I LOVE when clients ask me what my house looks like. Introducing a new series called A Peek Into My House. Each month, you'll get to snoop around and see how I organize my own home! This month...how I organize my makeup. Every woman is different when it comes to preferences on how we get ready in the mornings...this is how I do mine.
In my previous bedroom, I had a vanity set up at my yellow vintage desk. I loved being able to sit down to do my daily skincare and makeup routine. I had three square vases set up to hold brushes and tall products, while smaller products lived in a drawer. A framed mirror sat in the middle.
In my current home however, my vintage desk is being used as storage and a printer desk in my office. So as with anyone who has recently moved, I had to adjust! I now have a large mirror hanging above my dresser, set up as a dressing table. My jewelry occupies the right half of the dresser top while my makeup and skincare are on the left. I found an awesome Threshold desktop organizer at Target (buy it here), which is perfect to hold makeup brushes and eye makeup (I filled the ceramic mason jars with coffee beans to make them sit at the right height). The front two compartments hold eye shadow compacts, lipstick and lip gloss, and skincare products.
I do love to tweak my system occasionally, so I wouldn't be surprised if this eventually changes, but it works beautifully for me at the moment. If you don't already have a calm and organized morning beauty routine, trying something like this may make all the difference!
Taming Email Using Unroll Me
At the end of many of my sessions, clients will ask me a few questions about other disorganized problem areas. The #1 question I get is how to tame email and digital clutter. My answer is ALWAYS unsubscribe, unsubscribe, unsubscribe.
It's so easy to get bogged down by newsletters, daily deals, and other junk mail...all of which make getting to your important emails harder. I recently moved and signed up for deals through USPS when I changed my address. I got great 10, 15 and even 20% off coupons from some of my favorite home decor sites (I'm looking at you, West Elm)! While I was happy to get the discounts initially, I soon found myself drowning in email. Within two weeks, my normally nicely organized inbox became stressful and overwhelming.
Allow me to introduce Unroll.Me. It has quickly become one of my favorite tools for taming digital clutter. It's a two-step process that works wonders for your daily email haul. The first step is unsubscribing from all unwanted email newsletters. Unroll.Me makes it far easier than hunting down the "unsubscribe here" button on each and every newsletter. The Rollup is a genius feature included in the free service that combines each subscription you've decided to continue receiving into one daily email.
Taking a few minutes to unsubscribe from persistent advertising emails will save you more time than you realize, and will give you peace of mind that what's in your inbox truly needs your attention.
The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up
When I hear a recommendation three times, I'm pretty likely to jump on board! After reading this New York Times article last fall, seeing it on one of my favorite blogs, and having a client sing its praises last week, I finally ordered this book! Marie Kondo's best-selling book about de-cluttering truly shows an organized home is worth far more than you think. Her approach is unconventional (laughable in some ways) but gets down to the core of what simplicity s about.
Her #1 tip is one I live by too - rid your home of everything that does not "spark joy." While I have a looser view than the author (I mean, I'm not going to advise you to throw away your toilet plunger because it doesn't make you feel joyful!), she has a great point. So many times, my clients ask if they can keep some piece of memorabilia. My first question is always, "Do you use it or love it?" Answering that one simple question can take a lot of the mystery out of what to keep and what to toss!
I'm not one to recommend every organizing book on the market - there are simply too many! But this is one that I'd advise adding to your (hopefully organized) bookshelf.
Spring Cleaning & Swimsuit Season
What do these two things have to do with each other, you ask?? I, for one, am preparing for the summer and working on shedding some winter weight. In true Lauren fashion, the only way I know how to do that is to be super organized about it! Here's how I'm working towards my goal...
#1. MyFitnessPal. One of my best friends got me hooked on this app where I track all my calories and exercise. It links up to my FitBit as well to count my steps (I hardly ever sit down so they add up!) and give me calorie credit when I've been especially active. It's a simple system to keep me in check and teach me which meals are healthy and which ones I should only enjoy occasionally. I can't express how much being organized in this way has helped me on my health journey!
#2. The back of my bedroom door has become an inspiration wall of sorts. 104 gym workouts before December 31 (that's two a week on average for the entire year). 104 post-its, divided half & half by color. Complete one workout, crumple up the post-it and deposit it into a vase on my dresser! It's oddly satisfying to come home after a workout and see one more post-it removed from the wall! It's a visual way to motivate myself beyond just relying on the scale.
Find what works for you and attack it in a way that measures success and motivates you! Take bits & pieces of mine or check out Pinterest to create your own system!