Trouble with Toiletries

The main trouble with toiletries is that I can never remember how to spell "toilet." I always put the "I" in the wrong place, like "toliet" or "tiolet" or "toleit" or  just to be safe "Itioilieiti."

The secondary main trouble with toiletries is that that they don't expire quickly and are such meaningless objects that we don't really think of them when we're going through our emotional purging states. "What should I do with my limited edition copy of Lord of the Rings that my friend gave me even though I hate the picture of Orlando Bloom's hair on the cover? (keep it, but hide it on the back of the bookshelf) What should I do with my mini-puzzle of Orlando Bloom's face? (keep it in a really big box and hide that box in the attic) What should I do with my life-size gigantic stand-up cutout of Orlando Bloom that serves no purpose other than to guard my room while I'm away? (keep it and put it right smack in the middle of my room) What should I do with my small collection of extra dental floss? (umm....keep it?)"

But, I'm moving soon, and it was time to deal with the dental floss. So, emulating my Clean Sweep idol Peter Walsh, I dumped everything from my hall closet, bathroom cabinet, and purses onto the coffee table. Actually it was too big to all fit on the coffee table so some of it went on the floor too.

Extra unopened shampoo, conditioner, soaps, and toothpaste went back into the hall closet for the next teacher that gets the apartment. Things like hairspray, hair gel, and nail polish remover that would too much of a mess to pack went back into the bathroom cabinet for the next teacher. Everything that looked gross went into the trash.

Trash

• expired medicines
• half-used deodorants, shaving creams, and other things that the next teacher would not want to use
• broken jewelry that is beyond repair
• my collection of free samples of lotions, sunscreens, etc.
• makeup over 3 years old (for an exact list of when to throw away your makeup, read Makeup Shelf Life)
• Things I didn't like in the first place.
• Trash

The rest looked like this:

So I dumped out all the bags of stuff and sorted everything into piles:

• Top row: Deodorant, shower stuff (soap, shampoo, conditioner, face wash, razors), chapstick, lotions (sunscreen, face lotion, body lotion, hand lotion), storage containers/bags

• Middle row: makeup, nail stuff, extra buttons, medicines

• Bottom row: hair stuff, more makeup, jewelry, tooth stuff (toothpaste, floss, toothbrushes), q-tips

Then I went through each pile and thew away things that were on that trash list up top that I had ignored the first time around. Like old makeup. I don't actually wear makeup, but I still feel bad throwing it away.  I feel less bad if it's on an official list with the expiration dates of makeup. Then I tried to realistically think about how many of each thing I really needed. Like deodorant. In countries such as France and Korea, deodorant is a rare commodity, so over the past 3 years I've been stocking up. It's hard to remember that back in America, you can buy deodorant easily at your local convenience/grocery store. Against my better judgement, I picked two, put aside one unopened stick for the next teacher, and threw the rest away. I probably should have only picked one, but I'm headed to France next...and I feel scared.

Then I put it all back in storage containers.

All my hair stuff went into a little purple box that used to hold beads from my magic beading machine when I was a kid.  If it didn't fit into the box, I threw it in the trash can. If you didn't keep your bead box, you can use a non-magical version like this: 6 Compartment Unbreakable Box or Infinite Divider Box.

My jewelry used to be kept in small tins that my brie cheese came in. Dancing competition jewelry (i.e., shiny jewelry that I actually like) went into a small pink case.

The rest went into a plastic bag, to go back into my jewelry box when I get back home. I don't really wear jewelry that much either...

If you care about your jewelry, you might not want to store it in a plastic bag. Try one of the divided boxes mentioned above (to keep things from getting tangled) or a Velvet Jewelry Roll or Jewelry Portfolio.

Next comes the shower and tooth brushing stuff. It all went into a clear plastic case to keep it separate for easy access and to keep it from spilling all over everything in case a bottle leaks. And, it comes with a nice handle that can be hung on an s-hook if you're in one of those hostel bathrooms with no hooks... see my blog entry on packing for a youth hostel .

A small silver case holds emergency essentials like a needle and thread, advil, clear nail polish, breath mints, and a moist towelette. It's called a minimergency kit.

Extra Buttons, safety pins and q-tips went into a divided pill box.

Everything else went into my weekender bag Normally I try to keep EVERYTHING in this bag, and make sure to limit myself to it, but after 3 years of traveling, I just have too much stuff. I'm a bad, bad pack-rat.

Here's what's in it:

• Left-most pocket: Compact Mirror, chapstick, nail clippers
• Middle pocket: deodorant, lotions and creams (in a plastic bag to contain spills), extra medicines
• Right-most pocket: purple case of hair stuff, pink case of competition jewelry, plastic bag of regular jewelry

So, put it all together and you get this:

Tada! Let's look at the before and after pictures one more time!

Before & After

And the dental floss? It may look like I pared it down, but that's a lie. I kept it all. You don't want to make your dentist more angry that he already will be when he finds out that you've been hoarding and not using your dental floss...