Beauty

[Oshare-girl]

I love the beginning of a new season/quarter! I rotate out my mascaras and rotate in new color products each season. I finished a mini lipstick (took me 2 months) and hit pan on an eyeshadow in a palette that I am trying to pan this year. Now I know it takes 3 months of daily use to hit pan on an eyeshadow. So I am making progress on my makeup stash. It also takes me 3 months to finish a body lotion, using it once a day. So I was able to open a new one this week. I am slowly getting to know my beauty usage.

Dosey, I hope my DD grows up like yours and cleans her room without being threatened. She finished the Kondo book and loved it. She filled up 2 garbage bags, which I had to go through. She was getting rid of 75% of her clothes and only had a week's worth left in her drawers. DH and I had a good laugh but had to explain to her that we can't afford to buy her a new wardrobe. Unfortunately she will have to keep some of the items that don't bring her job but as she wears & uses things up, we will repurchase items that she can enjoy.

The school requested stuffed animals for the Penny Carnival and even after months of decluttering, both kids were able to fill a garbage bag each. The school is also doing a fundraiser where they get cash for clothes. We have 3 bags of clothes to donate thanks to Ms. Kondo.

We got a new cabinet to use as a pantry. While we were transferring everything from the old to the new pantry, we purged all the old & duplicate food. So much waste! Using drawers from an old plastic drawer, we put all the small items in it to store in the cabinet. The clear drawers allow me to actually see what I have so I hopefully will not be purchasing duplicates. I was also able to move everything off the kitchen counters. Ah, clear counterspace! DS made a comment about how different the kitchen looked. Like a whole new kitchen. This decluttering process is like moving into a new house.

Now if only I could purge the sugar consumption. Dosey, salmon & veggies sound delicious!

[Oshare-girl]

Also, I left a basket of random makeup, lotions and other beauty goods in the bathroom where my DH's office is. I tapped out all my potential beauty donorees (is that a word?). My friends & family don't have the same obsession with makeup as I do. I've read about many people who leave unloved beauty items in their workplace bathrooms so I've always wanted to do it but my office is very small and my coworkers aren't interested. Anyway, I left a post-it note that said to please help yourself & enjoy. When I went back the next week, it was all gone and someone had wrote on the post-it, "Thank you!!". That really made my day. The office building has a lot of social service providers so I hope that it went to people that would really appreciate it.

[geezerette]

On 4/2/2015 just bee said:

On 4/2/2015 sundrops said: Thanks for your concern, geezerette. We have already called a real estate agency. While they don't deal in rentals, they gave us 2 places that do. Those places are the ones that said our dog is on the undesirable list. They can help us when we get there. There is a mobile home park that also could be a possibility. I spoke with them. Our dog is bigger than they allow, but since she is older, they said that is in her favor. If we can't find a rental, we will probably fly back out in June and buy a place. We hate to buy in a rush. We want to rent our first year there and learn the area better. I will post when we return and let you guys know what happened.

When we moved out here I had a hundred pound Boxer. She looked like a brindle Bullmastiff. Old. We should have rented but we rushed into making a lot of important and expensive decisions instead. I like this house, but it was probably a mistake for us to buy it. I still think if we had rented first we wouldn't have stayed in Albuquerque.

This is really the wrong house and wrong neighborhood for us. Right now I can hear the neighbors' kids shrieking and I'm afraid to look outside and see what they're destroying. Part of me wants to sell it all and find a smaller place in a geezer community that bans children.

Don't rush into this. It's imperative that you get to know the area before you commit to anything. A rental might not be ideal, but it's not permanent, either.

Worse, we took my Boxer to a vet when we moved here who completely misdiagnosed her illness. Give yourself time to find the right neighborhood, the right neighbors and the right vet.

I could have written much of this myself, as almost the same thing happened when we moved in reverse--from the southwest back east. We had property and investments here that we needed to disperse (getting old and needing to get our affairs in order), and we didn't know whether to stay here or sell out and move somewhere else in the desert. At the time our dog was middle-aged, but somewhat fragile health-wise. We debated for months renting or buying a place in town or building out on our property. We ended up building. And like justbee, if we had gone with the town house, we would have left here within the first year, given the circumstances of what happened to the area during that time. As it is now, even though we didn't go overboard with the house, we have a goodly amount invested in it, the economy is not good here, so to sell out would be not only time consuming, but pretty much guaranteed a financial loss.

