Saturday - Day #1:
Inventoried my hall closet and my cosmetics cases. I knew those two would be an eye-opening beasts! Even though I've not purchased any Bath & Body Works in over a year, I still had plenty of stock pile from the years I was buying it. And then there's the year I decided to do a Bene-Card (a medical savings account of sorts) at work and had to use the money at the end of the year, so I stocked up on first aid supplies (Band Aids anyone)?? The numbers were definitely enlightening (and sad all at the same time):
1st Aid Kits - 4
Cosmetic Bags - 8
Boxes of Over-the-Counter Rx - 19
Hair Ties - 109
Bottles of Shower Gel - 13
Bottles of Perfume/Sprays - 19
Those are just the highlights! In total, there were 695 items not including the 35 items I either threw away or donated. Yikes!! On a positive note though, I used the old Birchbox boxes to organize my make-up in and now the closet overall is clean/organized.
Then I did one of the tougher things on this journey - I cancelled my Ipsy, Birchbox, and Bespoke Post subscription boxes. I waffled on Birchbox b/c I had points accumulated (which = $20 to spend in their shop). In the end, I purchased a bottle of shampoo and a bottle of dry shampoo (I'm almost out of both), used my points, and spent $8.99 total. (I thought I would lose my points when I cancelled my Birchbox subscription, but after I cancelled my subscription, I received an e-mail from customer service stating my points/profile will still stay active).
Sunday - Day #2
The fact I'm fighting a bad cold is the only reason I can think of that I set my alarm for 6 am this morning. A half an hour later when I was functioning enough to get out of bed, I decided to inventory the freezer. (Right, b/c that's what most people do at 6:30 am - ha!). My husband requested McDonald's for breakfast this morning while the British Open is on. When I tried to tell him I could make breakfast, he asked if we had any ham for the omelets. When I said I didn't think so, he insisted I make a McDonald's run this morning. Low and behold though, we did have 1 package of diced ham in there. So, making breakfast it is (and I am not derailed by my husband)!
On the bright side - I found 4 frozen mini snickers bites (one of which became breakfast) and organized all my herbs I grew last year in the bottom of the freezer (that's what's wrapped in paper towels/baggies in the very bottom drawer), which made me happy!
Total Freezer Inventory: 61 (was 62, but I ate a Snickers Mini).
Items Eliminated: 4 - I threw out 3 packages of meat and a bag of ravioli that had freezer burn.
Next Up - the refrigerator. Ugh! I was dreading this one just b/c I knew I would also end up scrubbing it out along with taking stock (which I did). This is one area where the husband definitely doesn't help the cause. (Example - 3 jars of unopened pickles and 3 bottles of garlic/herb chicken marinade that are all partially used). For the sake of keeping the peace though (and the fact he cooks a lot), I kept my mouth shut and just combined the bottles.
Once we use some of the Ketsup, I'll squirt the mini packages of it in the top of the door into the regular bottle and toss them. The bottle is still completely full though from the last time I did that, so I'll have to wait.
I even posted an inventory on the door so hubs and I know what we have. My goal is to maintain this/update it each time we go grocery shopping.
Total Fridge Inventory: 91
Total Items Purged: 10
Next up (after I made breakfast and watched some golf with the husband), the shower.
Total Shower Items: 26
Total Items Purged: 3
Lastly for the day, I inventoried my kitchen cupboards (the ones that hold food). Again, I posted the inventory of what we have on the inside of the cupboard door. (My husband and I really like this b/c we know what's in there).
Total Cupboard Food Items: 301
Total Items Purged: 75 (Lots of old protein bars and sauce packets)
Monday - Day #3
Woke up and finished inventorying the medicine cabinet before heading off to work. (The OCD in me just wants to complete this inventory project).
Final Tally on all Bathroom/Beauty/Make-Up Items: 1019 whopping items!! Eeek!! MAJOR downsizing to do there!!
When I left work I returned 2 items to Bed, Bath, and Beyond that didn't work out and got back $25.79, which I promptly put into a special account where I'm stashing the money I receive from selling items I don't use. Since I'm still sick, I went to CVS though afterwards and bought some cold Rx (and threw away the very expired Rx I was taking over the weekend), Echinacea (B1G1 Free) and chocolate to try to kick this cold, which brought 4 more items back into the house.
Confession: I also bought my birthday present from my parents online (2 Lia Sophia necklaces and a pair of earrings). I didn't need them, but I'd been wanting all 3 for over a year and I got an e-mail saying the one necklace was on sale for $20, so I purchased them only because minimalist rules do not apply (in my world anyway) to birthday money and Christmas money.
Starting my bedroom count now. This may take a while.....
Tuesday - Day #4
I am shocked by how happy it makes me to walk into the bathroom each morning and see a counter that's not cluttered by a bunch of junk. (It almost makes me not feel like a horrible person for owning so much stuff. The consumerism monster definitely got it's hold on me over the years)!!
