Wednesday, April 4, 2012

Day Four - Spring 30 Day Clutter Buster Challenge


Did you know that organizing is not about how your home or office looks but about how those spaces work in your mind?  Organizing is about the process of arranging items and creating systems to maximize the efficiency and utility of a space.  It is not about making things pretty.

It's also not about how others thinks the space should work.  For example, some chronically disorganized people have a very difficult time filing their papers away.  Experience has taught them that once something is filed it is never seen again.  As a professional organizer, I would not be helping my client by coming in with a bunch of boxes and filing cabinets and just start filing away.  This would cause more stress and would not be a system that would work for that individual person.  Perhaps hanging files on the wall would be a better option for such a client.  It may not be pretty but it works for that person.

So throw your perfectionism out the window and really think about how you want your space to work for you.  Your bookcase may look lovely with stacks of books and pretty little knick knacks carefully placed but how do you retrieve that bottom book without knocking over the whole stack?


You paid good money for all that space in your home, make it earn it's keep!

Now for what I decluttered today.  I have been hating my makeup case for quite a while now.  It is past time that I decluttered it.




My makeup case matched the wallpaper in the bathroom - I hate the wallpaper in the bathroom!  It was dirty and because it was covered in fabric it was hard to clean.  And there was a lot of unused makeup in there!

I was out shopping at Winners the other day and I saw this beautiful box.  I knew instantly that I wanted to use it for my makeup.  It even had a mirror on the inside lid.


No, it does not match the wallpaper now but there is a bathroom renovation on the horizon and it will match the new decor perfectly!  It even has a nice handle on the top.



The makeup that I use everyday fit in the tray on the top and under the tray is room for the other stuff that I don't use as often.  I really like it.

Today I decluttered all the makeup pictured below plus the old ugly makeup case.  Not bad!


Here is a link to a great website that tells you how long to keep certain kinds of makeup.
http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/how-long-should-you-keep-your-make-up.html

By the way, this whole decluttering process took all of 2 minutes.  It took way longer to take the pictures, upload them to my computer and then add them to the blog than it did to do the actual decluttering!  Isn't time you went through your makeup case?

3 comments:

  1. Thanks, Sherry! Today I *will* declutter my makeup. I have a lot more of it than you, and some goes back YEARS (obviously time for the trash bin). I will only keep what I use daily, with the few extras for the fancy night-time face.

    Your make up box does not need to match your bathroom *that* much! I like your new one much better than the old one.

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  2. Today I decluttered my kitchen drawer that holds my Tupperware and other containers. Over the past year, I have gotten rid of the ones that I don't use, however, the ones that I do use have to be wrangled into submission every so often. I will email you a picture so you can upload it since you now know how to do that LOL.

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  3. i have decluttered but not consolidated my makeup. And the one good thing about naturally long lashes -- losing mascara isn't catastrophic. (i really have no idea WHY i keep losing it. i suspect that Mom is rubbing off on me; hers vanishes in seconds after leaving the store.)

    My makeup would fit in a small pencil case. The same cannot be said for the plethora of hair styling products Mom and i each have. i have a bag packed for Paula; share and share alike.

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