words Alexa Wang
Many consider compulsive beauty hoarding as a genuine mental health concern. It entails an irrational desire to buy and hold on to makeup, skincare, and other beauty products. Many hoarders have beauty collections that already overrun bathroom sinks, vanity, closet, or even the entire bedroom.
There’s nothing wrong with owning several shades of red lipsticks, drawers full of makeup brushes, or dozens of beauty soaps if you intend to use them. But if your compulsion is already affecting your finances, your relationships, or your day-to-day activities, then it’s time to face your problem and get rid of all your beauty-related stuff.
Here are some tips on how to stop being a compulsive beauty hoarder:
Bring Out All Your Beauty Products
If you want to snap out of your obsession, you can opt to get rid of everything. Go cold turkey and throw used stuff and donate all new and unopened products. If you have a room full of beauty stuff that you don’t use, you can give them away fuss-free and in one go when you contact companies that offer free donation pickup.
But if it’s too drastic for you or your hoard is not that overwhelming, you can take them all out to assess every beauty product you own. The act of bringing out every single item from the closet, under the bed, or storage boxes in your attic will help you realize how much stuff you’ve accumulated. Also, when you see everything laid out before you, it may help you accept that you may indeed have a compulsive desire to buy and stash all things related to beauty.
Sort Them Out
A crucial next step to recovery is to sort out everything in your collection. Classify everything first based on three categories – expired, used, and new. Next, organize the products according to brand, use, or type of product. You can put together all toiletries, skincare products, and beauty gadgets. Brushes, blenders, palettes, and other makeup essentials that you can’t go without should also be arranged in separate inventories.
Throw Out All Used And Expired Items
For compulsive beauty hoarders, throwing any item away is a no-no. They sometimes even hold on to used and expired products for sentimental reasons or simply because they couldn’t let go. But always remember that keeping or, worse, using expired beauty products can be harmful.
Although it may be true that some of your used items still haven’t expired and are still in good condition, it’s still a good idea to throw them out because there’s a big likelihood that you have unopened replacements for such items in your new and unused beauty stash. Using freshly opened products is always better than sticking to used items, whether expired or not.
Choose Your Must-Haves To Keep
After sorting out your collection, you may realize that majority of your beauty products remain unused, unopened, or new. Before you check out each product in your bin:
- Make a list of essential items that you will include in your must-have beauty products.
- Don’t make the list 20-page long because it will defeat the purpose of decluttering.
- Once you’ve finished, get the items on your list from your new and unopened stash.
Everything that’s left out of your list, or the non-essentials, you may opt to gift them to friends and family or donate to the homeless or a nearby women’s shelter. However, if you’re knee-deep in debt because of your hoarding issue, then it may be a good idea to sell your new and unopened beauty stash online or in a garage sale.
Organize Your Beauty Space
After you’ve successfully decluttered, sorted, and gotten rid of most of your beauty hoard, the next thing you may do to stop nurturing your compulsion is to allocate a small space for your remaining essential beauty products. Organize everything in a way that the items you use every day are accessible and easy to see. It will help prevent you from having an excuse to buy new stuff just because you can’t find your mascara or your eye hydrating cream.
Choose Only A Small Storage Space
Kudos to you if you’re able to keep your beauty stash to a minimum. You’ve come a long way, and you may already have successfully stopped your buying compulsion. To avoid falling back into the hoarding trap, make sure to allocate only a small storage space for the few extra items you keep.
Limit Your Budget On Beauty
Cosmetics, hygiene, and skincare products are essential to keep you young, fresh, and beautiful. However, if you tend to overspend to satisfy your beauty needs, you may have a problem. Apart from limiting storage space, you can also limit the amount of money you allocate for beauty items to prevent compulsive buying.
Bottom Line
Realizing that you’re a compulsive hoarder is an initial step to solving your problem. However, if you want to stop hoarding, you must take proactive measures, such as decluttering, getting rid of your unused beauty stash, and sticking to just the essentials.
