New Planner Favorites!

I mentioned in my January Top 5 & More post about some planners that I did not particularly care for. Well now let's talk about a couple that I have been LOVING!

First up The Happy Planner!

A friend of mine was nice enough to gift me a 2015-2016 Happy Planner. I have the "Good Thing are Going To Happen" planner. The Happy Planner is an 18 month planner and are suuuuppper cute! Planner decorating is a BIG thing! Search the hashtags #planneraddict or #plannerjunkie and you'll see what I mean. I don't know if I've ever get on that level. I ran across an excellent post, Why I Don't Decorate My Planner that I have revisit several times when I've gotten frustrated about not really decorating my planner (that's an entirely different discussion). But the Happy Planner is already decorated to that you don't really need to do anything unless you want to be creative. I like it as it. I do have some stickers that I use here and there. I have already purchased a 2016-2017 Happy Planner. Oh the agony of this decision! LOL! I looked at the flip throughs of each planner multiple times and changed my mind I don't know how many times! I decided on the Picture Quote planner. Then I went through a whole ordeal of ordering it from Michael's and then returning due to their piss poor packaging and it was damaged in shipping. Then I reordered directly from Me and My Big Ideas. Phew! Team too much I tell you. I've also purchased some additional goodies to accessorize my planner. I even got the Happy Planner punch. So I am ALL in!

Next up the Barcelona 2016 Weekly/Monthly 10 x 8 Planner from Blue Sky!

I got this planner as my work planner. What caught my eye is the shape/layout. I make lists and write notes. Usually I have a planner and a notebook of some sort. I wanted both in one for this year and I thought that The Passion Planner would fit the bill. When I was poking around on The Blue Sky website and saw this one my interest was peaked. It's a weekly/monthly planner but you have have a To Do, To Call and Notes section at the beginning of each month with the monthly view. The weeks are vertical. After messing around in The Happy Planner, I noticed that I liked a vertical layout vs horizontal because hello I like making lists lol. Since this is the planner I leave at work, I can use Saturday and Sunday for more note space. There is a notes section in the back along with some interesting pages for various contacts, On The Go Essentials list and Travel Checklist and Grocery Checklist. I think they are pretty cool additions. There's a Nicole Miller version which I think would be good for a personal planner but I do not need another planner lol!

I have started using my Happy Planner right now for work and personal just to see how I like. I was going to start in April but said hey why not start now. Last year I did have two planners. When I looked through my personal one, I slacked on using it. The second half of the year was pretty much blank. So I it was kinda a wasted purchase. My work planner got used with small bits of personal stuff (mainly appointments). Honestly my life is not that involved to have 2 planners and I'm loving The Happy Planner so much that I was to USE it So we shall see how it goes.

And there you have it! I may report back on how using The Happy Planner as THHEEEEE planner is working for me.

Stay tuned...

Less Stuff - June Update

Soooooo ummmmmm.....

I was looking through my draft posts and I saw this post saved but there was nothing typed *blink blink*. I completely forgot about it LOL! In January I talked about what my thought process was for decluttering and looking into minimalism.

And well yea lol! On the clothes front, I've done well. I have gotten rid of a lot of items and have been very particular with the recent items I have purchased. If you look at my clothes it may not look like a lot but I don't switch out my closet for the various seasons. So everything is hanging up. I'm planning to do the "final" purge over the Fourth of July weekend since I'm taking some additional days off.  So that's one thing that will be done. Phew.

On the beauty front *head palm*, I did SO good during my no buy. Once I go off my no buy, I lost my flipping mind. I've been buying stuff left and right. On the one end I have been retrying some past favorites especially in terms of skin care. I'm trying to pare down what I use and simplify my routine. The same goes for my hair care routine.  I picked up some items here and there. I did find some new favorites but my hair revolted on quite a few items lol! So I've gone back to using some past Wen favorites. Maybe once I get my routine down, I'll do a post to hold myself accountable to it. I'm still toying around with the idea of doing the BIG come to Jesus purge of my makeup. Which I know will be super hard. Or really cut back on buying and just use what I have and replenish what I need which wouldn't be much but face products like primer, foundation, brow products, etc. *sigh* Why didn't I stay a tomboy?

