Wear it out

I have a pair of tracksuit pants that make me look like an extra from Struggle Street.

They are stretched and  baggy; the waist elastic is gone, the seams worn, with extra holes just about to appear in the knees and backside. 

I did not buy them. They were a “gift” from my mother – a hand-me-down as they didn’t fit her anymore. 

Yet I struggle to let them go. 

I never wore them in public. And still don’t, you’ll be pleased to know. They have been PJs. So who cares about the holes? A friend says I should have more self-care and self-respect and wear nice things at night. 

It is the frugal and green me that wants things to be used to death. 

Seems like we all have different definitions as to what constitutes death for clothes. 

 

Worn knee of trackie dacks

 
Should I perservere and wear them until there are actual holes in the backside? Or should I release them?

BTW: 42 days of not buying clothes. 

It was pretty once

You know I deal with all the big issues here. 

One of my current challenges is overcoming my need to hang onto boxes.  

A strange compulsion, I admit, but it is part of my green desires to not to have one use items and not add to landfill. And my desire to be thrifty and reuse usable things. 

My latest box I kept because it is, well was, beautiful. 

  
White satin with gold trim. And look inside. 

  
A padded pillow. Imagine the beautiful treasures that could be stored here!

So why dispose of it?

Lookie here:

  
It has a brand name on it. 

Remember the rule? Anything with a name or logo printed on it, it goes. (But don’t worry. Not destined immediately for landfill. I gave it to a kid at work. And the white satin was a bit grimy having lived in the bottom of my wardrobe for over 7 years.)

This white box is building my strength in deal with the white box of all white boxes, the Platonic whit box. The Apple product box. 

No, can’t let them go yet. 

Use it up, wear it out, out with the boxes

Use it up

68 days without buying a hair care, skin care or makeup product now. 

Perhaps this challenge could also be called “Show us your empties”?  As I am using up my stash. 

Here’s some the lot that have been used up over the last week or two. 

  
I’ve finally used up an eye makeup remover. I’ve been using it all over my face with a cotton pad after I remove most make up with cleanser and a face washer. I figure if it is gentle enough for eyes it can be used all over my face. Who says I don’t push the boundaries?

More makeup does come off. So I probably wasn’t do enough for my skin when I just used a washer with cleanser and water. 

Now I’ll move onto the non-astringent toner I bought in this range years ago. It will probably last forever – I bought the large container for professionals, not for retail sale. It’s fine for my eyes too. So don’t you stress. I bought the toner because it was so gentle on my skin. Soothing, not just not making me go red. 

I wouldn’t buy the eye makeup remover again but I would defintiely get the toner. Just not until I’ve used up all other products. (Yes, I do have another toner. Unopened full size Clarins. GWP.)

I also used up a 10g night cream sample. Wouldn’t buy this either. Not soothing enough for me. Has AHAs in it. 

  

Just finished a shower gel/ bubbl bath product I bought in London in March. Whipped out another one I received as a gift a couple of years ago.
Threw out a large sample night cream. Didn’t like it on my face. Thought I would use it on my arms and legs but I really hate the smell. So no use torturing myself. Out! And replaced by rose hip oil for night. I have actually mixed in some of the long ago purchased macadamia oil cause I find the Rose hip oil too yellow and it sits on the skin.  

AND, finished a cleanser. This use it up challenge has been good for my skin. I remember to take off my makeup and clean my skin more thoroughly. 

  
Sukin is a good brand. Cruelty free, non-irritsting in my skin, with a gentle scent, made in Australia and reasonably priced. So I will probably be sticking with this product. 

My 900ml conditioner has finally gone. This one has blue toner in it to stop my blonde going brassy. This has lasted well over a year. Maybe two. But I have two normal sized conditioners in reserve. And a couple of treatments. 

  
Wear it out

The skirt I thought would die this season has just died. The back seam which has been mended numerous times, just ripped again as I got out of my car. The material is too frayed to mend again. And there are little holes appearing in the material around the skirt.

