Stuff.

I recently looked up the entry for "hoarding" on Wikipedia.  It led me to the entry on "compulsive hoarding".  I must admit I was a little worried at first:

"A few symptoms hoarders might experience are:

 

1. They tend to hold onto a large number of items that most people would consider not useful or valuable. For example:  

• Junk mail [CHECK]
• Cooking equipment [CHECK]
• Old catalogues and newspapers [CHECK]
• Things that might be useful for making crafts [CHECK]
• Clothes that "might" be worn one day [CHECK]
• Broken things/trash [CHECK]
• "Freebies" or other promotional products picked up [CHECK]"

Luckily, I breathed a sigh of relief when I got to the next section:

"2. The home is so cluttered that many parts are inaccessible and can no longer be used for intended purpose. For example:

• Beds that cannot be slept in
• Kitchens that cannot be used for food preparation, refrigerators filled with rotting food, stovetops with combustibles such as junk mail as well as old food piled on top of burners.
• Tables that cannot be used for dining [I'M GUILTY OF THIS SOMETIMES...]
• Chairs or sofas that cannot be used
• Filthy unsanitary bathrooms; piles of human feces collected in areas of the home, sometimes there are animal feces over the floors of the home, giant bags of dirty diapers hoarded for many years.
• Tubs, showers, and sinks filled with items such that they can not be used for washing or bathing. Hoarders would thus possibly forgo bathing.
• Some hoard animals they cannot even marginally care for; often dead pets cannibalized by other pets are found under the heaps.

3. The clutter and mess is so bad it causes illness, distress, and impairment. For example, they:

• Do not allow visitors such as family and friends, or repair and maintenance professionals because the clutter embarrasses them [SOMETIMES I RUN AROUND LIKE A MAD WOMAN TIDYING UP WHEN UNPLANNED VISITORS ARRIVE]
• Keep the shades drawn so no one can see inside [ONLY SO THAT OUR NEIGHBOURS CAN'T SEE US WALKING AROUND HALF NAKED]
• Get into a lot of arguments with family members about the clutter
• Are at risk of fire, falling, infestation or eviction
• Feel depressed or anxious much of the time because of the clutter [THIS IS WHY I'M WRITING THIS POST]"

During our recent Europe vacation we stayed at a number of Airbnbs.  Apart from the fact that it never ceases to amaze me how well I do at living out of a suitcase (with so little of my stuff), I was amazed at how homely but still "airy" (badum-tish) all of our Airbnbs felt.  The reason: the apartments were filled with everything one needs to feel at home... and nothing more. 

Living in this manner for 5 weeks, I experienced somewhat of a revelation.  These uncluttered surrounds and my well edited wardrobe allowed me to focus my wandering mind.  Not once in the past 10 years have I had so many great ideas and felt so positive - I was creative again!

I think that (once again) my surrounds have put me in a state of flux. I could even go as far as to say that I feel very sad and unproductive on a personal level.  I wrote about the very same thing here - actually, almost two years ago to the day.  Maybe the emergence of obvious clutter is a cyclical occurrence?

A fortnight ago I started to properly de-clutter the house and we've been getting some home projects completed too.  So far, I have only de-cluttered the bathroom and my magazine collection, but I feel better already.

I could never become a minimalist, but my pleasant stays at a number of wonderful Airbnbs have definitely encouraged me to at least try to get half way there.

A cosmetics spending ban... a year of shopping my stash!

The makeshift vanity table I blogged about some months ago now, is no more. It was put out with the hard rubbish when we moved.

Whilst still on holidays, I spent the day today collecting up all of my makeup from various handbags and boxes stashed in multiple rooms of the house and put it all in one spot... 2 and a half months after moving into our new home.

My makeup is all organised once more!

My makeup now all lives in the bathroom - within easy reach to use everyday.

Last year, with a trip to the US and my discovery of mail forwarding services (hello Sephora), I have a further stash of unopened products and plenty of deluxe sized samples (generously given away in the US every single time one buys anything remotely cosmetic) which I have not photographed.  I think I own a lot of cosmetics for a woman who likes the 'no makeup' makeup look, so I have decided that this year I will go on a cosmetics spending ban.

I do not foresee this to be a problem as I wouldn't call myself a makeup junkie, but having previously had a relatively large amount of disposable income (prior to buying our new home), I pulled the trigger on all the lemmings which developed throughout 2012.  Enter 5 new eyeshadow palettes, about 20 new lip products and all new foundations after my favourite L'Oreal one was discontinued, not to mention everything else.