And lastly books. I haven't done much with my final book purge and my reading mojo has run away. I haven't read any of the non-fiction books I said that I was going to read for the year. I still have time but still. So in addition to going through my clothes over the Fourth, I plan to start the process of what I hope to be my final book purge. I think it's going to take more the one weekend to really really go through them.

So as you can see I've slacked *sigh*. I have to do better. This mess is a weight holding me back in other areas and I'm tired of looking at stuff. And the beat goes on...

Let's see what I can make happen by December.

Onward and upward!

Less Stuff...

So you've heard me talk about purging various products be it books, makeup, clothes, etc. I ran across a meme on Instagram saying something to the effect that if your clutter is cluttering your mind then you need to let things go. So that's what I have been doing for the past year and half.

Have a slipped up? Sure I have. I lost my mind recently at Bath & Body Works during the Semi Annual sale lol. But I've said to myself alright chick, you don't need anymore bath and body stuff. You're going to use what you have. I was like ok. I've also done good recently by not taking advantage of other deals and promos. I've also started unsubscribing from various email lists and cleaning out my inbox. I'm still doing good with keeping my receipts and returning stuff that I'm lukewarm about.

One blog that I stumbled upon is "Becoming Minimalist". His posts and the ones he shares are thought provoking, give good tips and is non-judgmental. I've stumbled upon some folks on Instagram using the hashtag #declutter.

I don't know if I can go FULL on minimalist. I like what I like and I'm not going to apologize for that. But I can make an effort to curtail my spending, the "need" to have some much stuff and use what I have. It's a journey I've been on for a while and it is just that a journey. It's a journey that's different for everyone and it's not going to happen overnight.  It's time to see if I can take it to the next level in 2015. This is gonna be interesting. I may be successful or I may fall flat on my face. I just want to find a happy balance at this point in my life and not be consumed by things.

This was a ramble post that popped in my head. If it doesn't make much sense then my bad :)

I may report back in June and then again in December with my efforts.

Stay tuned...

My Makeup Purge Senses Are Tingling Again!

I know, I know lol! You're probably like yea right chick. Not this topic again. Well yes again!

I've gone through my collection and bagged some stuff. Gave some friends dibbs to go through it. The rest I'll probably let family member scrounge through next time I see them lol. I've also pitched items that needed to go.

I recently found an 8 piece drawer organizer set at TJ Maxx for $5.99. I picked up two. I got my blush drawer organized. I was also able to get all my Bare Minerals blushes and radiance powers out from my Joy Mangano Better Beauty Case. The case sits on the corner of one of my dressers. So out of sight, out of mind. I want to get ALL my makeup in the 10 drawer cart I have. So now I have loose eyeshadows that I need to get out. So I'm hoping these organizers do the trick. Plus my bottom drawer that had bath and body stuff in it is pretty much empty. What's left are unopened products that can go in my gift giving basket for the holidays.

Next I'm going to tackle my lipsticks. I've already gotten rid of some of the Maybelline Vivids (I'll explain why in my June favorites post). So I'm going to have a swatchfest and have plenty of baby wipes on hand. If you recall from my makeup collections posts, I have 2 drawers of lipsticks. I'm aiming to get it down to one. Let's see if I'm successful.

Any extra unopened Bare Minerals Mineral Veils are going. The Bronzing Mineral Veil is my favorite and I have a super size jar that I haven't cracked open yet. I also like the new BB one that I got in a TSV set from QVC. I think I have 2 more of those coming in auto delivery sets from QVC. I'll keep one and the other will go in my gift giving basket. I probably don't need to keep the one *shrugs*.