It’s had a good life. Regular wearing in autumn, winter and spring to work. Definitely over 10 years old. I can’t actually remember when I bought it. 

I think this makes up for the dress that came in three weeks ago. (Nothing bought since then.)

 

Ripped seam. But the skirt is not brown; it’s purple.

  

See? Purple.

 

And I wore out a top. Does a slip seam count as wearing it out? The top is tight fitted and slinky material. The split seam is under the arm and over-locked so repairing it might rub my skin. I am very sensitive and break out in a rash when my skin is rubbed. By also the top is over nine years old and wearing thin. Anyway, it’s gone. 

  
Out with the boxes

So it’s simple really. Boxes with writing on them go. 

I like a rule like this. 

Isn’t it funny how our own obsessions seem normal but the obsessions of others are just plain weird. 

One responder to my question about boxes revealed her need to keep pink Napisan plastic containers. Really? A plastic laundry container. 

Mad, people are. 

Me on the other hand, completely normal and my need to keep boxes, completely understandable. 

So imagine my joy when I find that the writing over one of my boxes was an outer cover. Look!

  
It was folded around the base as if it was the box, not a slip cover into which the box fitted. I’m not that stupid. So I ripped it off and now I have a plain pink base of a solid box. The lid has a small print stating the brand of cosmetics that were inside. But I can live with this, especially as the box currently holds much cosmetic product awaiting use. 

But wait, there’s more

In the interests of honesty, and perhaps to make you feel better, I present for you photos of some more of the cosmetic products I have in my stash. 

I say some because I cannot guarantee that I have unearthed every thing. So sit back and gape into the dark recesses of my cupboards and soul, remembering this is in addition to the photos of stuff already shown. 

   

Recognise the shape of the container in the front? It’s part of the set of products I bought for the shape. I am using the shower gel up. Behind in a 1 litre container of body oil. It’s taking forever to empty. 

 
  

A container of stuff. 

  

My makeup bag of stuff in current use – shadows, eye liners, mascara, primer etc

 
  

Current cleanser and ocassional use body lotion. 

  

Bag of rarely used or not yet used makeup.

 
  

One litre of macadamia oil. This stuff is meant to be a miracle product. Have had it for ages. Not yet used. 

  

Polishes which are occasionally used. 

 
 

Most of my lipsticks, balms and lip glosses. A friend thinks this isn’t excessive. 

Let’s see how long it takes to get my products down to a minimal, organisable amount that fits in the bathroom cabinet. 

Use it up slip up

Opps. Bought a magazine. It came with a mascara. Not any mascara. THE mascara I use. It costs $52. But the magazine cost $10. They claim the mascara is full size.

  

So is this a slip up? Or a frugal decision?
Should I buy more copies of the magazine?
I could argue that I didn’t slip up and only bought a magazine but …

I don’t buy magazines. Hardly ever. Maybe one a year. If that. I only bought it for the mascara. I know there are woman who buy plenty. Not my thing. Clothes and cosmetics are, as we know. I have a friend who buys heaps of magazines and passes them to me to skim through.

I ONLY bought the magazine because of the mascara.

Susan, on the simple living forum said, “OK, well, it was a slip technically …. BUT….. how could you pass up a $50 mascara for $10!!! However, in saying that it does make you wonder what mark-ups they make if they can attach it free to a magazine.”

What do you think? 

Use it up Update 4 – Death to sachets

  

• For degree of difficulty in opening 

I used to think I’d keep the little sachets, you know the ones in magazines or that Avon sales people give you, for travelling but I keep a couple of little bottles that I refill. So as part of this challenge I decided to use sachets up early in the challenge. 

If they go then it might make a larger dent in the appearance of clutter. Possibly?

So off I went to use  sachets of shampoo and conditioner. 

Well, I remembered why I hate those little sachets. They can be impossible to open. Got the shampoo open easily. No hassles. The conditioner decided to not play. Couldn’t open it. (Had to cut it and use a later time.)