Worked some more on the bedroom inventory this morning and dusted all my shelves before I went to work. I am truly bummed out by how much stuff I own. Looking at the actual numbers is very eye-opening! No wonder I have debt I'm paying off!!
Master Bedroom Items: 1354 (Including socks, underwear, trinkets, pairs of earrings, etc.)
Items Purged: 18 (That was just items that I threw away. Obviously a huge eBay/Twice Clothing/Goodwill donation purge is about to go down)!
Once I typed that number above, I immediately began going thru my closet and asking myself four simple questions:
1. Does it fit?
2. Is it in good repair?
3. Do I wear it?
4. Does it make me feel good?
If it's something I really like that I'll likely fit into soon, I kept it. Otherwise, out of the closet it came. Only 8 shirts, 4 belts, a pair of frayed dress pants, a pair of capri pants that I was safety-pinning shut, and a pair of capri pants that make me feel chubby when I wear them came out of the closet. That kind of makes sense since I only keep the clothes I wear a lot in the master bedroom. There are 8 more dress tops that I hung front and center in my closet and if I don't wear them in the next 8 business days, they're out. (Update: I did wear 3 of them this week and decided 2 others are going on eBay).
Obviously becoming more minimalist entails only keeping what I really need. I don't need 14 casual long-sleeve shirts. They're comfy though and I wear them a lot all year round, so I'm not mentally at the place yet where I can justify getting rid of them just for the sake of having less shirts (and I'm not sure if I'll do so in the future until they wear out). They're good shirts that I spent my hard-earned money on. The 35 layering tank tops though - some of those are going on eBay for sure! That's the thing I have to keep reminding myself - this is a journey and a lifestyle, not a sprint. It took time to accumulate all these belongings and it's going to take time to eliminate a lot of them. On a positive note, I've gotten rid of over 200 items in the past 4 days thru purging/donating.
Wednesday - Day #5
Today I didn't feel well at all unfortunately. When I got off work, I came home and went straight to bed to try to kick this cold. Other than adding items that were in the laundry room to my closet inventory before this morning, today was a day of rest on "Mission Purge".
Thursday - Day #6
Decided to use this chart (from the PopSugar website. Click here for the link.) to purge the make-up that is in my Caboodle (no judging b/c I have one of those). The Caboodle holds only what I'm using right now make-up wise, so this was an easy project while I was getting ready for work.
| PRODUCT | TOSS IT . . . |
|---|---|
| Mascara | 1 year |
| Foundation | 1 year |
| Concealer | 12-18 months |
| Powder | 18 months |
| Blush/bronzer | 18 months |
| Cream blush | 12-18 months |
| Eye shadow | 18 months |
| Eyeliner | 18 months |
| Liquid eyeliner | 6 months |
| Eyeliner | 18 months |
| Liquid eyeliner | 6 months |
| Lipstick/lip gloss | 18 months |
| Lip liner | 1 year |
| Nail polish | 1 year |
| Makeup sponges | Wash after each use, then throw away after a month |
The Caboodle had 45 items in it to start. 13 items didn't make the cut, bringing my new Caboodle total down to 32 items.
Friday - Day #7
I took the day off today since my birthday is tomorrow and hope to get a lot accomplished as far as inventorying goes. I did get a bit of discouraging news right off the bat - Twice Clothing (who I've sold numerous clothing items to over the past two years) is no longer buying clothes and is merging with eBay in a business venture. I had to pay $4.95 to get the last bag of clothes I sent them back and am now either going to have to donate those items or sell them on eBay myself. That's a bummer since selling my clothes/shoes to them was so easy! This will DEFINITELY deter me from buying more clothes b/c now I know it will be more of a hastle to get rid of them. Anyway, I digress.....
My goal today is to cross the 300 item mark as far as # of items I've gotten rid of (by throwing them away, donating, using, or selling) goes. I sent back a dress to Victoria's Secret this morning that I recently purchased and never wore. Right now I'm at 281 items so hitting that number shouldn't be a problem.
I listed 20 clothing & make-up items on eBay, so hopefully they'll sell quickly! (2 have sold so far). I love eBay except for the fact it takes so darn long to photograph/measure/write out the listing for all of the items.
Totals for this Week:
Current Inventory - 3686 (I still have some counting to do though)
Items Purged - 284
Items Donated - 41
Items Used - 33
Items Sold/Returned - 5
TOTAL ITEMS ELIMINATED = 384
(384/4073) = 9.4% of items inventoried have been eliminated so far (I know - there's still a long way to go, but at least it's a start!)
The best part - I lost 5 lbs this week by eating the food in my fridge/cupboards instead of eating fast food all the time. :) Who-hoo!!