The biggest "battle" is eyeshadows (palettes and single shadows) and blushes. I'm an eyeshadow palette whore and I did get rid of some blushes already. What I do have left I really do like and rotate through. I'm also tempted to get rid of lip glosses that aren't Bare Minerals (100% Natural, Moxie and Buxom), Maybelline and maybe a few others. My lips have really been on some stuff lately. So I've only really been reaching from a few brands that I know won't aggravate my lips. Mally's glosses that have been favorites since I discovered her brand, haven't been friendly to my lips as of late. Which is really bumming me out. Ok not really but you know what I mean. You have something that you really like and it stops working for you and you're like what the what!?!!!

So we shall see what comes of my makeup purge senses tingling.

I can't remember if updated you guys on my current books situation with donating books to the library and giving books to friends. May get rid of more since my get rid of more books senses are tingling too. Plus I'm "neglecting" some of my favorite authors and series that I usually keep up with. I don't like that at all!

I'm just to the point where I'm tired of having a lot of "stuff". Don't get me wrong, I still love beauty, books, fashion, etc but I mean come on? I'm not making myself "feel bad" and I know I will still buy things. Just trying to find a happy medium. If that's even possible.

My favorites for June might be a little late. Laptop charging cord at home is acting up and the battery charge is already low on my laptop! Gah! #thetechstruggle

Stay tuned...

Makeup Collection: Some Other Tidbits

Better Beauty Cases

I have mentioned these in a favorites post last year and showed one of them in my Top 11 Nail Polishes post. I purchased these from HSN. I got two sets that came with a small case and larger case. One of the small ones is empty and I use it for work travel. The second smaller one I keep my everyday items/items I'm currently playing around with. I don't have a vanity, so I take this case into my bathroom to do my makeup in the mornings. One of the larger cases holds some of my nail polishes. The second case holds another competent to my makeup stash that I briefly wanted to show.

It holds my Bare Minerals loose makeup (eyeshadows, blushes and Radiance powders). This is another storage setup that may change. It was a good idea at the time but now it's not convenient and I don't reach for items in here. So something else is in order. If and when I change how I store these, I'll do an update post.

Ok I think that's it...phew! I have some other stuff mainly in my bathroom. Just everyday items like primers, Bare Minerals foundation, Mineral Veil, etc. but you don't need to see those :D

My Makeup Collection: Drawer 10

Here is the final drawer. No makeup here, just some bath and body items. Actually the items in this drawer more than likely will be moved out and I can shift some products around from the other drawers. We shall see. There are items from Bath & Body Works, philosophy, Carol's Daughter, Korres and Victoria Secret.

My Makeup Collection: Drawer 9

I guess you can say this is the face drawer with some other stuff randomly thrown in. Here there are highlights, powders, a bronzer, concealer and mascaras. The mascaras hanging off in the corner are unopened. So they may end up in  a gift bags or two come Christmas. Nothing too fancy.

On to the final drawer woohoo!

My Makeup Collection: Drawer 8

Holy blush drawer Batman! Here we have blushes from various brands and price points. The cheapest being Wet n' Wild and Elf. The higher being probably Tarte. I have one Lancome blush that I got from a blog sale, so I didn't pay full price. In between there's NYX, Milani, Mac, Bare Minerals and Maybelline.

On to drawer 9...

My Makeup Collection: Drawer 7

Yep more lipsticks along with lip pencils and chubby lip pencils/lip stains. Again both on the lower and high end of the spectrum when it comes to price. Some brands not mentioned yesterday are Bobbi Brown, Black Radiance, Kat Von D and Mary Kay.

Drawer 8 tomorrow and no more lip products :)

My Makeup Collection: Drawer 6

Here we have lip products and oh boy do we have some *head palm*. This started out as the lighter/brighter lipstick drawer which it still is. I moved and shifted some stuff around and threw some lipglosses in here for the time time being. As you can see there's a mix when it comes to brands. On the lower end, there's Wet n' Wild, Revlon, Milani, etc. On the higher end, there's Mally, Mac, Bare Minerals and some others.

Drawer 7 tomorrow. Possibly some more lipsticks *smh*

My Makeup Collection: Drawer 5

Mooooore eyeshadows!!!!! This is the drugstore eyeshadow drawer. Here we have Wet n' Wild, NYX, Sonia Kashuk, Maybelline, elf, Black Radiance and L'Oreal. Funny that this drawer was half empty when I purged a bunch of drugstore shadows. Clearly something happened since it's now full again lol!

