I was looking for a particular color of nail polish, which I never found. But I found so much more. Even I was shocked at the duplicates and multiples I discovered in my search for that one color of nail polish. I found at least ten (probably more; I didn’t count them) tubes of mascara, all at least 1.5 years old. How do I know how old they are? Simply because they were under the sink and were put there when we downsized and moved into our current home. They had been packed up in the move since I did not have time to go through them then. And although I have gone through many more boxes and things since the move, make-up under the bathroom sink had not yet been a priority.

There were also many unopened skincare and make-up packets given to me by my favorite make-up saleswoman. Of course, most of them are also at least 1.5 years old. Many are duplicates, and some of the items I do not even use. An example of one I do not use is neck cream. While I am sure that if I used the neck cream my neck would look better, but taking the time to apply the neck cream is something I do not do.

One discovery that I was glad to find are multiple eyebrow brushes. I was needing to purchase a new eyebrow pencil until I found at least eight to ten perfectly good ones. I know what some of you are thinking. I realize that any make-up more than six months old (and some “experts” recommend three months old) should be thrown away. But I have never done that. Do you?

I should probably not even go through all of the stuff; I should just throw all of it out without even being tempted to keep any of it. And I may do that. I left those piles to be dealt with later when I return from a trip I am taking later today. I am seriously considering just trashing all of it. But not before I deal with the lessons all of that may be sent to teach me.

The dominant message this mess is teaching me is how much money I have wasted through the years by buying more of what I already have, but don’t know that I have. Another message is that although I spend a lot of time organizing my stuff, there is more to organize than I have time to keep up with. That means that I have too much. While that is not really news to me, I do not think I was aware of how much stuff in many different categories I have, so much stuff that at times like this I feel like it is choking me.

I am making a moratorium on purchasing any new makeup or skin care products through the rest of this year. So, for at least six months I will not purchase any. I have plenty, even with throwing all of what I just discovered out. This reminds me of my year of no spending. (2006.) I need to go back and read my book again!

I have decided to throw all of that stuff I just found under my bathroom sink out, except for a couple of the eyebrow brushes. I will throw out all of the mascara since I do not want to risk using anything that close to my eyes that is that old. I am not concerned about the eyebrow brushes, although I will pay attention to my eyebrows, and make sure they remain healthy, at least what is left of them! I am not going to even go through the unopened packets so I won’t be tempted to keep any of it.

I have tried to stuff many of the same contents I had in an almost five thousand square foot house into a less than two thousand square foot house. It has not worked. So, I still have some hard decisions to make.

Enough about me. How about you? Do you have any of these challenges?