And what happened to our little dog with a new vet here was also almost identical to justbee's experience. She had surgery that just about killed her as well as other physical ailments that I attribute to the geographical change. We lost her a few months ago. I'm not saying that moving here killed her or even shortened her life (she was 14 years old when she passed, after all), but I will always believe if we had stayed in the desert her last years would have at least been more comfortable.

sundrops, I'm not saying that any of this would happen to you. I know the position you're in and the pressure you feel. Sometimes there just is no good solution. You might find just the perfect place once you get to Albuquerque, you never know. All you can do is to make the best decision with the information and ability you have at the time.

[sundrops]

Thanks, geezerette. Have a great Holiday everyone!!

[Daysdee]

I'm not moving, but I did just do a major closet purge which I hadn't done in a long time. Donate from time to time, but I really was hardcore about ridding myself of a lot of items that are too large for me and it doesn't pay to spend money to have alterations done. Most items were from QVC (Susan Graver, etc.) which always fit me too large and I ordered the smallest they offered at that time. Jackets too long also. Gave some to a friend and the rest went to charity. My closets look so much better. Also, working on using up some cosmetic samples; gave away or tossed a lot. Also working on finishing up shower gels that are close to being empty so I can make room to bring out more spring/summer scents. Will try not to replace all the clothing so my closets will still be neat. I have enough now anyway. Good feeling to part with those older items that did nothing for me except make me look frumpy!

[DL2843]

Oshare-girl I too have been working on trying to understand how long various products last. I have discovered that I use at least 16 oz of body lotion each month. I brought an opened and used Josie Maran color stick with me to work to use as a blush and sometime lip product. After a 130 days of use I still have quite a bit of product left. It has started to dry out and get lumpy. I cannot understand why make-up products come in such large sizes. Spring break starts today. I am hoping to go from storeroom to living room. Wish me luck ??

[aprilskies]

I agree, it still amazes me how long it takes to use things up. I try to remember this as I am purchasing but always find a rationale. I had started a little mu project pan, however, decided I am just going to enjoy what I have and if things go bad then I will toss. It takes too long and I want to enjoy some of my recent purchases as well. I still left those items set aside though because I do want to reach for them more. I am getting tired of the notion of finishing things up. I want to enjoy them too.

[aprilskies]

On 4/1/2015 PAlady said:

Good morning ladies, hope everyone is doing well.

Aprilskies - Like you. I will go back to being more mindful of my purchasing, I also have a large basket of facial cleaners, creams, hair "stuff" ect.. sitting in a cupboard, I have decided it is just going. I kept thinking I will use it and it is still sitting there doing nothing. I decided I am going to tough with myself on "stuff" still sitting in my house. I am tired of organizing and reorganizing it, I feel like I never get ahead.

Just bee - Sounds like you do need a little time off, hope you get all you want to get accomplished done.

Well speaking of decluttering, I am off and moving.

Have a good day everyone.

PAlady, I did that the first time around when I first started decluttering my products. Things that were old or I knew I just wasnt going to use got tossed. It was liberating. You will feel so much better. The angst of thinking you have to use it all will be gone and the space you will free up will feel great. I just got myself in the same spot again but am trying to stay calm and just enjoy what I have.

One thing I really need to do is stay out of the beauty threads when there are specials going on. The enthusiasm is crazy and gets me every time especially when I have issues I would like to address. I avoided a couple of purchases in the last two days. Products I would love to try but have too much for now.

[PAlady]

Aprilskies - I have also done the "big" clean out and it looked nice for awhile and then I ended up where I started, a big mess looking at me again. I am going to clean out again after we are done painting the inside of the house. This time, I will keep it cleaned out, I am tired of wasting money on things I think I "need" and then just tossing it.

I do look at the beauty threads, and started to write down products I think I maybe interested in. The funny thing is, I go back and look at the list and realize I am not really interested in the item. It has saved my from some impulse buying.

Hope everyone has a Safe and Happy Easter.

[aprilskies]

On 4/4/2015 PAlady said:

Aprilskies - I have also done the "big" clean out and it looked nice for awhile and then I ended up where I started, a big mess looking at me again. I am going to clean out again after we are done painting the inside of the house. This time, I will keep it cleaned out, I am tired of wasting money on things I think I "need" and then just tossing it.

I do look at the beauty threads, and started to write down products I think I maybe interested in. The funny thing is, I go back and look at the list and realize I am not really interested in the item. It has saved my from some impulse buying.

Hope everyone has a Safe and Happy Easter.

Ah, yes, looks like we are in the same situation. I can't believe I allowed myself to get here again. I agree about the money. I recently went back and started adding it all up out of curiosity and had to stop. It was making me ill. I have gone back to list making too instead of immediate buys and that helps a ton. Good luck with everything.