Tuesday Tip of the Day

Today I have a great tip of the day for you.....Declutter your life!  It may not seem that by getting rid of "stuff" that it is a savings but alas, my friend, you are so, so wrong.  If you are anything like me, you have no idea just how much of that "stuff" you have.  This is such a huge area, that I think it needs to be broken down into little mini-de-clutters.  So here is where I have to start:

I have been out of work for over a year and in that time, the only make-up that I have purchased has been mascara.  I had a huge stockpile of lotions, creams, eye shadow and liner, mineral and cream make-up, and the list goes on.  My sister is an Avon rep and I love the product but do you really need to buy one eyeliner of every color each time there is a sale? 

So here is how to start with the personal items decluttering:
    1. Sort and determine what you have.  You need to make three piles, or boxes or bags for sorting.  Keep, Toss, Donate.
          a.  Keep-even if you have 12 packages of deodorant, if they are still good, you might want to keep them.  Other things to keep are fragrances, lotions, bath oil, and any makeup that you wear/have worn and will wear again.
          b.  Toss-broken lipsticks, mascara that has been opened and is older than three months old, eye shadow that is broken up or you hate and will NEVER wear.  Also toss any other personal item that you have not used in a year or know you will not use.
          c.  Donate-this is a much smaller category for personal items that it might be for something like housewares or clothes.  Things you might donate would be those unopened gift items that the thought of using makes you nauscous.  Also samples.  I belong to several free sample websites (more on this on another post) and I get all kinds of freebies that I will never use but someone else might:  certain kinds of sanitary products, acne applications, some vitamins or topical creams.  The clue here is unopened. 
    2.   Now take your piles, bags or boxes of sorted items and do the right thing.  Donate your bag of unopened toiletries to Goodwill, a woman's shelter,  or any other place that gratefully accepts donations of this kind.  Some churches or resource centers are in need of toiletries for homeless families or families in need.  Some toiletries are in need for our troops, disadvantaged civilizations, or areas hard hit by natural disasters.  You can contact your local organizations by going on line or looking up the charity in the phone book.  Knowing that you un-needed items will be appreciated will make your little heart feel really good.
     The items that you are going to toss are an easy fix.  Just put the bag in the trash can.  Put the lid on it and never, never look back.
     The category that will take the most work is the KEEP box.  Now that you decided to KEEP, do not add to your stash!  If you have 12 bottles of bubble bath, put one near the tub and stash the others.  Do not buy more!  You have to be diligent in using up what you have.  Regularly inventory what you have and unless something is free, do not add to your hoard!

There are two other categories that I will normally bring up. There is usually a fourth category which is SELL.  Personal items that you have hoarded are not usually sold unless you have some unopened expensive perfume that someone might buy at a garage sale or on Ebay.  The last category is REGIFT.  I guess there might be a time to regift a personal item.  But I do think that it is a rare occurance unless maybe you have purchased an on-sale item and have purchased it for the purpose of gifting. 

Now don't you feel better already?  No clutter, no need to buy, and maybe that warm glow deep down inside from giving......

More later.............