On to drawer 6 and I promise it is not eyeshadows!

My Makeup Collection: Drawer 4

More eyeshadow palettes!?!?! Seriously dude *head palm*

Here we have some palettes and quads from The Balm, Lancome, Mac, Tarte, Stila, Too Faced, Tarte, Mally, Laura Mercier and BH Cosmetics. The two larger BH Cosmetics palettes are leaving my stash.

Tomorrow Drawer 5 and possibly more doggone eyeshadows *smh*

My Makeup Collection: Drawer 3

This is my favorite eyeshadow drawer! This drawer holds Bare Minerals Ready eyeshadows, Urban Decay and Bobbi Brown eyeshadows, lip palettes and pot rogues. 

Tomorrow drawer 4...

My Makeup Collection: Drawer 2

More eyeshadows. I guess you have say these are the "higher end". There are some Mac, Urban Decay, Bare Minerals, Laura Geller, Rock & Republic, NARS, Lorac and Smashbox. The Smashbox quads will more than likely be leaving my stash. I don't reach for them plus the Mega Op palette that I have mentioned before, has more than enough Smashbox eyeshadows. This drawer altogether may be different once I decided on how I want to organize the loose Bare Minerals shadows I have. 

Tomorrow drawer 3...

My Makeup Collection: Drawer 1

In this drawer we have eye products. In the basket to the left are eyeliners from a bunch of different brands such as Mally, Tarte, Bare Minerals and Urban Decay.  My favorite pencil eyeliners are by Urban Decay. There are some cream Urban Decay eyeshadows too. The basket to the right has shadow sticks and some bases from Mally, Tarte and NYX. In the front of the baskets we have Maybelline Color Tattoos, Bobbi Brown gel liners and cream shadows, cream shadows and liners from other brands.

Tomorrow Drawer 2...

My Makeup Collection: Overview

First off let me just say that I am not bragging in any way shape or form. If you've followed me along the hippy dippy journey, I've gone back and forth over the amount of makeup I've accumulated. So no judgements please. If you don't want to see it then please click out of the post and catch up with me later since this will be broken up over several posts.

I ordered the Seville Classics 10 Drawer Organizer from Amazon which I showed in my 2013: Organize, Purge & Save - Check In post. I've shifted some things around since then. The cart is available in a bunch different colors and at various retailers (online and in store). The two black mini drawers on top are from Target. The black baskets that you will see in the drawers are from Target as well.

What I'm going to is go drawer by drawer, give you a peek and overview of what's in the drawer. As well as, show you bits and pieces not in the cart. Sound good? Heeeerrreee we gooooooo!

Here is my setup:

On the top of the cart, I have a mix of things. Mainly stuff that won't fit in the drawers. To the left I have:

• A Bobbi on the go kit that I got from QVC.
• 2 Bare Minerals Ready palettes from their holiday collection last year
• My Z palette that has some Mary Kay eyeshadows, blushes and La Femme blushes
• Women of BE loose eyeshadow collection
• Tarte True Blood palette
• Smashbox Mega Photo Op palette
• Beauty blenders
• L'Oreal True Match foundations
• 2 compact mirrors that were gifted to me

On the top very top I have 2 loose Bare Minerals eyeshadow sets (A Vision in Velvet and Good Morning, Gorgeous).

The first mini 3 drawer holds my makeup brushes. The first drawer has all my Bare Minerals brushes. The second drawer holds eye brushes. The third drawer holds face brushes.

The second mini 3 drawer holds lipglosses. The first drawer holds mini sized glosses and some backup Mac lip products. The second drawer holds mainly lipglosses from Bare Minerals (100% natural, Buxom and Moxie). I have a few other higher end glosses thrown in here at the moment. The last drawer mainly has glosses from the drugstore (Maybelline, Milani, NYX, NYC, and Revlon).

