Beauty

[just bee]

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@MoJoV wrote:

@just bee, THANK YOU!  I almost hit "speed buy" on some it foundation yesterday.  But I have two bottles and a tube of foundation already.  You gave me my mantra...not until you really have to.  I needed this inspiration.  We can do this together!!

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Get a Sharpie and get into the habit of writing the date you started using items on the items.  Once you see how long it takes to use a product, the stockpiling seems silly. 

[just bee]

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@Eager2Learn wrote:

Babo Botanicals is having a sale on their shampoo/wash & conditioner liters. I've been wanting to try their products so.......I placed an online order, and was just about to get my credit card.

Then I checked my inventory. I have 6 cleansing conditoners, 12 conditioners, 8 shampoos, and 28 shower gels/body wash. 

Guess I won't be ordering today after all. 

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I sat on my hands and told myself that I wouldn't order that pair of shoes I coveted because I really wanted the red Pescas.  Now the red Pescas are on sale.

[geezerette]

Bee--those are adorable!  Surely you'd wear them a lot.  I say go for it!  It's a holiday.  Celebrate your labor and get them!

[geezerette]

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@just bee wrote:

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@geezerette wrote:

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@just bee wrote:

It's a new month and it's about time!  As soon as I detect autumn, I start feeling better about everything.  Something's in the air: A new season's just around the corner and it's an opportunity for fun!

Anyone else excited about the change in seasons and the opportunity to change our diets, our wardrobes, our habits, our attitudes?  It's time for a tune-up!

I want to eat soup and wear sweaters and sweats and jackets.  I want to chop off my hair and go hiking and explore.

What are you looking forward to this month?

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Oh my.  All of that sounds wonderful to me.  Could you write a permission slip to my old geezer so that he would let me chop off my hair too?

I'm looking forward to COOLER weather, although I probably will have to wait until next month for that.  And I'm looking forward to not having to watch for the UPS truck!

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My hair is long enough now where I'm wondering if I should just let it grow until I have enough for one more donation.  But then the thought of living with this mop makes me ill.  I'm out-shedding the dog.  I just want to get up right now and grab a pair of scissors and hack off a few inches.  Do you remember that scene in The English Patient when Juliette Binoche just grabs chunks of hair and cuts?  I saw the film again this morning and had to hold onto the couch. 

Or "Legends of the Fall" when Julia Ormond does the same.  Of course, then she shot herself, so there's that to consider.

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[geezerette]

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@just bee wrote:

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@geezerette wrote:

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@just bee wrote:

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@KaySD wrote:

I've been feeling lately that the "right" amount of stuff to own--different for everyone--is the amount you can live with and use and not have it constantly getting disorganized. Maybe you all already know that, and I'm just arriving late to the party!

But it seems to me that there are things I can sort out, purge and organize one year, only to need to do it again the next year. Or more often. And the worst part is when I tackle it--again--and realize I've sort of forgotten what I had, or how I had it organized before. This happens for me more often than I would like with papers, books, toiletires, occasionally clothes, and sometimes even pantry food. At a certain point after organizing it, it turns into a blur in my mind, and once that happens, it's just clutter until I reorganize it again.

So what defines the point at which it changes from a known set of stuff (whatever kind of stuff it is), into a mysterious set of undifferentiated sludge? I think it is when I add something to it without stopping and taking the time to integrate it with the rest. The new paperwork that gets tossed into a file, but not really filed. The new eyeliner that gets opened without going through the other eyeliners. "It's not really messy," I tell myself, "I'll do it later. But later is too late, because the problem isn't that the item I added is messy, but that it immediately turns that whole category of stuff into a mindless mess. Or rather, and out-of-mindfullness mess! 

I'm really just thinking out loud here. Making sense to anyone?

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Perfect sense!  This will resonate with ComPacters because this is precisely what we live with every day.

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Yep, it does make sense.  It's not about the quantity of things you have, but the quality they bring to your life.  For example, many people have collections of various things, and collections usually mean lots of 'whatevers'.  Somebody can have a collection of 'whatevers' that they love spending hours on end caring for.  Whereas, I can have two 'whatevers' that drive me batty to have to care for.

I like you already, @KaySD !

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Aye, but then there are those who collect the whatevers and don't tend them.  So then the question is: Why did you collect these?

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Yes, I'm afraid I fall into that latter category.  I have thought I would like to have a collection of something meaningful to me.  But then, upon careful consideration (and a few attempts of gathering various things), I realized there wasn't anything meaningful enough to me to purposefully spend my time, energy and money on to have forever.  (And then leaving to somebody who could have cared less about it and dumps it all in the trash at first opportunity.)  

Mostly, the thought of dusting anything more than absolutely necessary left me cold.  

[just bee]

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@geezerette wrote:

Bee--those are adorable!  Surely you'd wear them a lot.  I say go for it!  It's a holiday.  Celebrate your labor and get them!

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Great minds think alike.  I was using that very same rationalization.  I've been working overtime and deserve some kind of reward.

I'm impressed that I didn't order that other shoe, but then I've passed on plenty of designs I thought I had to have.  I could further rationalize this by telling myself that one of my pairs of red clogs is starting to show wear.  Notice I said one of my pairs of red clogs.

I need to analyze this fondness for red shoes.  It's gotta be related to either The Wizard of Oz or the Hans Christian Andersen story.  Which was pretty creepy, by the way.  Still a favorite, though.

Actually, I had a similar pair of red shoes when I was little and they bled on every pair of white socks I had. 

I need to mull this over...

