Spring Clean

Anyone else spending their productive hours in self-isolation cleaning and organizing everything in sight? If nothing else this is a great time to focus on your living space and finally get around to all those projects you normally put off... spending so much time in my apartment has me thinking up all the things I want to sort, organize and clean so that my immediate environment is tranquil and comforting. These are some of the projects I've completed so far (and with at least another month of this ahead of us, I'm sure there will be many more to come!).

- Organized my gift wrapping drawer.
Yes, I have a drawer full of gift wrapping supplies, and it was getting out of control with ribbons tangled up in everything and tissue paper escaping in all directions. I started by pulling everything out of the drawer and sorting by category. Then I found storage solutions like a ziplock bag for all of the loose ribbons, a drawstring bag to hold all the other jewelry bags and small items, and then wound up the ribbons on spools and secured them in place with washi tape. After everything was sorted and contained I put it all back in the drawer starting with larger items on the bottom and smaller items towards the front. And, believe it or not it all fits in the drawer now, I don't have to fight to shut it - just by putting everything in its place.

- Sorting and organizing makeup and skincare products.
It's been a while since I've done a thorough cleaning out of my makeup and skincare items, and things were getting out of hand! With a ton of sample items piling up and multiple areas that I keep them it was hard to find what I was looking for, or even know what I had. I started by throwing out all of my older opened items since makeup shelf life is way shorter than I'd like to believe, so this meant throwing out a LOT of products that had been sitting around for years half used. After tossing the past-expiration items it was much easier to organize the remaining makeup products by category and frequency of use. The next step was to tackle all of the sample and trial-size skincare items that I have accumulated. I sorted skincare by type: masks, cleansers, morning & daytime moisturizers/serums, nighttime moisturizers/serums, specialty moisturizers/serums (like neck cream, eye cream or primer), self tanners, and perfumes. I was then able to store these by category making it much easier to know where to look when I need one them now!

Up next is organizing my tools & home supplies drawer (think batteries, duct tape, nails etc), my kitchen cupboards, and what ever else I can think up!