Makeup organization

Last year I really focused on getting my home more organized. I still have a long way to go but I got started. As far as makeup goes I had so much. Too much. I don't know how beauty bloggers do it because I had too much just from the few items I have reviewed or won in giveaways. Here is what I did to get organized and this has worked really well for me.

To start I gathered everything and tossed anything which had expired. This included anything I knew was old but did not have an expiration symbol. It did not include my nail polish because no. I can't.

Next I sorted everything by type. Eye shadows in one pile. Lipsticks in another. You get the idea. Then I entered everything into a spreadsheet. I have it sorted by types. Those are then sorted by expiration dates so I have my makeup which expires first listed first.

Looking at my spreadsheet I take one of each item and put those in one of my old Ipsy bags. So there you have it. Easy no thinking makeup for a month. At the end of the month I look at my spreadsheet and toss anything which has expired and replace it with the next to expire item.

Here's a photo of my current bag. For my nail polish I set out anything new to be tried out and once I've used them I get out my stash and pick out some oldies to use. So I actually have a mix of new and old in this picture.

Additional items like cuticle cream or lip balm go in my makeup storage unit. I keep brushes not in use here. I also have extra lip sticks, eyeliners, etc. here for when I get bored of using the same products every day. 

I also usually keep my newest Ipsy bag out and mix those items with my daily makeup bag. Once I review the items they go into the appropriate location. 

Here in this last picture I have four Sterilite boxes. I keep my nail art supplies in one. In another I keep any extra makeup which won't fit in my other places. Then one has exercise items and the last is just odds and ends. The large box in front there is my new Zumba set I got for Christmas.  Then I have my at home spa and my gel nail light. All of the other boxes store my nail polish. 

I actually am working on weeding out some polishes because I've found the new polish just doesn't last long. Especially not the jellies. I will probably get rid of some when Zoya hast their next Earth Day sale. 

So that's how I've gotten organized and for me it works. 

My spreadsheet makes it easy for me to see when I'm going to have to buy more makeup. I also keep track of my Ipsy preferences and what I actually receive within the spreadsheet. I tweak my Ipsy preferences based on what I'm going to need and so far it has worked pretty well and I've been much happier with my bags. For instance I know I will need more mascara soon but I have enough moisturizer to last me many months so I will change my Ipsy settings to kind of reflect that. 

Let me know in the comments how you stay organized. 

Tips for preventing pests in your home

I received this item in exchange for an honest review.

 This is my last review for now, and yes it's not my usual subject matter. I try to blog about all things which effect my daily life, so I feel it's relevant. Despite having Mr. Furrball - who is a pretty good mouser despite having no claws - we do have some mice in our home. I've been doing research to learn more about getting rid of them and honestly it seems like the best thing you can do is prevent them from coming into your home altogether.

There are a few things I've done to help prevent them:

1) Keep your house clean. This is more difficult for me since I have chronic pain, but I've been working on keeping our home cleaner and it does seem to help. Of course the cleaner your house is, the easier it is to stay clean. I think the best tip is to just never keep dirty dishes in the sink because that's a food source for any pests. I've found doing dishes as they are dirtied is simply the easiest way to stay on top of dishes. This way you don't have 50 dishes to do all at once.

2) If you have pets, try to keep their food up where the pests can't get to it. I usually keep food out all day which means the mice have access to that food which of course is not ideal but I don't really have any other good option on where to put his food.

3) Look for entry ways and either board them up or put steel wool in the holes. I think this has helped the most because the mice simply can't chew through the wool - not to mention, we only have the kind with soap so I'm sure they don't like that. Of course this means they will have to look for other entry ways but if there aren't any, problem solved.

4) Use peppermint oil. This essential oil in particular is supposed to confuse them. It's been said to keep bugs in general away. This is another step I have done which has seemed to have helped a lot. I just put some drops of peppermint oil on a cotton pad and leave it anywhere I've seen mice. I've also tried wiping down surfaces with the oil to keep them away.

