4 minute read
De-cluttering
ROSIE BARRON IS THE TIDY COO
A Professional Organiser, who works with clients to help them Declutter and Organise their homes and live a more relaxed life. A Platinum KonMari Consultant and member of APDO (the Association of Professional Declutterers and Organisers), Rosie lives in Aberdeenshire with her husband, four Home Educated children, eight ponies, five dogs, three cats, two bunnies, chickens, ducks and fish which all Spark Joy.
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Images: Laura Walter Photography
The two questions I like to ask in this category are:-
1. “Is this something you use?” 2. “How long has it been open?”
The number of unused products that fill bathrooms is amazing. Perhaps you bought it and tried it once, then realised that you didn’t get along with it. Perhaps it was a gift and it’s not something that you would use, but you haven’t liked to get rid of it. Whatever the reason, if you don’t use something, it should not be taking up vital space in your home.
The second thing to consider is how long a product has been open. Many products have a time frame within which they should be used once opened. Often this can be a safety issue: for example, sunscreen starts to degrade once it is opened and using sunscreen that has been opened too long
If you’ve been following along with this series, you’ll have had a good go at your clothes, your books and your papers, and now it’s time to move on to the more miscellaneous categories. I like to start with toiletries and make up here as they can often be fairly satisfying categories.
Toiletries
Toiletries are anything used to keep yourself clean and fresh. Items like shower gel, shampoo, sanitary products, deodorant, moisturiser, face scrubs, lip balms, body wash, shampoo and conditioner fall into this category. Collect all of them into one place and put them into categories.
could lead to skin damage. Sometimes bacteria can grow in opened bottles and then will be transferred to your skin when you use the product, and sometimes, the product simply isn’t as effective or doesn’t smell as good if it has been open too long. If you have several products that you use, but don’t use fast enough to get through within the use by time frame, consider buying smaller sizes in the future.
Once you have been through your toiletries, give some thought to future use on the theme of sustainability. There are some very simple swaps that you can make, such as replacing plastic toothbrushes with bamboo ones, going with products that have less packaging such as shampoo bars, or changing your brand of toilet paper to a more sustainable one. There are lots of companies offering these kinds of sustainable products now and many donate part of their profits to charitable enterprises, such as those that help build toilets for those who don’t have them.
These small changes won’t save the planet on their own, but zero waste is not about one person doing it perfectly, it’s about everyone making changes. Don’t be afraid to make small changes because you are worried about not being able to make the bigger ones.
Cosmetics
Onto cosmetics! As with every other category we cover, your end result will look very different from the next person’s. There is no right number for this, only the right number for you.
Start by collecting all your make up supplies together. This might mean rooting it out of handbags, travel bags, the bathroom, the hallway, your bedroom, the car etc. Categorise it and then take a good look at it. Which of those items are your favourites? Those are the ones you want to keep. Let go of the others, even those that cost a lot of money, but you don’t use because they weren’t right. You may not want to let them go because they were expensive, but you’re not going to get your money back with them sitting in your toiletry bag! Take it as a lesson learned.
The other thing to remember is that, like toiletries, many items of make-up have a use by date on them and it is important to discard them once they have been open longer than this date. They can grow some quite nasty bacteria on them, so it’s important to let them go, especially as they are being used on your face and near your eyes. Like the toiletries, consider keeping a permanent marker with them so that you can label when they were opened and know when you should discard them if you use them infrequently.
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