Tomorrow we delve into Drawer 1 of the cart.

Stay tuned...

2013: Organize, Purge & Save - Check In

At the end of December I posted about my organizing, purging and saving efforts for 2013. I guess you can say these were kind of my "resolutions"/goals for the year. Since 2013 is half done (insert shocked face), I decided to post an update. On the saving part I haven't done much. There was this money challenge that was going around on Facebook that I said I was going to take a stab. Lasted about 3 weeks. So clearly I'm still working on the saving part *head palm* I've included some before and after pics and it is what is it. I don't mind comments but keep the smart azz ones to yourself :D Here we go!

The pic above is a before pic of my closet that I had on my phone. I've made progress in the organizing and purging areas. I have gone through my clothes and I got rid of a lot. Either the items needed to be pitched, they were too big (yay weight loss! \O/) or didn't like the items any more. For the items that were too big and did not like, were donated to a local organization that my family and I have donated to for years. I plan to go through my closet again before the end of the summer. Next up I went through my shoes and did the same with pitching and donating. With the clothes and shoes it's "hard" mainly due where I currently work which is casual and that's putting it mildly. I still "put myself together" but I don't have to dress up everyday. I have sold some of my handbags and have some I'm going to give away/gift. I went through them again and I have more lined up to see if I can sell them. A lot of people told me to try eBay. I don't have the patience to deal with eBay. Plus everyone has their bags on there, so there is no way for me to "stand out" as new seller.

In my beauty world.....*head palm* lol!.... I did do some reorganizing and I purchased a 10 drawer cart from Amazon to reorganize my stash. I got everything off my one dresser with the exception of one item but still that's awesome in itself. I also shifted some stuff around that was on my other dresser. No alllll the drawers are not full but I can now "see" everything which in nice and a big help. Can't use what you have if you don't know what you got! In the smaller drawers stuff was crammed in them and it was hard to get to stuff. I decided to see if I could do the "no buy" thing again and ummmm yea that's not going too well *sigh*. But I have been in use up mode and I have used up quite a bit of skin care and bath and body items. I did go through a pull some items to give to family members who are always circling my stash when the come to the house LOL!

(Courtesy of Microsoft)

In my book world I started going through my books and asked myself "are you REALLY going to read this?" So I have a stash of books that I am going to donate to the library. I was going to list them and see if friends wanted any of them. I did that with some of my makeup items but the money I spent on shipping stuff to people...hmph! So they are going to library! I need to list them for donation purposes which I'll get around to before the month is out. Then I'm going to go back through what I have in my room again and the books in the storage unit. Hopefully I'll go through everything and get the books I want to keep out of that doggone storage unit before the summer is out.

I came across this New York Times opinion article about living with less on the QVC Beauty Banter forum. Very well written piece and I can sooooo relate! I know I've had my "retail therapy" moments or saw something in a magazine or a beauty vlogger talk about a product and just haaad to have it!  It's "fun" for the moment but then when you get home and have to put the item/items away it's like ummm what the hayle!?!? I'm trying to do better. I have my good moments and bad moments. We all get caught up in "things" and then those "things" take over. I'm not saying you should deprive yourself but there should be a happy medium and not struggling and stressing on what to do with our '"things". Then you're not enjoying so then what's the point in having them? Make sense?

And there you have it folks. I'll check back in during December.

2013: Organize, Purge & Save!

(Courtesy of Microsoft)

I don't always make resolutions for the new year. But reflecting over 2012 (it's been a rough one with a lot of ups and downs) and where I would like the be in 2013 and beyond; organize, purge & save came to mind. I started the organize and purge process in 2012 but there's more to do for 2013. I can stand to get rid of some more books and make an effort to get through a good chunk of what I have. My reading really slacked in 2012. I did get rid of some handbags but I'm sure I can let some more go. I'm purged and pitched some makeup. I happy with what I have but I need to reorganize it. The plan for this is to get an 8 drawer system. I was planning on getting something else that cost a lot more but I like the 8 drawer system better and the price is doable. Plus I can store other items in it. I have papers and other stuff I need to organize that I'm tired of looking at. I need a new paper shredder. The save component will come from knowing what I have, using it up and not shopping as much. I don't know if I can do a complete no buy. Baby steps. Also throw in getting back on track with my weight loss journey. Feel off and I've gained some weight back. Not a whole lot thank goodness. But it's time to work on the next 30 pounds! Phew that's a lot but the end result will definitely be worth it. And hopefully my mind won't be as cluttered and I'll be less stressed.

