Spring Cleaning 101

This past weekend was fabulous. Saturday reached 70 degrees and I did some personal shopping, then Sunday was spent basking in 73 degrees hanging out with Jordon on the lake while he did some fishing. Living on the lake is going to be pretty convenient this summer.

Though not so fun, I got some (much need) Spring cleaning done on Saturday as well. 

I had way too much stuff and I didn't have enough room for it in this apartment. I needed to part with a good chunk of my stuff that I wasn't currently using.

Take a peek into the unorganized beauty department...

Way too much stuff taking up even more space. 

Guys, I had a lot of hair and skin products that I have had for years in my drawers! Hence the pictures above. Some of that stuff you shouldn't even have past a few months. 


Over the past year my hair length has been half way down my back, to my shoulders, and now to my chin. My favorite being my current bob. That means a whole lot of products for a whole lot of different styles. For some reason I feel bad throwing products away that aren't finished and are perfectly fine -- mostly why I hadn't  gone through them yet. I always think I might want them once in a while, but the fact of the matter is I won't be needing my Moroccan oil on my ends any time soon. 

These are the rules I created for myself and strictly adhered to:

Rule #1
If you don't use a product on a weekly basis and it's not in your current hair or skin routine, get rid of it.

I recently changed up my skin routine and thought I would use my old skin care products once in a while but I like my new products better that I no longer have a need for the old.


Rule #2
If it is older than two years it should not be in your cupboards.

It's hard to believe I had some lotions for that long, but if I haven't used it up in 2 years, I definitely won't in another 2.



Next, my closet...

I wanted to be really strict when it came to my closet. I had some clothes I hadn't worn in a while (a year) and ones that just were not flattering. 

Rule #3
Throw it out if you haven't worn it in a year or more. You will know if you have or not, even if you don't want to admit it. 

Rule # 4
If it no longer fits right or isn't flattering on (whether it was when you first bought it or not) throw it out. 

As I get older the more I pay attention to shape, lines and the way my clothes hang. If it feels a little too snug, falls when you bend down, or gives you the wrong shape then it probably isn't flattering.

Rule #5
Time to get rid of the stacks of high school sports T-shirts

Every year in high school I got a T-shirt for every sport. That's 16 T-shirts-- not counting all of the others. It was time to get them out of my closet and free up some space.



After it was all said and done, I got rid of probably 1/3 of my skin/hair products and an entire garbage bag of clothes! Trust me, you will be better off without it than with it :) Not only will this help ease the pain of moving again, but we all know less clutter is always a good thing. I can't wait for when I move into my own apartment and can get some decent permanent storage and organization going on. 


Now I am left wondering what to do with the bag of clothes. I have sold clothes at consignment stores before but since they are so limited on what they take, I usually end up getting most of it back. I could donate them to Goodwill but some of the stuff was only worn a couple times and are name brands.

 So I want to know, what do you do with your gently used clothing?