Spring Cleaning

I’ve been working on my spring cleaning, which includes cleaning out, cleaning up, reorganizing, and repairing, for a few weeks now. My husband doesn’t understand why it needs to get done, and if it really needs to get done, why we can’t just pay someone to do it.

First of all, it would cost a lot of money to hire someone to do a cleaning as thorough as I would like. If that weren’t an issue, I guess I could pay someone to clean inside the stove and behind the fridge, to take everything out of the cabinets and clean them inside and out. But that person won’t know that we’re probably never going to use that bottle of fish sauce again, or that we really don’t need two jars of cayenne pepper. They won’t know which of my husbands shirts are outdated, ill-fitting, or have a collar that he suddenly deemed “too big.” They won’t know the best way to organize my storage containers so I don’t have to move five of them just to get to the ones I use the most.

And so, I’m doing it all myself, with a little slightly-complainy help from my husband for stuff I can’t lift, can’t reach, or belongs to him. (Granted, he’s been insanely busy at work, so I can understand this is not what he wants to do during his precious time off.) Anyway, I’m doing it a little at a time, on my own, and it’s taking forever. What with the rest of my life to deal with.

Some say “Why bother?” But it’s amazing how dirty stuff gets, how filth accumulates slowly over time. Like the splash of probably-champagne on the wall that wasn’t noticeable after the New Year’s Eve party, but eventually turns brown, and all of a sudden you are someone who has dirty walls. You might not see it, because it happened so gradually, but it’s there. That stuff can sneak up on you if you’re not careful.

The actual cleaning is something that has to be done, because, yuck, and I do it because I have to. But the reorganizing is one of the things I am somewhat obsessed with, because efficiency is important to me. If I knock over three things trying to reach the thing that I need, it drives me bananas. Especially if it happens every day, or every time I try to reach that particular thing. For that reason, I tend to reevaluate and reorganize pretty regularly.

As a designer, I naturally strive for order, but I’m sure part of it has to do with living in small spaces for so long. I’m in an 800 sq ft apartment now, which is tiny by some standards but is more than twice as large as the less-than-350 sq ft apartments I lived in during my first 9 years in NYC. Constant purging and reorganizing is a way of life. The Circle of Stuff.

As you can imagine, my makeup cabinet is a place where stuff tends to accumulate. First of all, I have enough samples sizes of things to open my own miniature Sephora. I can’t even keep them in my makeup cabinet; they’re stashed in a box under the sink. But even with the samples out of the way, I probably have a little too much makeup for the space I have available, so it always needs to be perfectly organized in order to keep it neat. But that’s challenging, because anytime you have something organized so tightly, stuff is going to go crazy the second you don’t put something back in place. Also, what if you get something new?

Since I don’t sit at a glamourous vanity table in my silk dressing gown, artfully applying my makeup at a leisurely pace, yeah, sometimes stuff’s gonna get shoved back in the cabinet in the wrong spot. Often, even. And, go fig, I buy stuff. I usually don’t let it get to this point, I generally clean and reorganize my makeup cabinet a few times throughout the year. But right now, my stuff is in quite a state. If I don’t get it cleaned up soon, something is going to get broken, and that will just be sad.

To inspire both of us, let me share with you what I do, when I manage to do it, though I admit I haven't done it in awhile, but will hopefully do it soon. I will also share with you a peek into the cabinet I've been hoping no one would peek into.

Step 1: Assess the Situation
Take everything out of where it is, and put it somewhere else. A table, a tray, a towel on the floor, whatever. Somewhere you’ll have enough room to sort. Look at all that stuff! Do you need all that stuff? Do you use all that stuff? Think about that as you move on to Step 2.

Step 2: Purge
Go through your makeup and get rid of anything that is old. Check those little numbers on the bottom of the package that tell you how long you should keep it. You should probably start writing the month and year, or at least the year, on those little labels if you have a hard time remembering how long you’ve had stuff. Then again, if you can’t remember how long you’ve had it, it’s probably too old to keep. Any changes to color or texture are a sure sign it’s expired. (It’s makeup, color and texture are its JOB.) Also throw away anything that is sticky, has a weird smell, or is otherwise gross.

After you are done getting rid of stuff that is obviously wrong, turn your attention to the stuff you don’t use because it is wrong for YOU. This is the time to be honest with yourself and make tough decisions. Sometimes it’s hard to get rid of something you’ve spent money on, even if wearing it makes you look like an oompa loompa. Return whatever you can, (some places, like Sephora, will let you return stuff even if you’ve used it) and get rid of the rest. No one needs bad decisions hanging around cluttering up their life! While we’re at it, apply this rule to your closet and the entire rest of your home/world too.

Step 3,4,5: Clean, Clean, Clean
Clean the shelf, bag, cabinet, drawer, steamer trunk, or wherever your makeup lives, inside and out with a damp cloth. Also clean any smaller baskets, boxes, or dividers you have going on.

Next, wipe down the outside of all the makeup containers. I bet they are dirtier than you thought they were! Pledge to do this more frequently to avoid transferring that stuff to your pores.

Then, clean all your makeup brushes. Wait, they’re already all clean because you clean each of them every single time you use them! (I don’t know anyone who does this.) But we really should clean them more often. Maybe we should get some brush cleaning wipes for in-between shampoos though? For a big clean, I use either Johnson’s Baby Shampoo or Clinique Makeup Brush Cleanser. Remember to always dry them with the bristles angled down, so you don’t wreck the glue holding them to the base. Also, wipe down the handles.

Step 6: Reorganize
Before you put everything back where it was, decide if that arrangement was really working for you. If it failed, try to figure out why.

I had always organized my makeup by kind (with subcatorgories for color) and I still do, though recently I decided to keep my MVPs all together. They’re in a small plastic basket which I can take out of the cabinet and have all my basics in one place. It’s been really convenient, and it was a good idea, but because I didn’t have that idea during a big reorganization, I never made a spot for that basket to live. So it just perched on top of whatever else, and occasionally knocked things over. Sometimes things fell right out of the cabinet and onto the floor (luckily, no fatalities) and got put back somewhere else. Next thing you know, my makeup cabinet is more disorganized than it’s ever been. My plan for this reorganization is to find a good place for that basket to live.

Granted, all of your makeup might fit into that one tiny basket. What’s important is to come up with a system you think is best for you and your needs. If it doesn’t work, you can always change it later. You’re always going to need to adapt. If you don’t ever need to adapt, you should probably try to spice up your life a little.

Step 7: Admire
I really love it when I have everything in order. I appreciate it, and it makes me really happy to be able to do what I want to do, smoothly and efficiently. It’s so much less stressful than trying to get ready while things are falling and you can’t find what you need, and you’re running late. I don’t need any extra stress in my life. For me, these small things make a difference.

There will always be chaos, but I refuse to let it win! Look for my "After" pictures (hopefully) coming soon.

If this post inspires you, send me your "before and after" pix using the contact link over there on the right!