Another Decluttering Day

Well, I'm at it again!  Decluttering is never finished here.  I have worked on my closet, my kitchen, and my basement in the past.  Today it's my bathroom.  I have cabinets in there that look a bit like this (but not quite as pretty):

The drawers were overflowing with makeup, razors, creams, dental products, and nail products.  The cabinets below had been organized by plastic dividers to hold bottles of shampoo, conditioner, hairspray, mousse, etc.

The problem was, everything was so jumbled up that I couldn't tell what was what.  Sometimes I would buy duplicates of things I already had that were lost in the shuffle.

First, I took everything out.  There were bottles and jars and boxes all over the floor.  Then I gathered all the like things together.

The photo above is just an example.  I actually had about three times as much as shown here.  I lined all the bottles and jars up in the cabinets, with like products grouped together.  One row for shampoo, one row for leave-in conditioner, one row for deep conditioner, one row for hairspray, one row for detangler, and finally a row for mousse.  Oh, and another space for small, travel-sized products.

The problem is, every time I see a new product I try it.  So, I have a lot of half full bottles.  Now that I know what I have, I will probably never have to buy another one again.  They are pretty much all the same anyway, I have concluded.

Next I tackled makeup and cosmetics.  I have a lot of small plastic bins.  Now I have one for lipstick, one for foundation and blusher, one for eyeshadow and eyeliner, and one for mascara.  I will probably never have to buy any of that ever again either.  Except they tell you to replace mascara every six months or so, but I don't.  I usually only use it if I am dressing up.

I have one more side of the cabinets to go.  That one contains lotions, creams, first aid, cough medicine, and various potions for every thing from poison ivy to sunburns.  I have drawers in my closet for pain medicine, cold medicine, anti-acids, eyedrops, cough drops, etc.  I have a shoebox full of prescription medications, with a list I made showing what each one is for.

I have to be in the right mood to do all this decluttering and organizing.  Too many days, I wake up, look at it, and walk away feeling intimidated.  Today I was ready!