Show Me Your Declutters!

[RGbrown]

I received an order today with four new lipsticks,

(Lancome L'Absolue Lacquer...I will never ever stop mentioning these every-dang-where 😄😍)

but had absolutely no room for them in my containers. While the thought "buy more containers" crossed my mind for a brief second, I quickly dismissed it as I'm starting to feel overwhelmed with too much stuff. I'd been pulling out one or two here and there, but today was the big reckoning!Sorry I didn't stage a better pic, but that's 55 lip items that are now gloriously gone from my stash!

This is only the stuff I pulled today; I have a small train case packed full of the other lippies (and some palettes) that I've been slowly pulling over the last couple of months. Do I still have more I could get rid of? Yeah, most likely...if I was on the fence, I erred on the side of keeping it rather than tossing. And I didn't swatch every single keeper to weed out similar shades, so there's probably still a good bit of overlap in my berry-heavy collection. But my oh my, I feel soooo much better now. I found not only things I had forgotten about, but things I really had no clue I even owned in the first place 🤣

So...do you have too much too? Ready to clear up some space and salvage a little sanity? Share your declutters with us; we wanna see it! 

[heartsmyface]

@caitbird  Oh I tried that Alba sunscreen!  It was awful and thick!!! 

[caitbird]

@heartsmyface  yeah, that one was not my favorite either (hence why it didn't get used up before it expired)

[Samtian]

@caitbird Ooh good job!!

[caitbird]

@Samtian  thank you! 💜

[itsfi]

Awesome @caitbird! Ahhh, reorganizing is always a nice time to go through and declutter your stash. I love that you’ve passed on items you’ve replaced with something you like more. I can tend to hoard still; need to work on that.

[caitbird]

@itsfi  thank you! I definitely have hoarding tendencies too, but I tried to reason with myself that I am just not going to reach for these products anymore, I am always going to choose the newer ones that I like better, so it was time to say goodbye!

[itsfi]

Excellent, excellent approach @caitbird! This year, I’ve really been finding myself sticking with, for the most part, products I really like and working my way through them, and not having too many products open at the same time. It’s been an approach I enjoy and have found to be fruitful. I wouldn’t say I’m a minimalist and I still hoard but it’s gotten much better, both the actual hoarding and reining in the instinct (?) to buy. Okay, well, that last piece is still a major work in progress but it has seen marked improvement. 😆 

[caitbird]

@itsfi  that's great, that sounds like a really healthy way to go about things! I am trying to work toward something closer to that as well. Right now I have so many open products at once and such a backlog of unopened products after that, it feels a bit overwhelming. There are only so many things I can actually use at once. I am going to try to do a skincare no buy for a while at least, until I can work through some of what I already have. It's definitely a work in progress! 😅

[itsfi]

@caitbird, the combination of chipping away at what you have and holding off on picking up other things, like a no buy, a low buy or even a lower buy (either across the board or for certain category of products) is realy helpful, at least for me. Putting a few of those things I want to work through as part a project pan has also worked really well for me. There are folks on the Pan It! - 2023 Challenge thread who have project pan items on a seasonal rotation. That's fun to see and a great idea for products that fit into your routine based on the season and also an excellent way to keep things fresh and with variety when it comes to panning. 

[makeitup305]

great job @caitbird !

[caitbird]

@makeitup305  thank you! 😊

[missjeanie]

@caitbird It always feels so good to free up space from the things that aren't giving you joy anymore!  Well done!

[caitbird]

@missjeanie  thank you! 💜

[itsfi]

Third declutter of the year, all except two of the nail polishes are new, unopened & unused. These items are either duplicates or were placed in a bin that I keep with products that, if I don't reach for them in 6 months from the time I put them in the bin, they are gifted or donated. A friend's neighbor has a daughter in college who was in town visiting with her parents for a few days, so I gave her first dibs at this lot and the rest was donated along with a bunch of clothes.

Products decluttered to date: 21 

I will probably do one last declutter for the year after Thanksgiving. I fell behind on my cadence of quarterly declutters and don't expect to meet my decluttering goals for the year, but it's all good. Moving a handful of things along to homes where they will be more loved is better than nothing. @RGbrown 

[Samtian]

@itsfi It's ok you won't meet your goal, just be proud you still got rid of some things!

[itsfi]

Thank you, thank you @Samtian; 😊 that’s good perspective to have. Some is better than nothing; have to remember that now and again. 

[makeitup305]

Awesome job @itsfi ! 

[itsfi]

Thank you @makeitup305. I’m just trying to get as much decluttering as I can this year. Will aim to be more methodical about it in 2024.

[missjeanie]

Okay... fine... I might feel a little called out by your false lashes there... I wear falsies maybe once every three years?  It's time.  @itsfi Thanks for a kick in the declutter direction! 

[itsfi]

Yes, falsies are overdue @missjeanie! Kudos to you for even knowing how to put them on. 😅 

[missjeanie]

@itsfi Don't be fooled... it's a struggle buss filled with a lot of cussing ... every dang time. lol... I've decided they're going today.  At least I feel like thats one part of my stash that I feel confidant in decluttering.