Tag: destash

My KonMari Journey | Decluttering Paperwork

Happy Wednesday! My KonMari journey continues today with a chat about my experience decluttering paperwork. After dealing with my book collection (see that post HERE), I was ready to tackle some items with which I did not have an emotional connection. While I do own a lot of papers that I consider sentimental, such as letters, cards, and photos, I am saving all of those paper memorabilia items for the end of my KonMari journey when I go through the sentimental category. The paperwork I will be discussing today includes all of the boring stuff – bills and statements, manuals, newspaper and magazine clippings, schoolwork, etc. Let’s talk about decluttering paperwork and how this process went for me!

This blog post will not contain any photographs of my actual paperwork as I wanted to ensure any confidential information was kept private. I do apologize that I cannot share more of this decluttering process with you, but I still wanted to share my thoughts on decluttering papers.

Here’s what my file tote looks like!
Purchase this from Amazon by clicking on the photo (affiliate link).

When I placed all of my paperwork into one large pile through which to sort, I had two piles of old schoolwork, two piles of miscellaneous papers, and one plastic file bin half filled with old papers. I started with all of the papers that were not school related, and found it very easy to weed through them. Marie Kondo recommends keeping only those papers for which there is a clear purpose. She also says it is important to keep a pending box for all of those papers that require your attention, such as bills that need to be paid, recipes you want to try, and cards to bring to the post office. This pending box allows you to keep sorting through your paperwork without attempting to complete any tasks that may interrupt the process. However, it is important to set a date to go through your pending box and complete all of the needed paperwork so it doesn’t sit uncompleted forever.

I couldn’t believe how easy it was to declutter my papers! I had tons of paperwork from when I first applied to college. That was ten years ago now! Why did I originally keep all of the informational brochures and various letters from each school? I separated all of the papers I was discarding into a pile that needed to be shredded and a pile to recycle. After going through all of the papers, I could fit all of them into about one-third of the plastic file tote! This leaves me plenty of space for future tax years, and I might even get a storage box that is half the size once my tidying campaign is over.

When it came to my schoolwork, I did break Marie Kondo’s rules a little bit. She recommends getting rid of all your old coursework, but I decided to keep some of it because I only graduated from law school a couple years ago and am still in the early stages of my career. That being said, I did pay careful attention to what I was keeping and what I could easily recycle. This process took a long time, but in the end my two piles were reduced to one. I even ended up with a spare storage crate!

All in all, tidying papers was much easier than I expected. It took me a total of three hours and forty-three minutes to declutter my paperwork, but the time went by quickly and it was very easy to feel what sparked joy. I recognize that my starting pile of papers was probably smaller than the average person’s, but that is because I only have my papers to deal with and I’m still quite young. Nonetheless, I think tidying your papers will be much easier than you think if you follow the KonMari method! As always, feel free to divide the paperwork category into smaller categories that work for you so you do not get overwhelmed.

How do you store paperwork? Let me know in the comments!

My KonMari Journey | Things Get Tough When Decluttering Books

Happy Wednesday! Today I’m excited to share with you the next step in my KonMari tidying journey. If you missed the first two installments in this blog series, make sure to read them HERE and HERE to learn more about why I’m decluttering my life using the KonMari method. I’m following Marie Kondo’s advice very carefully, and she recommends tackling your books after tidying your clothing and clothing komono. I have to admit I was nervous to begin decluttering my books, and wasn’t sure how this process would go for someone like me who is a huge reader. Spoiler alert: decluttering my books was very tough for me to do!

I began the tidying process by putting all of my books in one huge pile on my bed. To be fair, this pile only included the books currently on my bookshelves. I also have some books in storage from my childhood that I decluttered earlier this year, and that were not a part of my KonMari tidying campaign. Nonetheless, my pile was quite large and didn’t even fit in the photograph you see here. I’ve been a reader my entire life, and books are very important to me. They are treasured items, but I was also ready to declutter my collection. After using the KonMari method to declutter my clothing and accessories, I thought I had a good idea of what sparked joy. Well, I struggled big time with my books!

Marie Kondo recommends only keeping books that truly spark joy and that you know you will read again. I definitely agree with this, and when I read a book I only keep it if I plan on rereading it. However, she also says to get rid of any and all books you have not read. While I think this is a good idea for people who are not readers, it simply does not work for me. I am reading constantly, and I love having a section of unread books on my shelves from which to choose. Thus, I knew I would be keeping unread books, but it was challenging to decide which of those sparked joy since I haven’t yet read them.

In fact, tidying my books was emotionally draining, and I often lost sight of what that joy felt like. To help me find the joy again, I would hold a favorite book, or even go to my closet and look at the clothing I kept that sparks joy. I ended up taking a lot of breaks during this process, and felt quite overwhelmed at points. I was upset with myself that I wasn’t getting rid of a lot of books!

