Editing Down Lifestyle

So who has read the book The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing by Marie Kondo? I feel like a lot of people on the YouTube beauty community have been talking about it this past year. I personally haven’t read it yet, but I still feel inspired by it.

If you know me once I get a project stuck in my head, I have to see it through.  Lately, I have been feeling like I just have so much stuff. I have to admit there are things that I have hung on to when I probably should have parted with it. After all it is just stuff.

I’m not one for New Year’s resolutions, but I will say out with the old and in with the newly edited down lifestyle. What I’m planning on doing is creating a capsule wardrobe. I wasn’t sure exactly what it was before, but it’s basically a collection of essential pieces that you can mix and match. I have even read that some people have gotten their whole closet down to 30ish pieces! I think it makes sense because you really only wear about 20% of your clothes anyway. In any case, I pretty much only wear basics.

I am also trying to narrow down my makeup collection that is more than enough for one person. I want to keep the things I absolutely love. I have always taken back things that I really didn’t like to the store right away. There for things I have changed my mind about over time, or I find myself not really using it for one reason or another. Some recent examples of things I’ve taken back are Tarte Greatest Glitz Collector’s Set & Portable Palettes and Too Faced Chocolate Bon Bons. When I return things that I don’t like it doesn’t mean the product is bad, I just didn’t like it for one reason or another.

Space is a commodity. This is going to be a massive project, and it will be a work in progress. I will update along the way. I will be selling off some of my things and will be posting all the details once I have gotten all the things that need a new home together.

This has been a long time come. I have taken steps throughout the year toward this goal, even though I didn’t quite define it then.

1)      I reorganized my makeup collection several times this year in attempt to see and use what I have. There is a box of makeup that I was not sure if I liked it or not.
2)      I have done a pan challenge. You must be wondering how that’s going. I will have a blog post about this either before or after this post. I will link it here. I do have to say that it makes me happy that I am actually using things up.
3)      My sisters and I took out a day where we went through all of our books. We cataloged every single one, and we also donated over 200 books!
4)      I’ve consigned and donated clothes to Goodwill and a battered woman’s shelter.

My advice for tackling something like this type of a project is to start small. Don’t pull out every single piece of clothes into the middle of the room. You’ll just feel overwhelmed and think: what did I get myself into? I know; I’ve been there. For example, I’m going to start with everything that is hanging up in my closet.

If you’re on the fence about something then, set it aside to decide later but set a date that a decision has to be made. When my sisters and I were going through our books, there were some that we were undecided about. We wanted to read them again to make sure it was something that we wanted to really get rid of. You can always change your mind about donating or selling it later on.
I’m excited about simplifying my life. I just feel that if I’m not using something, then it needs to find a new home where someone else will find more joy out of it. Going forward, I am really going to think about every new thing you are bringing into my space. Do I absolutely love it? If the answer is no or maybe, then I don’t need it.


Also, if I do a blog sale would anyone be interested?