So, true to my pattern as of late, I'm back with another report on an experiment I did thanks to Hannah Louise Poston.
Hannah recently started her new project for the year which she is calling her year of less stuff. The whole goal of which is to end 2020 with less things than she started with.
Plain and simple.
Part of doing her project entails counting and then sharing those total counts of everything she currently owns in each of her self-assigned categories. After watching all her videos and hearing her talk about how surprising and motivating the process was, I wanted to give it a try myself.
I chose to count my makeup, skincare, nail and hair products, perfumes, jewelry and clothing.
Now, to be completely honest, I'm motivated to try this, but also thoroughly lazy. And for that reason, I didn't include all of my clothes because I couldn't be bothered to go up into the attic and unpack all the spring/summer clothes I have stashed away in my suitcases. Fortunately for this experiment, I am actually very short on warm-weather clothes so I know that whatever that total may be, it won't be anything I'd feel is inappropriate. Win for the lazy column! I also excluded my loungewear because, again, I have very little and didn't care to dismantle the cupboard it's all stored in.
Let's dive into my totals!
Makeup (79 items)
3 foundations
3 primers
4 concealers
1 powder
9 blushes (4 in a palette)
2 brozers (1 in a palette)
3 highlighters (1 in a palette)
6 mascaras
1 contour
2 brow products
1 eye primer
3 eyeshadow palettes
2 single eyeshadows
6 eyeliners
3 lip masks
4 lip balms
3 lip pencils
2 lip liners
1 lip gloss
10 lip sticks
10 brushes
Skincare (60 items)
3 oils
8 masks
13 sheet masks
5 moisturizers (4 backups)
2 cleansers (2 backups)
2 sunscreens
7 actives (5 backups)
6 body care products
3 self-tanners
Nail products (20 items)
2 removers
18 polishes
Hair products (23 items)
23 products
Perfumes (16 items)
16 perfumes
Jewelry (46 items)
9 necklaces
17 pairs of earrings
2 ear cuffs
10 bracelets
4 rings
1 hair pin
1 barette
2 watches
Clothing (210 items)
55 pairs of socks
56 pairs of undies
7 pairs of jeans
2 fabric pants
14 sweaters
3 cardigans
1 blazer
6 shirts
8 long sleeve t-shirts
7 t-shirts
8 dresses
1 jumpsuit
4 tank tops
4 shorts
7 bras
7 workout leggings
4 sports bras
2 workout crop tops
1 workout jacket
2 workout long sleeve pullovers
6 workout tank tops
5 workout shorts
Shoes (26 items)
1 tall boot
2 ankle boots
1 snow boots
4 sneakers
1 loafers
1 gym shoes
2 hiking boots
1 oxfords
5 sandals
1 flats
4 heels
3 gardening/outdoor shoes
Phew. Got all that?
So, in total, that's 480 items.
If you had asked me to guess, I definitely would not have guessed anything close to 500 items. I probably would have estimated I had somewhere around 250 to 300 items. That's kind of the point of this exercise though, right?
My initial thoughts go immediately to the socks and undies. Clearly one person and her two feet and one bum does not need that many pairs, especially because I know so many of those items are de-elasticated, pushing 10 years old or not something I'd pay money for now (tons of my undies are free from old Victoria's Secret coupons). I can very easily downsize those categories, make my socks and undies drawer a lot more easily manageable and feel next to no loss.
Similarly, I have a ton of beauty products that are far too old to be holding onto, but haven't been tossed yet just because they're out of sight and out of mind. I know for a fact that I've only purchased 2 mascaras in the last year, so those other 4 are probably old enough to have been with me since my bachelorette life. Yikes. Nail polish is the same. 18 polishes and I can only recall purchasing 1 of those within a reasonable timeframe. Time to get out of my life.
Another category of items is the "I used to use this a lot but now I no longer do" category. Lip products like lipstick, liners, pencils, glosses or balms top this list. My lips have been far too dry to wear any of this for years now. I also used to wear earrings a lot more often, but these days I've been living in my Mejuri mini hoops and only wearing a few other pairs a couple times a year. I need to pare down my collection to the stuff I absolutely love and face the fact that I just don't get glammed up that much anymore. I also seem to have a lot of things that I thought I would use when I bought them, but it as it turns out, I never actually did. Foundations, most of my hair products, bracelets, heels -- all of these things have been mostly wunworn or unused so I should re-home them.
Lastly I have several categories of things that I love but that I simply have far too many of. Perfumes. Who needs 16 perfumes? Granted several of those are sample sizes, but still. I need to use them up, or pass them on. They're doing no good just getting older and laying around my drawers. Self tanners are another thing. I have 3, and while I like them all, I only need one. I'm very pale and I'm fine with that so having one around seems reasonable for those odd times I want a bit more of a glow, but that's plenty.
Now that I've done all this counting and really examined what I have, I definitely want to follow up with a good declutter. For the things I still like and want to keep I think I'm going to work on using them up in a focused manner. This way nothing will go to waste and I'll get my money's worth out of things, but I'll still be able to reduce the amount of crap I'm keeping around me. Luckily (?) we've got all kinds of time on our hands right now so this will give me something to focus on.
