this little life of mine

I don't know about you guys, but I had a VERY successful weekend! As I've mentioned several times before, my mom and I are working to remove excess stuff from our house. While we didn't have a ton of stuff, we did have a lot, or rather, I should say, I had a lot, since most of the excess stuff is (was) mine. Since reading The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo, and watching marathon sessions of Hoarding: Buried Alive on TV,  I have become inspired to reduce the clutter in the house, and my mom - always the neat-freak - is more than happy to help!

So this weekend, I decided to finally tackle my bathroom which was packed with excess and mostly unnecessary stuff. I really wish I'd taken before pictures of the place before I started pulling everything out and dumping TONS of stuff, but I did manage to get a before snap of all my makeup:  

 As well as an after snap post-purge:

I know I still have a lot of cosmetics (15 mascaras?!? yes, but that's actually down from 23!), but I made a deal with myself that I will spend the remainder of August using each and every item here at least once, and if I don't like it immediately, I'll dump it immediately. And from now on I can only buy what I need cosmetically, not just what's shiny and new. Of course, if I see something new and decide I MUST HAVE IT, then I have to throw out the old one I have at home, even if I'm still using it and love it.

Other items I purged that I neglected to document were my nail polishes (I wish I'd at least counted all the ones I had, but I narrowed it down to one small plastic shoe bin from that same one PLUS  a slightly larger plastic bin), dozens of gels, creams, and lotions designed to make me look younger, several bottles and tubes of expired OTC medications, five boxes of hair colour I would probably never use anyway, and a few bottles of half-full shampoos and conditioners which I gave to my mom. Seriously, she hasn't had to buy shampoo or conditioner since she moved down here, as I always give her the stuff I'm done with (usually because I've either found something new I want to try, or I just don't like it).

In the end I threw out four kitchen-size trash bags full of stuff. It felt SO good to be rid of all that useless crap! Every time I throw stuff out it feels like weights lifting off my shoulders, and this purge was particularly satisfying, because I'd been dreading going through my bathroom, and in fact, had been putting the project off the past three months! But, phew! it's done now, and while I still need to keep working on my closets and drawers, our next (and I believe last) big purge will come with the kitchen. Not sure when we'll get to that, though, but there's really no hurry, since none of that stuff is in the way.

So, I know it's a little late for "Spring Cleaning", but is anyone else feeling the urge to purge out there? Anyone else terrified of ending up on Hoarders if they don't get their act together, or is that just me? Anyway, I hope everyone has a terrific week, and I'll see you soon! Cheers!