[geezerette]

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@KaySD wrote:

Thanks, @geezerette, @just beeand others. I appreciate your responses to my musings. I certainly agree. And like everything else, there isn't one "right" answer to such questions, so no judgment about the answers--it's totally about the awareness we bring to the questions! 

What do you think of my idea about why things get mindless? What's your idea about how that happens? 

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Okay, I just spent fifteen minutes writing out a deep and philosophical response to this and then deleted it.  Nobody is in that kind of a mood when they come in here.

So, I'll tell you for me it probably boils down to one main thing: laziness.  Pure and simple.

[just bee]

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@geezerette wrote:

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@just bee wrote:

---

@geezerette wrote:

---

@just bee wrote:

It's a new month and it's about time!  As soon as I detect autumn, I start feeling better about everything.  Something's in the air: A new season's just around the corner and it's an opportunity for fun!

Anyone else excited about the change in seasons and the opportunity to change our diets, our wardrobes, our habits, our attitudes?  It's time for a tune-up!

I want to eat soup and wear sweaters and sweats and jackets.  I want to chop off my hair and go hiking and explore.

What are you looking forward to this month?

---

Oh my.  All of that sounds wonderful to me.  Could you write a permission slip to my old geezer so that he would let me chop off my hair too?

I'm looking forward to COOLER weather, although I probably will have to wait until next month for that.  And I'm looking forward to not having to watch for the UPS truck!

---

My hair is long enough now where I'm wondering if I should just let it grow until I have enough for one more donation.  But then the thought of living with this mop makes me ill.  I'm out-shedding the dog.  I just want to get up right now and grab a pair of scissors and hack off a few inches.  Do you remember that scene in The English Patient when Juliette Binoche just grabs chunks of hair and cuts?  I saw the film again this morning and had to hold onto the couch. 

Or "Legends of the Fall" when Julia Ormond does the same.  Of course, then she shot herself, so there's that to consider.

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You're killin' me!

[geezerette]

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@just bee wrote:

---

@geezerette wrote:

Bee--those are adorable!  Surely you'd wear them a lot.  I say go for it!  It's a holiday.  Celebrate your labor and get them!

---

Great minds think alike.  I was using that very same rationalization.  I've been working overtime and deserve some kind of reward.

I'm impressed that I didn't order that other shoe, but then I've passed on plenty of designs I thought I had to have.  I could further rationalize this by telling myself that one of my pairs of red clogs is starting to show wear.  Notice I said one of my pairs of red clogs.

I need to analyze this fondness for red shoes.  It's gotta be related to either The Wizard of Oz or the Hans Christian Andersen story.  Which was pretty creepy, by the way.  Still a favorite, though.

Actually, I had a similar pair of red shoes when I was little and they bled on every pair of white socks I had. 

I need to mull this over...

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I had some that did that too.  And that has been my rationalization for not getting one of Dooney's gorgeous suede bags this season.  The black would go so well with my black suede Birkenstocks.  Which, by the way, bleed black all over my socks...

[just bee]

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@geezerette wrote:

---

@just bee wrote:

---

@geezerette wrote:

---

@just bee wrote:

---

@KaySD wrote:

I've been feeling lately that the "right" amount of stuff to own--different for everyone--is the amount you can live with and use and not have it constantly getting disorganized. Maybe you all already know that, and I'm just arriving late to the party!

But it seems to me that there are things I can sort out, purge and organize one year, only to need to do it again the next year. Or more often. And the worst part is when I tackle it--again--and realize I've sort of forgotten what I had, or how I had it organized before. This happens for me more often than I would like with papers, books, toiletires, occasionally clothes, and sometimes even pantry food. At a certain point after organizing it, it turns into a blur in my mind, and once that happens, it's just clutter until I reorganize it again.

So what defines the point at which it changes from a known set of stuff (whatever kind of stuff it is), into a mysterious set of undifferentiated sludge? I think it is when I add something to it without stopping and taking the time to integrate it with the rest. The new paperwork that gets tossed into a file, but not really filed. The new eyeliner that gets opened without going through the other eyeliners. "It's not really messy," I tell myself, "I'll do it later. But later is too late, because the problem isn't that the item I added is messy, but that it immediately turns that whole category of stuff into a mindless mess. Or rather, and out-of-mindfullness mess! 

I'm really just thinking out loud here. Making sense to anyone?

---

Perfect sense!  This will resonate with ComPacters because this is precisely what we live with every day.

---

Yep, it does make sense.  It's not about the quantity of things you have, but the quality they bring to your life.  For example, many people have collections of various things, and collections usually mean lots of 'whatevers'.  Somebody can have a collection of 'whatevers' that they love spending hours on end caring for.  Whereas, I can have two 'whatevers' that drive me batty to have to care for.

I like you already, @KaySD !

---

Aye, but then there are those who collect the whatevers and don't tend them.  So then the question is: Why did you collect these?

---

Yes, I'm afraid I fall into that latter category.  I have thought I would like to have a collection of something meaningful to me.  But then, upon careful consideration (and a few attempts of gathering various things), I realized there wasn't anything meaningful enough to me to purposefully spend my time, energy and money on to have forever.  (And then leaving to somebody who could have cared less about it and dumps it all in the trash at first opportunity.)  

Mostly, the thought of dusting anything more than absolutely necessary left me cold.  

---

I have plenty of collections -- precisely the type that's destined for the dumpster.  I collected all those Red Rose tea porcelain animals when I was a kid.  I still have them.  I even have a cabinet for them.  I've had the cabinet for twenty, thirty years and it's still in its original box.

Is this an example of mindless?