 or 2 spring clean type melts and that’s what I’m craving at the moment, of course it would be springy for the blog too, argh. It’s a struggle.
I’m looking in to the menu options, I could create the widget for the blogroll, but it multiplied it and appeared in 3 places on my site? Glitch city. I know Jess’s issue, hers is storage space, I don’t think the site is causing her trouble per se. I will try again when I feel less like throwing my laptop out the window!
Ah well, at the very least if you aren’t creating a popular post but you enjoy it, that’s something? Otherwise, just a pain in the ass.
Oh yeah, and those dang pies – hmm, might have been a Black Friday sale? Two half pies and a loaf, max order. I got a half pie in that mango/coconut cream pie/waffle cone one I like so much, plus that apple one that smells exactly like a real apple fritter. Then this coffee bomb for my husband. I have no idea why I bought them, except that I was feeling insane with spending around Christmas.
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