In my anticipation for this weekend’s great garage sale, I went through all my stuff. Turns out…I have a lot of stuff. Most of which I don’t even use. And I have to stop and think to myself, “Holy Crap, imagine how much I could have saved if I hadn’t bought all this stuff I don’t even use!”
I introduce…my stuff.
Nail Polish. At least $6 a bottle (more like $8), I have about $100 worth of nail polish I never use.
No mani-pedis, means no painting my nails because I’m too lazy to do it on my own.
Lotion. Apparently, I am obsessed with lotion. I completely admit I gained my mom’s “It’s on sale, so I must buy 5 and stock up!” tendency. The problem is I never get around to using them all before they go on sale again and I stock up even more!
Chapstick. Ever ask “Where did I put that Chapstick?” I found them all now.
Makeup. This is perhaps the worst. Makeup is SO expensive. I’ll buy the newest product and before I even have time to finish it, another product comes out that I just have to have! It’s horrible and I feel like I’ve completely fallen into the consumer advertising trap.
But what’s even worse…I don’t even wear that much makeup! I never put on mascara unless it’s a special occasion…yet, I own six mascaras!
In reality, this is all the makeup I wear on a daily basis.
Purses. Some woman do the shoes…I do the purse (it’s more noticeable than shoes, right?!)
You know what’s extremely sad though? How hard it was to part with this stuff that I don’t even use! I didn’t get rid of everything, but I was able to part with at least four purses, a couple of nail polishes and some make up. I consolidated the lotions into one bottle so I could get rid of the EXCESS.
I know we all have a lot of stuff in our lives. But taking an inventory was an eye-opener into how much stuff I buy that I don’t need. I hope this upcoming year of being budget-conscious and frugal teaches me all those classic cliches like that I don’t need this stuff to feel fulfilled and life is made up of moments rather than things.
Do you have a lot of excess in your life? What stuff do you wish you had less of? What do you buy that you simply don’t need or use?
11 comments
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I also have FAR too many nail polishes. I developed an OPI addiction and I don’t paint my nails much. I think any chipping looks middle-school-ish and I’m really particular. I do paint my toenails, since I’ve cut out pedis, but I don’t need 20 colors when I pretty much wear dark colors year long!
Doesn’t it feel good to purge?!?!
I am with you on the nail polish… I will only buy OPI or Essie, and at $8 per bottle… I own at least 30 bottles, some so close in color it’s ridiculous… I could have bought 1 killer pair of jeans. Ugh. It’s easy to not think about how much money you are throwing out the window until you are staring it in the face!
This goes back to simplicity, doesn’t it? I totally agree with many of these – and fall into the same traps – EXCEPT chapstick. I am OB-SESSED and need many many tubes of chapstick for everywhere I am 😉
I’m totally with you on the nail polish thing. I have so many bottles of the same color because I’ll walk into the store and think, “Oooh, I like that one” and then when I get home, I realize it’s the same one I already have!
I did a major closet cleanout recently, but I still need to go through my drawers. T-shirts accumulate like you would not believe!
It feels so good to get rid of extra stuff! So satisfying. Good job!
After living by myself for 4 years in a huge apartment, I moved in with my boyfriend last year. Into a teeny tiny apartment. It was a huge adjustment for me because I knew I had to get rid of a ton of my shit, but didn’t WANT to damnit!
But I realized that if I wanted to both of us to stay sane, I needed to do some serious purging. I got rid of so much stuff – things like make-up and stupid decorative trinkets that didn’t belong anywhere and stuff that I thought I liked, but didn’t really NEED.
We’ve totally simplified our lives over the past year and a half and it feels GREAT. I still buy random stuff here and there, but for the most part I’m able to avoid it. I have a totally new perspective and I love it.
(And I totally have the lotion obsession, too. What’s the deal with that?!)
I am right there with you. I found pretty much what you have pictured here when I cleaned out my closets last week. Lots of make up and and lotions!! That stuff is so tempting to buy!
If you haven’t already though- ditch the mascara. If you really have 6, that probably means 90% of it is old. Hello bacteria. I think the life on those are 2 months, but I notice around 6wks that mine get clumpy and not worth using.
Yay for purging!
Thankfully I don’t have too much “stuff”. I have a really hard time relaxing mentally if my house is cluttered so I make a habbit of cleaning stuff out on a regular basis. If I do have anything in excess though it is probably things like make-up I don’t wear on a regular basis (like the bright red lipstick I bought for a burlesque bachelorette party- but have actually found occasion to wear since- ANOTHER burlesque bachelorette party! lol). It’s actually probably time to go through my cupboards again and get rid of some more product. Maybe I’ll do that tonight while I celebrate winesday and watch the season premier of Criminal Minds!
P.S. You have great taste in lipstick- I can see at least three covergirl ones in your pile that I also have! 🙂