I hope this was at least mildly entertaining or enlightening to you and that you're staying safe and home. If you count any of your things, let me know how it goes for you in the comments!
Plain and simple.
Part of doing her project entails counting and then sharing those total counts of everything she currently owns in each of her self-assigned categories. After watching all her videos and hearing her talk about how surprising and motivating the process was, I wanted to give it a try myself.
I chose to count my makeup, skincare, nail and hair products, perfumes, jewelry and clothing.
Now, to be completely honest, I'm motivated to try this, but also thoroughly lazy. And for that reason, I didn't include all of my clothes because I couldn't be bothered to go up into the attic and unpack all the spring/summer clothes I have stashed away in my suitcases. Fortunately for this experiment, I am actually very short on warm-weather clothes so I know that whatever that total may be, it won't be anything I'd feel is inappropriate. Win for the lazy column! I also excluded my loungewear because, again, I have very little and didn't care to dismantle the cupboard it's all stored in.
Let's dive into my totals!
Makeup (79 items)
3 foundations
3 primers
4 concealers
1 powder
9 blushes (4 in a palette)
2 brozers (1 in a palette)
3 highlighters (1 in a palette)
6 mascaras
1 contour
2 brow products
1 eye primer
3 eyeshadow palettes
2 single eyeshadows
6 eyeliners
3 lip masks
4 lip balms
3 lip pencils
2 lip liners
1 lip gloss
10 lip sticks
10 brushes
Skincare (60 items)
3 oils
8 masks
13 sheet masks
5 moisturizers (4 backups)
2 cleansers (2 backups)
2 sunscreens
7 actives (5 backups)
6 body care products
3 self-tanners
Nail products (20 items)
2 removers
18 polishes
Hair products (23 items)
23 products
Perfumes (16 items)
16 perfumes
Jewelry (46 items)
9 necklaces
17 pairs of earrings
2 ear cuffs
10 bracelets
4 rings
1 hair pin
1 barette
2 watches
Clothing (210 items)
55 pairs of socks
56 pairs of undies
7 pairs of jeans
2 fabric pants
14 sweaters
3 cardigans
1 blazer
6 shirts
8 long sleeve t-shirts
7 t-shirts
8 dresses
1 jumpsuit
4 tank tops
4 shorts
7 bras
7 workout leggings
4 sports bras
2 workout crop tops
1 workout jacket
2 workout long sleeve pullovers
6 workout tank tops
5 workout shorts
Shoes (26 items)
1 tall boot
2 ankle boots
1 snow boots
4 sneakers
1 loafers
1 gym shoes
2 hiking boots
1 oxfords
5 sandals
1 flats
4 heels
3 gardening/outdoor shoes
Phew. Got all that?
So, in total, that's 480 items.
If you had asked me to guess, I definitely would not have guessed anything close to 500 items. I probably would have estimated I had somewhere around 250 to 300 items. That's kind of the point of this exercise though, right?
My initial thoughts go immediately to the socks and undies. Clearly one person and her two feet and one bum does not need that many pairs, especially because I know so many of those items are de-elasticated, pushing 10 years old or not something I'd pay money for now (tons of my undies are free from old Victoria's Secret coupons). I can very easily downsize those categories, make my socks and undies drawer a lot more easily manageable and feel next to no loss.
Similarly, I have a ton of beauty products that are far too old to be holding onto, but haven't been tossed yet just because they're out of sight and out of mind. I know for a fact that I've only purchased 2 mascaras in the last year, so those other 4 are probably old enough to have been with me since my bachelorette life. Yikes. Nail polish is the same. 18 polishes and I can only recall purchasing 1 of those within a reasonable timeframe. Time to get out of my life.
Another category of items is the "I used to use this a lot but now I no longer do" category. Lip products like lipstick, liners, pencils, glosses or balms top this list. My lips have been far too dry to wear any of this for years now. I also used to wear earrings a lot more often, but these days I've been living in my Mejuri mini hoops and only wearing a few other pairs a couple times a year. I need to pare down my collection to the stuff I absolutely love and face the fact that I just don't get glammed up that much anymore. I also seem to have a lot of things that I thought I would use when I bought them, but it as it turns out, I never actually did. Foundations, most of my hair products, bracelets, heels -- all of these things have been mostly wunworn or unused so I should re-home them.
Lastly I have several categories of things that I love but that I simply have far too many of. Perfumes. Who needs 16 perfumes? Granted several of those are sample sizes, but still. I need to use them up, or pass them on. They're doing no good just getting older and laying around my drawers. Self tanners are another thing. I have 3, and while I like them all, I only need one. I'm very pale and I'm fine with that so having one around seems reasonable for those odd times I want a bit more of a glow, but that's plenty.
Now that I've done all this counting and really examined what I have, I definitely want to follow up with a good declutter. For the things I still like and want to keep I think I'm going to work on using them up in a focused manner. This way nothing will go to waste and I'll get my money's worth out of things, but I'll still be able to reduce the amount of crap I'm keeping around me. Luckily (?) we've got all kinds of time on our hands right now so this will give me something to focus on.
I hope this was at least mildly entertaining or enlightening to you and that you're staying safe and home. If you count any of your things, let me know how it goes for you in the comments!
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