Then I got out of the shower and the sachet of face cream opened easily!

No rhyme nor reason.

• For product serving size

And really, all that packaging for so little product. Sometimes too much for one use and not enough for two. 

• For unknown scent

It is always a risk opening and using a sachet as scent is very important to me. I can get headaches and nausea from some, others I just hate and others I love. I am especially fussy with hair product cause it is so close to my nose and mouth. But I can’t bear to throw them out without using. Must stop them coming into my house. 

• For unknown colour

I used a sample of Avon foundation, thinking it was OK in the dull morning light, only to find I looked like an ommpa lumpa in the toilet at work. Such fun!

And here’s some more of my stash:

 

Bought the iconic No 7 from Boots in London, March 2015. Not touched yet.

  

GWP of magazine. Years ago. Not used.

 

Use it up Update 3 – Throw stuff away

Products, products, products. 

Some more from my store in my cupboard. 

   
 Here’s some apparently contrary advice in a use it up challenge. Throw stuff away. 

• If it’s seriously expired. 

I was checking through some of my stash, dreaming of how nice it will be to have a clear shelf in my bathroom cabinet, and picked up some lice shampoo. Now we haven’t had lice in this household for years but I held onto the shampoo just in case.

Well, it expired in 2008. Tells you how long ago we had an infestation. When youngest darling son was in primary.

Time to toss. And with a chemist 5 min walk up the road, I don’t need to be a chemist warehouse myself, especially not for expired products with serious chemical ingredients. 

• If your skin reacts to it

Threw out a sample cream that made my face flushed. I’m not so obsessive that I will use up samples I react badly to.

• If it is annoying 

I threw out, and didn’t use up, a lip gloss. One of those apparently plumping glosses. I think all they have is the ingredient from capsicum so your lips tingle and you think they are plumping. I don’t need my lips to be irritated and I have enough lip glosses to not need to hang on to this one.

• If it’s smelly

Threw away another lipgloss that was a bit wiffy. Sign all is not well with the ingredients. 

Goodbye smelly lip gloss

Out with the boxes again

Here’s a rule to dispose of excess boxes: those that have writing on them get thrown out. This courtesy of another friend on simple living forum. 

Boxes that indicate what they once held or have a brand name, either on the top, the barcode, the bottom, get thrown it out, no matter how small or inconspicuously it says it…the box goes.

See I love how solid and well-made these boxes are. So much better than bought gift boxes. Part of my plan was to cover the boxes in lovely paper. Or at least to cover up the labels with a sticker or picture cut out. And use them to pack gifts. 

In my forum discussion, I added that while I don’t have time now, when I retired I would. My friend countered that covering boxes is not really my great retirement dream. And the clincher: if I do think I am going to cover boxes then I should probably be looking at what I could be better be doing with my time before dying.

But as the wonderful simple living friend also pointed out  I am not going to cover them adequately. No matter how much or how good quality glue I use, the paper will lift. 

So…

If you have too many boxes then you need a delineation point. Writing is that point.

Top and base have writing so out with both.

Use it up Update 1

[* imagine I wrote the first post on Use it Up a month and a half ago and this post came a fortnight after that. I actually started this challenge while on my blogging hiatus.]

I’ve been successful in not buying any products for the last fortnight, with encouragement from other Use-it-uppers on a simple living forum I belong to. 

Here’s some thoughts from my first fortnight of not buying cosmetic products. 

1. Avoiding special deals – find your previous “special deals” buys that you haven’t used

I nearly weakened when the new Priceline bag came out. A bag of full size products FREE if you buy $60 worth of products. I could stock up on my usual stuff and get a useable bag FULL, literally bursting, with goodies. And if I spend $100 I get free delivery which means I don’t have to go into the shop which I don’t have time for anyway. 

Luckily the Internet froze before I could press buy. And then I remembered my previous Priceline bag purchases.

Mm ah! You guessed it. I haven’t used them up yet. 

So I unearthed the two previous Pricelone bags – the hair one and the one before which was cosmetics. Maybe I should use these up first?