In the end, I reminded myself that the KonMari method is about quality and not quantity. In Spark Joy Marie often stresses that if your items are truly sparking joy, it is okay to keep them all. She also mentions in the chapter on books that you can always revisit your book collection in the future and declutter more. The photo above contains all of the books I ended up decluttering. The top row includes the books I hope to sell on eBay, and the bottom row includes the books I will be selling on Decluttr and Amazon, as well as the books I’m donating. This may be a small portion compared to the books I’m keeping, but I made progress and am happy with the work I put into this tidying project.

All in all, decluttering my books using the KonMari method was difficult, but I’m glad I powered through and allowed myself to get rid of some books in my collection that no longer sparked joy. This process took me a total of three hours and thirteen minutes, but it felt like much longer since I took breaks throughout the day. If you are not a big reader, you will most likely fly through the book portion of your tidying campaign. If you are more like me and treasure your book collection, make sure to take your time and try not to get frustrated. Struggling with my books just helped me to realize how emotionally attached I am to some material possessions, and I knew the rest of my tidying campaign would be easier after this.

Do you have a large book collection you love? Let me know in the comments!

Decluttering My Makeup Collection | How to Destash in 3 Easy Steps

Happy Wednesday! A few months back I did a big clean-out of my makeup collection, and shared some tips on how to destash HERE. It felt great to get rid of so much old makeup, but after my move I realized I still owned a lot of products that I wasn’t using or loving. I decided to go through my entire makeup collection a second time and toss a lot more. I wanted to share my decluttering with you again because I’ve come up with three steps to follow to make this process extremely simple. Let me show you how to clean out your beauty collection!

Decluttering My Makeup | How to Destash in 3 Easy Steps

STEP ONE – EXPIRED PRODUCTS

How to Destash in 3 Easy Steps | Step OneI always start my decluttering process by going through my entire makeup collection and checking the expiration date on each and every product. Most skincare items will have an expiration date printed on the top, and almost all beauty products have THIS symbol printed on them to help you distinguish how long to keep open products. Of course, I also use my own judgment. Although I love the Julep lip gloss pictured above, I’ve had it for a couple years and the formula was looking all goopy. Similarly, I’ve owned the Avon eyeliners at the bottom of the photo for WAY too many years. Goodbye, expired products!

STEP TWO – DOUBLE PRODUCTS

How to Destash in 3 Easy Steps | Step 2Now that all the expired products are gone, take some time to see if you own doubles of anything. This is the time to look at products side-by-side and see if they are so similar that you don’t need to own both. I got rid of the L’Oreal eyeshadow and mini eyeshadow quad above because I own an eyeshadow palette that has these shades in it. In the same way, I own a smaller size of the Manna Kadar Sheer Glo, so there is no need to keep this big one when I rarely use it. This step is difficult, but don’t rationalize – if you own double products, get rid of the one you don’t like as much.

STEP THREE – PRODUCTS YOU DON’T USE

How to Destash in 3 Easy Steps | Step 3Last but not least is the most difficult step, and that is getting rid of products you aren’t using. I find this hard because I might use these products at some point in the future, but now is really the time for honesty. While someday I might need a blue or green eyeshadow, I’ve literally never used those eyeshadow shades since I bought the CoverGirl palette you see in the picture. In the same way, I will never use the three lip products because the shades don’t work with my skin tone even though I like them. Make a rule for yourself that if you haven’t used a product in three months, it’s time to get rid of it. I use a three month time period because makeup does expire somewhat quickly. Plus, my makeup collection has a tendency to grow quite a bit in a three month period, so that is a good number to keep in mind.

All in all, it feels great to declutter my makeup collection every few months. It leaves me with a stash filled with products that I love, and allows me to get some new goodies, too. I hope you found these tips both motivational and simple to follow. Please let me know if you would like to see an updated makeup collection tour!

How do you declutter your makeup?! Share your tips in the comments!

Huge Makeup Destash! | How to Clean Out Your Beauty Collection

Happy Saturday! I recently went through my entire makeup collection and decided to get rid of a lot of products. My main focus was throwing away things that were expired, but I also tossed products that I never use and couldn’t be given away to a friend. I’m moving in about two months, so the less I have to pack the better. I thought it would be fun to quickly show you all of the products I destashed, and share some tips on how I choose to get rid of things!

Huge Makeup Destash! | Adventures in PolishlandHere you can see the big box of products I decided to let go. I’ll show you the products by type so you can get a better idea of what I threw away, but I won’t mention each product specifically (that would take a long time!). Feel free to ask me any questions in the comments about a specific product!

