use up my toiletries (before buying more)

Used up a shampoo originally from my husband’s unused stash, and am now on to another one. Also used up an antiperspirant. My bathroom cabinets don’t look like I obsessively buy products anymore.

I had bought new dental floss when I ran out of the samples that my dentist gave me, only to find that I had an ancient roll of floss in an old travel bag. Oops—so much for using the stuff up before buying more!
Since dental floss doesn’t go bad (I assume), I used it before the new stuff. Thankfully, I used it up recently and am on to the new stuff which I like a lot more.

I’m sure if you read through these entries you’d see the cleansers and moisturizers were my biggest problem… So with that in mind, I am happy to report that I finished off yet another moisturizer! Hurrah!
I think that the one I’m working on next is my last untinted moisturizer, which means that if I don’t match the tint on the remaining bunch, or if it doesn’t feel right, those will be out, too… But first thing’s first, right?!

Another cleanser I’d been nursing along for some time is finally all used up. I had another similar product (different brand but equally effective) on hand…however, I now no longer feel like I have an overwhelming amount of face cleansers on hand. It’s progress!

A week or so ago, I finished off a huge bottle of mouthwash I’d been nursing for some time. Apparently when I bought it, it came with a free 8oz. sample of a whitening mouthwash. I started using it the other night, and bleck! Does it taste terrible!

I have a feeling it’s going to be a long eight ounces!

Now I’ve used up the face cleanser I’d been working through for some time. I still have some cleansers in the reserves but it finally looks and feels like a manageable number.

This morning I finished off the bottle of toner I had been using for the last two months. Unfortunately, I had two more bottles of toner (different brand) under the sink still… Products like this is why I have this goal!
Several other products are one foot in the trash already – but why spoil the surprise and give you a preview of what’s next in this goal? :)

Literally – last night I used up a travel sized face wash that I took from a hotel I stayed at in May 2008. Check out how crazy I am: I brought it home to use on a future trip. I used it on a future trip (now past, in August) but didn’t fully use it up. I liked the product enough to want to finish it. So it flew back with me and sat on my vanity for the six weeks it took to remember to use it off and on enough to be used up.

As if you hadn’t noticed by now: I apparently treat these products as if they are sacred. This is nuts. I have to stop.

The good news: several of my products are almost gone. I’m hoping to have another “dropping like flies” type of entry sometime this month! :)

I had seen a cute dress in a Target commercial (which, it seems exists only in Target fantasyland because at two stores I found NOTHING like it!), and so I went to Target tonight to do some browsing. It had been a particularly taxing week at both work and school, and in grad school (the first master’s) when I was stressed like that I always would raid the makeup aisle.
Usually I would have gone to the Target whose ladies’ clothing department is nowhere near the makeup to avoid this temptation, but I was on the other side of town and near another Target. It was there…and so tempting… And like a kid with a cemetery, I just held my breath and walked past.

I have so much left to use up, and have already cleared out so much. I would have felt SO much worse if I set myself back on this goal in a big way! Plus, it didn’t hurt to have NOT spent money on stuff I didn’t need…

After running I’ve developed a habit of putting on a facial mask before hopping into the shower. I thought that it would do a better job of keeping my pores clear after all the sweat and dirt of running on the edge of the desert. I also had several masks that I rarely used so this was a way of working on that backstock.

So after six full weeks (eighteen runs), I am happy to report that I finished my first facial mask! Now on to the next!