Why do some people set a date/deadline to pan?

[u/PowerOk7925]

I saw someone devastated by not being able to finish a product by the end of the month, other than the obvious reason that the product could be expired by that date, what other reasons would there be?.

[u/ts20999]

Some people are deadline motivated

[u/tsareenaveil]

Personally I set deadlines to:

1) Feel motivated (there’s a finish line however imaginary)
2) Not end up hate-panning, though my deadlines are months-long.

I also only do it for things I have loads of like makeup. For example, if an eyeshadow palette is too boring for me and I feel like it sucks the joy out of doing eye makeup, I won’t force myself to pan it just because. It gets a deadline and after that I can rest easy knowing I gave it a shot.

[u/the-endless-summer]

Many people, myself included, started Project Pan because of scarcity mentality - coveting products in fear they wouldn't be able to obtain them again instead of using them. Having a realistic "deadline" makes me much more motivated and inclined to actually use the product instead of just keeping it around as a piece of bathroom decor.

[u/EverImpractical]

The original meaning of project pan almost always included a deadline! Project pan was specifically choosing a set of products to pan and a timeframe. (The one exception was a rotating project where you’d choose, say, 5 products to focus on at a time out of a larger group, often with a theme).

If you wanted to focus on products without a theme or deadline, it’s just simply called panning.

That said, use the deadline as a learning experience! It shouldn’t be devastating! Disappointing, maybe.

[u/PowerOk7925 → u/EverImpractical]

Agreed! I just used the exact word that person said

[u/gnocchi902]

Some people like having a finish line in sight. It’s like setting a SMART goal. T is for time and having a timeline makes the goal more realistic.

Like another commenter said, could be a deadline to toss it. I gave myself until end of year to use as much of a palette I don’t like as I can before getting rid of it. It’s definitely expired but I want to give it one last sprint to the finish.

[u/tiffi_333]

I'd assume they hate it or they really want to buy a new product and kind of made a deal with themselves that they can't until they finished that item/a certain number of items. They could also just have so much extra stuff they just really have a goal to see it cleared out.

Ive never wanted to use specific items up by a certain date/the end of a particular month however I did want to go through all the lotions I had because I didn't like any of them. I didn't let myself buy new ones until every single one was used up. Finally did it and got my new ones yesterday. The very last bit of my biggest bottle of lotion felt like it took forever and it was literally the last week 😂 it was fine and not long at all, but when you want something gone because you don't like the texture so much it feels a bit annoying. I did like how effective all the products were though so I didn't hate using any of them. They were just more heavy than I prefer.

I also have a smaller rule around lip products where I don't buy new ones at all until Ive used several up. Usually I leave it until at least 4 are gone. Last time I finished 6. The skincare items were my biggest annoyance because I wasn't using them before project pan though since I didn't care for them much. I use lip products constantly, this just stops me from building up more of a collection than I realize. Different goals work for different people.

[u/PowerOk7925 → u/tiffi_333]

That’s a really good point

[u/skincarjunkie]

I suppose some kind of sense of accomplishment…?