Using Things Up

I am in no way a minimalist, but as I look around my house, I see so much abundance! We have more than we need of almost everything: clothes, shoes, food, cleaning products, towels, rags, etc. I in no way want to become a minimalist, but I do want to try to start using things up, especially bath and beauty products.

Even though we just moved and cleaned out all our cupboards in the process, underneath our sinks in the new house, it’s teeming with lotions, facial cleansers, soaps, and various cleaning products. Why? Well, an honest answer would tell you many reasons, really. 

·         I buy too much

·         I subscribe to Ipsy (a makeup/beauty product sample subscription site)

·         I have a fear of running out

·         I’m gifted a lot of these kinds of products

One of my current goals is to start using what I have instead of buying more. Having said that, if I run out of something that I use daily, I will buy it. For example, if I use up the last lotion in my house, I’m not going to do without, but, on the flipside, if I have six more lotions in a drawer, and I run out of one particular one, I don’t want to buy more until those six are gone.

Let’s look at the reasons of why we have too much.

I buy too much. Plain and simple. Why do I buy too much? Now that’s a little more complicated. I love lotions and soaps and bath products. But I don’t use them at the speed at which I buy them. Also, when I buy something if I don’t really like, I still keep it; and then it just sits under the sink basically collecting dust. I buy too much. Interestingly enough, I don’t use a lot of these types of products, but I sure like to buy them.

I do have a monthly subscription to Ipsy. Ipsy is a makeup sample subscription site that sends you a makeup bag filled with 5 samples every month for the low price of $10.99. (Did you notice how I rationalized that?) But in all honesty, I enjoy it. It sends me tons of stuff I never use, (because I don’t wear a lot of makeup) but I still enjoy getting it every month. In truth, it actually probably saves me money because I buy less stuff at Target and Walmart that I don’t use.  Because of my subscription I have several little bottles of face cleanser floating around, I have several bottles of sample size lotion, and I have several jars/tubes of face moisturizers and serums. And I need to use them up!

I have an irrational fear of running out of something. Last week when I went to Walmart to buy toilet paper, I didn’t get one 36-pack of toilet paper, I got three. I also always have to have spare laundry detergent on hand as well as a spare dish washing detergent, because heaven forbid we should ever run out! The Kids’ have about 6 extra bottles of shampoo and conditioner under their sink and I literally have a drawer full of soaps under my sink just waiting to be used.  But they aren’t getting used because I replace them way faster than we could ever use them!

I am also constantly gifted different of these kinds of items. I love soap, so people buy it for me. I probably have 12 – 15, mostly gifts. I have a huge bottle of Philosophy body wash that I haven’t so much as smelled, waiting to be used. Also a gift. Every year for Christmas, my in-laws give me a big bag full of Victoria’s Secret bath stuff. (My favorite scent of all time is from there.) But because I don’t use it on the regular, it is just compounding under the sink. Every year I use maybe two bottles and add 5 I received for Christmas. I don’t want to sound ungrateful, because I’m very appreciative of these gifts, I’m just trying to point out one of the ways “my collection” has grown.

Because of all these things, I am really trying to use things up. I will still have an extra laundry or dish detergent under the sink, but I’m trying to only have one extra, not three. I will still have one extra bottle of shampoo and conditioner, not six. And I will try to resist the temptation to buy any more bath or beauty products until they are needed. I want to use what I have, because I have a lot!