Late is an understatement here...Wow, 4 months late to be exact. Where has the time gone? I've been very busy with my new job and by the time I get home, I have very little time with DH and pup and then I'm online either responding to personal or work emails. That has been my life. I don't even believe that I've had a proper shopping break nor one full day of doing absolutely nothing (nothing as in watching junk t.v. and lounging about in my robe).
So here is my super late new years resolution. About mid January, I had to discard over $400 worth of makeup from circa 2006-2007 (right before my move to Miami) as I felt that they were too old to use. They were all cream base and/or liquid textured. I felt gutted when I had to discard this so I remember saying to myself that I need to chill out on buying so much makeup. But how could I do that when collecting cosmetics was one of my hobbies, passions, and stress reliever? It has been 4 months since that promise and I believe that it has been a uphill battle, not a battle lost. These are the things I did to try to change my shopping habit.
First, I took everything that I owned out of their storage and laid them out. I evaluated honestly what I knew I was going to use and what I was keeping just for the sake of saying that I owned it. After I weeded out the ones I knew I wouldn't use, I divided that pile further into separate piles: swap, give away, toss, and donate.
Second, I bought a fantastic clear acrylic makeup storage set and displayed the products I was going to use inside of it. I decided to take pride in what I had versus constantly eyeing what I didn't have. My vanity table looked so much neater and I actually got to see what I had. This was the hardest thing for me as I am always on the look out for the next hottest thing. Well, the next hottest thing in makeup is always just around the corner and unlike shoes and bags you can't keep makeup forever.
Third, I took two of each type of makeup that was the oldest and kept them in a makeup bag inside of my handbag. This forced me to use the oldest item first as I was never going to go through with having to toss that much product out ever again. What a waste! So I was able to keep track of what needed to be used up and kept it near me so I reached for it more often.
Fourth, I listed a whole bunch of items on makeupalley and other forums/fb groups to swap or sell as i figured it was doing me no justice just sitting here collecting dust. This was awfully hard, but I decided that I'd rather swap 20 things in exchange for 1 item that I know I really wanted.
Fifth - and the most important one....Learning to let go. That amazing NARS palette circa 2004 is not going to do me any good, no matter how much I love NARS and no matter how much I spent back then. I don't know why I have such a hard time letting go, but I am learning slowly that these are all things and that my life needs to be filled with new and exciting things instead of things from my past.
All of these things kept me occupied instead of looking at beauty blogs and forums and having my wish list increase. I haven't been an angel and have definitely purchased some products since, but I am more conscious now about my shopping patterns of what I need versus what I want because some other blogger had it. It's a vicious circle, one which I know I'm not alone in.
I know a post like this could seem the opposite of what a beauty blogger is all about, but I decided to post about things that I actually enjoyed now that I don't have to time to post about every product that crosses my path (ahhhh those were the days of working from home).
If anyone is in the same boat as me, please drop me a comment with your helpful hints ;)
No comments:
Post a Comment