EYE PRODUCTS

Eye Products | Huge Makeup Destash!The easiest place to start with any beauty destash is with your eye products. Mascaras should be thrown away after three to four months of use. I regularly toss the mascaras I use on a daily basis, but colored mascaras tend to stay in my collection longer because I don’t use them often. It was time to get rid of this Maybelline Great Lash! Similarly, eyeliners tend to dry out even if they aren’t necessarily expired. This occurs most often with gel eyeliners, such as the ones here from Cailyn. I also tossed some pencils that were old and unusable.

Eyeshadows | Huge Makeup Destash!It’s a bit more difficult to get rid of eyeshadows. I first destashed what was broken. Here, a NYX shadow was missing a lid, and my NYC palette was broken resulting in a messy compact that I didn’t think was salvageable. Then, I got rid of old eyeshadows, such as the Sephora single. Finally, I took out products I never use. I got the JCat and bhCosmetics palettes in subscription boxes, and they need to go!

LIP PRODUCTS 

Lip Products | Huge Beauty Destash!Lip products also tend to have a long shelf life, especially if they do not contain ingredients like SPF that expire quickly. First, I took out any lip stains and lip glosses because they were clearly expired and separating in the tube (yuck!). Then, I tossed the Cailyn lip products that were dried out. Finally, I simply reached for products that do not suit my skintone. I own more lip products than anything else, so I was really happy to get rid of a bunch!

FACE PRODUCTS AND TOOLS

Face Products and Tools | Huge Beauty Destash!Last but not least, I threw out a face product that was expired, and some broken beauty tools. This was easy! If they don’t work, throw them away! There is no use to keep products that are taking up space and serve no utilitarian function. Make room for better things!

All in all, I hope you liked seeing what makeup I destashed. The products in this post were not bad products, but they simply needed to be thrown out because they were expired, old, or not in use. I felt so good after getting rid of all these products! It allowed me to see all of the useable products I own better, and gave me a better idea of what products, if any, I need to buy. I highly recommend going through your stash at least 1-2 times per year.

Do you have any tips for destashing your makeup collection? Share them in the comments!

Dare to Compare | Neon Yellow Nail Polish

Happy Wednesday! After tackling the orange nail polish in my collection, I moved onto the yellows and decided which ones I should keep. It turns out I owned three polishes in the neon yellow shade, so I tested each one to see if I could get rid of any as part of The Great Polish Destash. Let me show you the three neon yellows I had, and which I decided to keep.

Spoiled – Did I Dye It Too Blonde?First up is Spoiled in Did I Dye It Too Blonde? This is the first neon yellow I’ve ever purchased, and is also the most affordable. Spoiled sells for just $1.99 retail price at CVS stores, and even goes on sale for  $0.99! Did I Dye It Too Blonde? is a good polish, but very sheer. I’m wearing three coats in the photo above, and as you can see it is not opaque. I always wear a white base under a neon yellow to brighten the shade anyway, so a sheer formula isn’t a big factor in this round of Dare to Compare.

Milani Neon – Totally 80'sNext up is Milani Neon in Totally 80’s. I purchased this polish at the Street Fair Cosmetics booth here in NYC for just $1.00, but never wore it. I was happily surprised to find that Totally 80’s has a great formula, and decent coverage in two coats. This polish is actually retired now, so it would be difficult to find it in stores.

Julep – NikkiLast up is Julep in Nikki. I remember disliking Nikki when I first tested it out, but for some reason I liked it much better this time around! Nikki is definitely a more green-toned yellow, but the formula is great and nearly opaque in two coats. So far all of the polishes are seemingly great, so it’s going to come down to the side-by-side comparison!

Dare to Compare | Neon Yellow Polishes Dare to Compare | Neon Yellow Polishes

Once I tested out all three polishes it was clear that each shade is a little bit different. From left to right, I’m wearing the Spoiled, the Milani, and the Julep. I first decided to keep Spoiled Did I Dye It Too Blonde? because I’ve used up a significant part of that bottle, and I’ve had it since I started this blog. Then, I decided which of the two remaining polishes to destash. Because I’ve made a dent in the Julep polish, I decided to keep it as well. Milani’s Totally 80’s is a great polish to rehome, and because it is a retired shade, people might be looking for it. Thus, I decided to keep two out of three. Not too shabby!

All in all, I was surprised to have three neon yellow polishes in my collection, and even more shocked when each shade turned out to be a bit different. I’m glad I was able to get rid of one polish, and make my collection at least a little more manageable. Make sure to stay tuned for more Dare to Compare posts as The Great Polish Destash continues, and let me know what your favorite neon yellow polish is in the comments!