Lotion, Lotion Everywhere, No Room Under My Sink

I have something crazy to share.

Even though I gave up buying plastic-packaged products over a year ago, I'm still not out of lotion. In fact, I have five half-full bottles of it lurking in my bathroom. They're of varying sizes—some big, some small—but when it comes down to it, I have enough lotion to last me at least two more years (or until the stuff goes bad).

So I'm left asking myself some questions. Where the hell did I get all of these lotions? Were they gifts? Did I buy them? And if I already had several bottles at home, why on Earth did I buy more?

Unfortunately, I don't have answers. Maybe I forgot I had lotion at home. Maybe I wanted to enjoy that extravagant feeling I used to get from buying beauty products and scented candles. I don't know.

All I know is that I've learned a valuable lesson since I purchased my last bottle of lotion (whenever that was):

Don't buy more unless you've run out of what you already have.

It's a rule to live by and it applies to pretty much everything. Following it saves you money and storage space in your closets and under your sink—two things most of us are desperate to do—and it's good for our planet! Bonus!

Comments

Anonymous said…
Don't even get me started. When I quit my job a year ago to go back to school, I made a commitment to myself to finish all of my shampoo and conditioner before I bought any more; it worked out with my new broke-student status. Holy Jeebus! I did not have to buy a single hair-care product until May. I'm not even kidding.
I've a similar story. I gave up shampoo months ago, but my four kids still use it. I haven't bought any in like nine months, and we still have bottles left. I wonder how that happened?
Juli said…
I've been following this golden rule for about 2 years now. I'm down to two bottles of lotion that I'm rationing carefully, the better to put off my quest for plastic free alternatives!

A question for you: since starting your plastic free quest, did you have a period of going into sensory overload in grocery and drug stores? I've only been doing this hard core for a few weeks, and all the plastic at the supermarket kinda making me dizzy.
Rebecca said…
I have this problem with chapstick.
Anonymous said…
Ha! I still have about 5 bottles of lotion, too! Plus the lotion I made myself because... well because I wanted to be able to let others know how to do it, even though I didn't actually need any.

Truth be told, I never use lotion. I don't have problems with dry skin, and I don't like the greasy feeling on my hands. I guess if I lived in a place with an actual winter, I might need to use it again.
Banba said…
The great thing about organizing your storage is finding all those bottles of unused products. It's like paying off your credit cards: start with the lowest balance or least amount in the bottle and use that up first or pay it off first until you use it all up or pay it all back In this case pay yourself back the money you spent on all of these products by not letting them go to waste.
BTY, I recommend body lotion all over before bed. It keeps your skin feeling younger.
Going Crunchy said…
I could ditto you on lipsticks. It is insane how many I have. They just seem to grow, and I've rarely ever actually run out a tube.
The Internetter said…
omg, this totally happens to me too. Interestingly, I didn't buy ANY of them! They were all gifts or giveaways. But now with everything I've read about the chemicals in them, I'm probably going to get rid of all of them (which you have to do by taking them to hazardous waste collections!!) and actually buy my own "natural" ones. Not too happy about what that's going to do to my bank account... :P

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