My rules are very simple - this year I will 'shop my stash' throughout the year and only buy what I NEED:

ALLOWABLE PURCHASES*	SHOP MY STASH
Clinique Moisture Surge Intense Moisturiser	Shower Gel
Kosmea Radiance 24/7 Youth Boost	Cleanser
Ellis Faas Concealer	Eye Cream
Butter London Hardwear PD Quick Topcoat	Moisturiser
Sephora Instant Nail Polish Remover	Primer
	BB Cream & Tinted Moisturiser
	Foundation
	Powder & Bronzer
	Eye Shadow & Liner
	Mascara
	Blush & Highlighers
	Lip Colour & Care
	Nail polish
	Hair products (excluding shampoo & conditioner and colour)

 * These are my Can’t-Live-Without-Holy-Grail-Products, but I will only purchase if nothing in my stash proves suitable. 

If I'm ultra organised, I might even do an end of month empties post each month, including a small review of each product that I have finished.

Do you own more eyeshadow than you can use up in 5 lifetimes?
Do you find yourself hoarding cosmetics?
Do you find yourself buying a new product before finishing the one that you are currently using?
Do you own more than 3 nail polishes in a similar shade?

My answer to all these questions is YES.  If you have answered yes also - then maybe you too should re-assess whether you NEED to buy anymore (at least for this year) and instead shop your stash.

The way I see it, each dollar I save on cosmetics, I can re-direct into buying small things for our new home.

Makeup organisation and my new makeshift vanity table

So we finally bought a stylish new desk for the study nook (pictures to come once we find a stylish new chair).  I was relieved that we could finally get rid of the cheap and ugly hand me down desk that my boyfriend has been using for years.

I was so happy about getting rid of it, that I even considered taking to this old desk with a sledge hammer to release my pent-up emotions about "stuff", but then I had an Oprah light bulb moment and I thought to myself I going to make a makeshift vanity table!

The results:

Not surprisingly the ugly desk looks a whole lot prettier (just) with a mirror and pretty girly things on top, also note the kitchy vintage glass for brush storage. Anyways this desk is in the spare room so the door can be shut at any time to hide it away.

Why the spare room? Well I usually get up before my boyfriend each morning and I would either need to turn on the lights or open the blinds to do my makeup - neither are especially nice things to be doing to someone who is trying to get a bit more sleep.  As a result I have been applying my make-up in the bathroom.  I have noticed however that over the course of each week the products slowly build up on the bathroom vanity which is not a large space by any stretch of the imagination (it's actually a very small space).  By the end of the week it looks damn messy to put it bluntly.  I find also that the majority of my makeup is neglected as I tend to use what has made it into the bathroom for the week (usually the same things that made it to the bathroom as the last week).

Enter the spare room.  Open the blinds in the morning and this room is bathed in natural light - perfect for putting on makeup.  Plus now that I have this 'pretty' vanity table, I have all the makeup that I own at my disposal which hopefully means that I will use it all and not neglect certain products.

What's that cool clear container that I see on top there? I hear you ask... well it's the KEJI 5 Drawer Desktop File in clear from Officeworks.  It was only $16.99!

The organiser also comes in a 4 drawer version where the bottom draw is twice the depth of the top three draws.  For the record, the depth of each draw of the 5 drawer unit perfectly houses eye shadows, palettes and tubes of stuff. Foundations can also be stored in there if you don't mind placing them horizontally.  Items that will not fit into the drawers of the 5 drawer unit are products such as moisturiser jars and powder jars, hence why my MUFE HD powder is sitting on the silver platter.

Yes, I know this Keji box not as cool as Kim Kardashian's makeup storage drawer set, but this will have to do whilst I wait to have my own custom designed box made up...

Repurposing vases...

For ages now my Nespresso pods have been stored in one of those cheap IKEA food containers - you know the 17 for 7 bucks type. Not exactly pretty.

I looked into some of the storage products for sale at Nespresso but none really spoke to me apart from the clear perspex cube - but for forty something dollars I figured I could find something just as effective but cheaper.

I ended up buying a 16 cm diameter Maxwell and Williams Diamante Rose Bowl for $4.95 at General Trader and while I was at it, I also bought the 20 cm diameter version for a measly $9.95... Things then got a little bit out of hand when I visited IKEA and bought a further 2 vases for storage, but this time heavy square shaped ones. They were only $7.95 each - not bad.

So what can one store inside of pretty clear vases? Cat toys, makeup, nail polish, fruit, random knick-knacks making a mess of your surfaces just to name a few.