Let's see how this goes! Maybe I'll do a check-in every 3 months or so on my progress. Stay tuned...

Limit Reached...

There's an interesting declutter vlog series that pinksofoxy, a YouTuber I follow started doing. It's called "Less Stuff, Less Stress". She's in the process of decluttering and reorganizing a lot of her stuff. She's already on 3 part. It's been interesting to watch and has refueled my efforts. Within the last few months or so I've been in the same mindset of trying to reorganize items, getting rid of stuff and focus on using what I have.

Clothes and shoes are never a big problem. I go through my closet and gather items to donate often. I've tackled some of my less expensive handbags and given those any to family and friends. The more expensive ones I've started. I'm going to try and see if I can get a little something for them. If not then I will contemplate giving them away. Beauty stuff wise I think I'm at a "good" place and I want to reorganize my stash.  There are a some items I am contemplating on that have been released with holiday collections that I more than likely will purchase. But I'm being very particular on those items.

Come January that's it. I will only repurchase items that I need to repurchase once I use them up like primer, eyebrow stuff, etc. When it comes to bath and body stuff, I'm kind of over it. All I need is a shower gel and body lotion and that's it. No more special scented lotions other that the ones I'm trying to use up. I have perfumes and body spritzes that I want to use up, so I need something that they can mesh with. The holiday season is the best time for beauty buys so I will try to hold out for that unless it is something super duper awesome that I don't already have. I've also been looking at various items to help reorganize my stash. I think I've found a drawer organizer that just may do the trick. I was looking at one of the acrylic on eBay but they were more expensive that this. So I was like spend less and get something more substantial. Hopefully I can get it in month or so.

As for books, I've gotten rid of some but there's still a lot to go through. It doesn't help that most of them are in storage. I'm going to start bring some of them home so that I can continue the purging process. This will be an ongoing process for the next few months. The battle continues with actual book purchases and what to download on my Nook. I've peeped the library a few times but the books I brought home just sat and I didn't read them. So I'm going to try to firm up my book buying habits by January also.

So onward and upward! I have other things that I need and want to do, so it is time to refocus my energies on other things. I don't want to be stressed or frustrated over the things that I have. I should be enjoying them without issue! It ain't that serious. So it's time to get stuff in order and that's that!

Stay tuned...

Book Lovin - I'm so behind!

(Courtesy of Microsoft)

I am so behind in my reading!  Some my favorite authors I'm behind on and that usually does not happen.  I'm behind on several series books.  I have books on the ereader that I want to read or new ones I want to download.  I have some books that I got out of our storage unit and brought home.  It's already June and I've only read about 33 books so far for the year.  Oye vey!

I've started purging some books that I know I'm not going to read.  Around 2005/2006 I went on a book buying craze on sites like half.com, sellers on Amazon, eBay, etc and the bargain/sale section at Barnes & Noble and Borders when they were still around.  I did find out that the place where I donate clothes and shoes to takes book donations.  I was like excellent!!!  Was going to take them to library but I know they only take so many books per visit.

Now I'm trying to figure on how to get "caught up".  Doubt it'll really happen but I need make heads or tails on this some kind of way.  In the past I would list whatever books I'm going to read for the month on a spreadsheet.  Yes I track what I read from month to month.  I told y'all I have a lot of books! (And have nerd...I mean intellectual bad ass tendencies).  LOL!  I may do this again and try to stick with it.  It works for the most part unless something comes out that I really reallllly want to read or if I get the urge to reread a book.  I'm going to make a go of really sticking to it for the rest of the year.  Let's see how this goes....