5) Get a cat! Winslow has trapped or killed a few of our mice and other bugs even without claws.

6) Lastly, you can use a pest repellent like the one I will be reviewing today.

Product Description
DO THEY WORK? - That's the big question. There are no guarantees and that's the TRUTH with this kind of technology. Have a look at the reviews for other products and you will see some say it works & others not. Results are based on a number of factors including the type of pest & environment conditions. We tell you this as we want to be HONEST, but we have tested & developed a step by step guide alongside the multi-function our repeller offers to get the BEST RESULTS POSSIBLE in 4-6 WEEKS.

5 in 1 TECHNOLOGY - To get ultimate results you need a variety of technology - Ultrasonic waves emit a loud siren that humans cannot hear but is hugely irritating to pests - Electromagnetic vibrations don't let pests rest - Ionic control cleans the air of pollutants & food odors that attract pests. AC Socket allows you to plug in small devices & a light sensor activated night light gives a soft glow in dark places.

TESTED & EFFECTIVE - We have tested and tested some more to develop the most effective method to get rid of and reject pests. We have put this into a step by step guide so that you can have a pest free home. This is ESSENTIAL otherwise you will be continuously chasing these bugs around! Perfect against rats, mice, insects, spiders and more, but pet and human friendly (One repeller needed for each room)

MODERN DESIGN & EASY TO USE - The FIRAA repeller comes in a cool black body, with a nice soft blue night light. It will look the part anywhere in the Home and not attract unwanted attention but rather fit into the surroundings and be the envy of friends and family. The electric repeller just needs to be plugged in - no need to adjust any settings, it does it all for you automatically (adjusts frequency also).

Review
I noticed within the first day of use the moths in our home seemed very confused and we haven't had a moth problem since I started using this. We also seem to have fewer spiders. They seemed to go into hiding with use of this product. Unfortunately it didn't get rid of the gnats - we always have a ton of gnats in the summer with it being so humid here next to Lake Michigan. I was hoping it would keep the centipedes away but they didn't seem to mind it, either.

As for the mice, I definitely have not seen as many mice since I started using this product in addition to using the above techniques. I have not seen any in a few weeks - but I do hear them almost every night so unfortunately they are still in the house. I tried doing as instructing and unplugging the repeller for awhile, then plugging it back in to confuse them. I found the mice would just come out more once I unplugged it. So if anything, I want to say this does seem to keep the mice more confined to the walls which in the long run should help.

The company claims this product emits a sound which humans cannot hear but I can definitely hear it. I don't keep this plugged in all the time because I do find it a bit distracting. My cat also doesn't seem to like the noise. I had plugged this into an outlet in our kitchen and he just froze in place when he first heard it and then refused to go into the kitchen. He did seem to get used to it, but I ended up placing it in a higher outlet which seemed to help him but didn't seem to keep the mice away quite as well.

I do like that this has an outlet on the side so it doesn't completely tie up your outlet. I used this feature once with no issue.

The night light I feel is a nice feature to have - but I left it turned off because the light bothered me a bit, but that's probably an epilepsy quirk. So I definitely appreciate being able to have the option of turning the night light on or off.

I did find the single unit seemed to be enough to keep the pests away from our entire home. We do live in a small apartment (1 bedroom, living room, kitchen, bathroom and spare room.) The frame of our home is made out of metal which I would guess makes the sound bounce back and forth more than normal perhaps, I'm not sure.

I was concerned about how this would effect my aquarium pets but my snail, frog and fish did not seem to be effected by it at all.

I would recommend this product - or a similar one - to anyone wanting to keep pests out of their homes but be aware there are some issues with it and it may or may not keep them all away.

Unfortunately this product seems to have changed in availability in the time since I received it for review. It was $29.60 on Amazon at that time. It is currently available on Amazon from third party sellers for $149.95 and they are currently backordered until November 11. Hopefully once they're back in stock the price will drop back down?