Since there are tons of products to buy, many of us have tons of products on our shelves. That doesn’t mean they are making us more beautiful. If we could get the money back on all the products that are barely- or half-used in our bathrooms and on our bureaus we could probably fund a visit to the spa.
The main reason that products are bought and forgotten is that we don’t have adequate storage for them. The bigger items get pushed to the back of cabinets. The smaller ones get jumbled up and lost in drawers. If your beauty regimen is hampered by organization, here are some decluttering tips that will get your shelves back in shape and give you more time to use those great products you buy.
Clean Out the Cabinets
You can start by cleaning out all of the cabinets and drawers where your beauty products are. This includes every bathroom space and closet as well as dresser drawers and your nightstand. A paper towel or cloth should be handy to wipe up small spills and make sticky items clean again.
Before you start, get baskets or bins to put things in temporarily. Breakfast trays are also helpful for keeping things together while you are sorting and moving them around. You can wash out and recycle old shampoo bottles and throw away such things as dirty makeup brushes and dried-out face creams.
Categorize Items
Your organization can start as you remove items from storage. Here are some examples of how to categorize, but yours might be slightly different. Shower and tub items would include shampoo, conditioner, body wash and razor. After-shower items would include hair gel, mousse, spray-in conditioner and lotions.
Morning makeup would include day creams and everyday makeup. Evening makeup would include items used for nights out on the town. Nighttime items would include overnight anti-aging creams, body lotion, foot creams, and so forth. This would also include once-a-week items like face masks, nail polish, polish remover and so forth. Of course, you will want to group together tweezers, nail scissors, toenail clippers and similar items.
To prevent opening a new bottle or tube when an old one is still available, you could bring all new items together in their own pile. Putting these things into one bin and marking it for new items will keep them out of the way until you need them. Then you will know where to look if you run out of something.
Evaluate your Space
Now that you see how much you have in every category, you’ll want to evaluate how much space you have. Perhaps there’s a place where each category can be kept. Ideally you’d be able to open one drawer in the morning and the other in the evening. Of course, many of us don’t have that many drawers and cabinets, and we would need to put things together. Still, you probably have more space than you realize, and evaluating it will help you analyze how the size and shape of each space fits the size and shape of the things you need to store.
Get or Find Some Dividers
In the drawers, use dividers or clear zipper pouches to put your items in. Plastic baggies can do the job until you can get a more permanent solution. Grouping similar items together in the pouches will reduce how much time you spend looking for your favorite nighttime eyeliner and give you more time for putting on your makeup.
For shelving, you should get bins that will keep everything similar together. These could come from a dollar store. They don’t need to be expensive. You could get a few and experiment with different lengths and heights. Small, but upright bins are a good way to keep all your taller items such as shampoos. They are also a good choice for slender items such as combs and hair brushes.
Once everything is put where you can find it again easily, you are much more likely to keep the routines that make you look and feel more beautiful. Instead of searching for your anti-aging cream and giving up, you’ll find it, use it, and go to bed knowing your skin will be all the better for it in the morning.
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