Beauty Tips

The 8 Stages of Organizing Your Beauty Products (and Your Life)

Can tidying up help you get your sh*t together and change your life? We investigate

by Allie Flinn | 2 COMMENTS

PHOTO 8/9

Stage 8: Let It Go (Let It Goooo) You can't hold me back any more, products. That bathroom is where I start my day; I do my hair, apply my eyeliner, sip my coffee and sometimes even eat breakfast while I'm getting ready. Being surrounded by clutter and mountains of beauty products was just adding unnecessary stress to an already high-stress situation (have I mentioned I'm not exactly a morning person?).

By Kondo's calculations, if I've done this correctly, the amount of products I have should fit perfectly in my bathroom. Her philosophy is that you reach equilibrium: a balance between what you keep and the amount of space you have. There are no more bags and boxes shoved underneath my sink, and everything fits onto my shelves and side table, so I'm considering myself successful.

Kondo doesn't believe in fancy organization compartments (no need to take a trip to The Container Store or spend hours on Pinterest) -- instead, she recommends shoe boxes. These ended up being a nice way to store my nail polishes and makeup -- I even created a skin care box.

While my final organization could use some work (I guess I have an excuse to buy some more shoes -- strictly so I have more storage containers, of course), I ended up tossing two garbage bags of unusable products, and filled two large shopping bags with products to give away. I may not have done it perfectly, but the not-so-simple act of tidying up my bathroom resulted in a space that makes me feel happy when I enter it. I'm quivering with excitement and fear at the prospect of tackling the rest of my apartment.

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