Ultimate Blog Challenge - Bathroom Decluttering Initiative

It's Day 19 of the Ultimate Blog Challenge, and today's assignment is to open up and be vulnerable, because it is a great way to get people to connect with you. We're supposed to write about something that shows a mistake that we made and how we worked through it.

Wow, my favorite thing to do! 

Not.

Hahaha! 

Well, I shared 31 mishaps, and how I managed to move on throughout the last UBC in April, you may have read some of them.

What I can tell you about mistakes that I keep making is that I hang on to stuff I don't use for way too long. As long as I can still close the cabinet or cupboard, it is unlikely I will do anything about it.

However, out of the blue, it hit me the other morning, and I started cleaning out the bathroom cabinet.

In true KonMari fashion, I lined everything up on the bathtub rim and asked the items to tell me one good reason not to throw them out. Some immediately committed clutter suicide and dropped into the bathtub. Others argued "I could totally spark joy if you gave me a chance!"

Poor nail polish remover. I had no idea when I last used it. It probably wasn't even to remove nail polish, but something related to a crafts project?

I am a bit of a bath product hoarder, especially where body lotions are concerned. When in the U.S. I totally go into the buy two, get three trap that Bath & Body Works business is. The thing is though I typically only use one or two products over a period of time, so what about the others? They will realistically go bad over time. Some already had, unfortunately. 

How does one deal with this accumulation of products?

With a few exception, everything had been opened and used at some (unspecified) time, so selling was out of the question. Also I am not into online marketplaces. It is so much work not only to photograph and post each item, but to answer questions:

• Is it still available?
• Can you please photograph the backside? Oh, and also a closeup of the bottle cap?
• When and where was it purchased?
• Do you have it in another color / fragrance / size?
• I have an (insert) allergy, can you assure I can use this safely?
• I would take it, but can you reduce the price? How much is shipping?

What I ended up doing is asking exactly what I wanted to know:

How do I get rid of opened and used products? What about expired meds, do pharmacies take them back?

I posted it in a Facebook Mommy group with over 5k users, which, in Switzerland is pretty extensive. 

A discussion on the drug store question ensued. Some said "don't bother, throw it in the trash". I was not going to do that. I am pretty sure you're not supposed to do so. Others explained that it depended on the canton (state) I live in. Some pharmacies have an obligation to take stuff back and dispose of it safely, others don't. Who knew. Mine is a take-back state, excellent. 

So one person said "if you're going to throw out the lotions anyway, I would take them off your hands and pay for the shipping. My teenage girls love this kind of things."

This came totally unexpected, and it made me so happy. I sent her a few pictures, and she circled the products she wanted. It was a lot, and I asked her where she lived, because there was no way I could fit all this in a package. 

"Solothurn area" she said. 

Coincidence had it that this baroque city has been on my travel bucket list for a while, and she just gave me a good reason to act on it!

I spent a lovely day exploring the old town with all its churches, towers and fountains, and I felt really good about giving my stuff a new home. A better home!

Two other ladies followed and wanted my things. I ended up getting rid of almost everything. It was totally worth the effort!

Now if only I could hire someone to do the same thing over and over! Clothes, kitchen stuff, the basement,...

Do you like to declutter? I found out there a different types of people when it comes to cleaning up and organizing. I am a ladybug, and if you missed this post and the quiz to find out whether you're maybe a cricket or a bee, go here.