 

The two Priceline bags with SOME of the products

 
2. Use up the samples when travelling and don’t collect more. 

Remember to take your stash of samples! On a recent trip I took day cream and night cream samples. About a week’s worth in both. And for body lotion, another free gift with product I received – this time a full size product. Soap was a bar I bought as a decorative item to go with the containers seen in the previous post. Shampoo and conditioners were the products I bought to get the Priceline hair bag. All these were unopened before our trip.

Cleanser and toner were decanted into travel size containers from products I bought a while ago. One set of these small containers is enough. I can refill as needed. 

I didn’t collect the guest products at the BnB we stayed in. Who needs more products? It’s not frugal, if you don’t use the stuff. And most of the stuff is from China. I won’t buy cosmetics from China. They test on animals and don’t have the product control and environmental laws we have. 

 

Two hotel minis with containers that I refill

 
3. When friends encourage you to buy: remember the bigger goals 

Anyone have to combat the efforts of friends?

I have fiends/friends who try to get me to buy cosmetics.

“Hey,Strawberrynet have 10% off.”

“I’m selling Avon now.”

“You’ll be able to get some good stuff at Sephora when it opens.”

“You should try this product.”

Some are OK when I tell them I’m not buying anything until I use my stashup, others think I should just chuck things away and continue to try to encourage me to spend. The “just a few dollars” argument and the “you deserve it” one. 

Funnily enough, one friend who tried to get me to buy, bemoans not being able to afford to buy a house and how much she hates renting and wishes she could replace broken whitegoods. OK, a lipstick won’t buy a house, but something has to give. My bigger goals are mortgage, travel, house and garden. 

Wear it out

Remember how I went on The Great Wardrobe Diet in 2013?

No? Well, I’m not replicating it but am adding another challenge to my current list. I have Use It Up for cosmetics and Out With Boxes for boxes. And since the beginning of June I have been attempting to Wear It Out for clothes and shoes.

Part of Wear It Out has been to stop clothes coming in and wear items until they are dead.

What consitutes dead? Holes, pilling, worn thin, raggedly looking, saggy/baggy, unreapairable heals, unrepairable scuff marks, tears, non-elastic elastic.

See, I have too many clothes.

How many is too many? The amount of clothes I have.

No number. I started an inventory of dresses and skirts but lost count with my tops.

But when clothes cease fitting in their allotted space, you have too many.

I do like new clothes. And buy some regulalrly. But have trouble releasing my old clothes. Mainly because I love what I have.

So my goal is to wear more of my old clothes that are on the just wearable stage and then release them. I will try to stop buying.

Since the beginning of June I have said goodbye to a soft woollen cardie. A lovely shade of pink. It had holes. I wore it a couple of times this winter under a suit jacket, averaging once every second week this term. But the holes were now too noticeable. If I took the suit jacket off, it wouldn’t be a good look. So in June it had its last outing as an item of clothing. I cut it up and turned it into polishing cloths. 

Same thing happened to an Alannah Hill skirt. Mr S was shocked when he saw me taking to it with the shears. It was a rich purple and a thick knitted material which would have had many years left. But the lace overlay on the bottom flip part of the skirt was manky and holey and hanging. Last year I gave the skirt an extended life by cutting the overlay off the front but the trim on the back was now just too sad. I also wore out a pair of woollen socks that I have had for years. They have been sent to the shoe polishing box.

I also farewelled a pair of shoes. From the outside they looked OK but inside the leather was flaking away and every time I wore them, my feet would turn a nasty shade of dirty back-brown which was hard to clear from my feet. The dye soaked in!

Since the beginning of June only four new items have entered my wardrobe. Two ski pants (don’t make me feel guilty, yes they were cheap and they were probdbly produced with externalities), a dress at a wonderfully reduced price and a pair of thermal pants. At least some are leaving. Here’s the new dress:

Have you worn out clothes? Or do you change with changes in fashion? When you’re board with an item? If so, do you donate them before they die?