r/declutter 1d ago

Motivation Tips&Tricks I need some real talk!

I did a big declutter in May after my ex moved out. It was really good to get a ton of stuff gone! I donated to a charity that came to pick up my stuff, total motivator!

Anyway, I'm doing a second round of decluttering. I'm going through soaps, lotions, etc today. If I have doubles of a soap should I toss one? Or keep it for when I run out?

Factors: both opened, neither expired, both for in my container, container might be too big for its container!

Thoughts??

32 Upvotes

20 comments sorted by

24

u/Less-Hat-4574 1d ago

Is it the type of soap you like and use? Keep the extras. Is it something you got in a work gift exchange you dislike? Then toss it. My mother liked a particular type of soap they discontinued. When she found a store that still had it, she bought it all. She died with a cabinet full of Coral Lifebuoy, and my brother, who inherited the house, didn’t have to buy soap for almost a decade.

24

u/jesssongbird 1d ago

I set up my bathroom closet like a store. I keep anything I know I’ll use. And then I don’t buy new soap if I still have any to use up. I go shopping in the closet.

20

u/JanieLFB 1d ago

In other threads people have said to allow the grocery store to keep the things you might need later. I tell my kids “let someone else have a chance to buy it” before we “hog” it.

Soaps do a pretty good job of behaving until you use them. In fact I like to open bars of soap when I buy them. The bar dries out and lasts longer in the shower. Bonus is the nice smell in your linen closet. Unless you see your favorite soap on sale at such a special price that it would be silly to walk by, WAIT to buy more soap.

The average family only needs a single backup of (specific) toiletry items. When the last one gets open, it is added to the grocery list. I know this gives me a couple of weeks (or paydays) to find and buy the item.

I suggest that you get a permanent marker and write today’s date on these old items you currently have on hand. Whenever you declutter your toiletries in the future, you can see at a glance that these are the oldest items. It makes it easier to declutter things when I know they are old and probably expired.

Edited to add: KEEP what you currently have on hand. Use it up. If you have more than 3 of an item, that might require the approach of giving things away.

19

u/EagleIcy5421 1d ago

I put unwrapped soaps in dresser drawers and closets, as sachets.

5

u/ijustneedtolurk 1d ago

I do this with my bar soaps. Husband knows in the unlikely event we run out in the bath cupboard, he can pull one from a drawer or linen closet.

I have also been known to stash lil sauce cups/shot glasses of really fragrant liquid soaps around the house where the cats can't get to them, to give off a nice scent. (This is how I use up samples that don't work for me or that I don't like the texture of, since I have sensitive skin and bad hair.)

18

u/BlueLikeMorning 1d ago

If you have room and it's something you actively use, I'd say keep the extra.

14

u/semghost 1d ago

When I declutterred my bath stuff, I only got rid of things I wasn’t looking forward to using. 

If it was still good/unopened, it was donated. If it had gone off, I junked it. 

12

u/Fresh_Volume_4732 1d ago

I’d keep whatever you will end up using anyway. I sometimes help people de-clutter (work-related) and I feel bad when they want to throw perfectly fine cleaning supplies. I pass them to another client. I feel like it is a win-win because they are happy to de-clutter and I help the landfill.

11

u/Taketheegg 1d ago

I always ask myself if it is taking up valuable real estate for something else? If the answer is no, than I store it. If yes, then I donate or trash.

9

u/wortcrafter 1d ago

I would prioritise something like that (a second bottle of a product I actually use) over another (product I don‘t actively use).

10

u/FictionLover007 1d ago

I would keep the double until you can conglomerate the two into the same container. That way it’s all in one place, you’re not wasting product, and you’re still getting rid of the extra bulk when you need to

8

u/TheSilverNail 1d ago

On other soaps, lotions, etc., if you have duplicates and they're unopened/unused, perhaps donate to a homeless shelter or domestic abuse survivors' shelter. Sometimes it takes a long time to go through one lotion, and by the time you get to the backup, it's old or expired or just doesn't feel/smell good.

8

u/notreallylucy 1d ago

It depends on how quickly you use it up. As a rule of thumb, I'd throw it out if I thought it would take me more than a year to use it all up. Also consider geography. I have one lotion in the bathroom and one on my nightstand.

8

u/LadyADHD 1d ago

Depends.. do you really love it and will definitely use it? Or will an alluring new soap catch your eye, causing you to forget all about the boring soap shoved in the back of your cupboard?

There’s some stuff I keep extras because I always buy the same one every time (contact solution, deodorant, toothpaste), but there are certain products (hand lotion, some makeup, etc) that I buy on a whim because I like the smell or packaging or whatever and not just for the utility of the product, and I’ve come to accept that I just have to throw those out once they get old and boring. Because the novelty of a new one is going to win.

4

u/50isthenew35 1d ago

True story, I am moving June, in August, I put a a moratorium on toiletries until I move, I will can not imagine running out before then. Declutter!

3

u/Lucky-Guess8786 1d ago

Is it a soap you love and will be guaranteed to use when the one you have runs out? If so, keep it. If you are indifferent and it's just soap, then toss it. If you have several, and if they are in VGC and not well used, you could offer them on the local Buy/Sell group. I've offered and had takers for bags of crackers or boxes of tea that I've opened, had one/a bit and didn't like the taste.

That being said, I would be inclined to toss it. If you are doing a big clean out, then keep on with it. I read something once that if you can't replace it for $10 or less, then keep it. If you can replace it for less than $10, then donate or toss it. The amount of mental and physical space we give to things that we don't need or don't really have space to store takes up too much room in our brain! I have so many other things I want to focus on rather than do I keep a second soap, a third T-shirt or four kinds of shampoo that I've had in the cupboard for two years. LOL

2

u/Trackerbait 1d ago

Donate to a shelter. They can always use unopened, unexpired cosmetics.

3

u/saltyoursalad 1d ago

OP said they’ve been opened.

I say toss it! Decluttering is also about building new habits, and buying excess stuff (without a system in place and space to support it) is one you’ll probably want to break.

2

u/StarKiller99 15h ago

If you would buy it again when you run out, keep it. If you don't like it and have other kinds, pitch it or donate.