Organization Quest

Quick Tip: Washing Cosmetic Brushes

Brushes are great for applying any number of products, from foundation and face powder to blush, eye shadow, eyeliner, and even lipstick.  To keep brushes clean, just wash with anti-bacterial soap and warm water and air-dry.

 

This Week On The Quest: Back to the Makeup Drawer

Okay, I know, I know:  those of you whose cosmetic consumption is limited to an occasional swipe of chapstick wish I'd give the whole makeup thing a rest already. And I will, I promise, but right now there's still some unfinished business that needs to be addressed, namely that cosmetic organizer that sent me to the emergency room back in April.  Those of you who've been following the Quest know what I mean; for newbies to the Quest, suffice to say I had a little accident while attempting to make my own drawer organizer.  I'm not going to post a link to that post because I got scolded by my Dad for posting gross-out pictures and he had a point: that's not what the Quest is about.  But I just couldn't let the whole make-up organizer thing go without a fight.  And so that's one of the summertime projects I decided to tackle this week.

Meanwhile, there are so very many cosmetic topics that  never got addressed during the first cosmetic week:  the organizing potential of those freebie "gift with purchase" bags for all kinds of stuff, not just makeup; how to remove mascara stains, which believe me, is no easy task; corner-cutting tips for your morning routine and ideas on (safely and hygienically) getting extra mileage out makeup, as well as how to turn cosmetic purchasing mistakes into new favorites. 

The Ultra Low-Cost, Ultra-Flexible, Multi-Purpose Cleaner: Baking Soda

Earlier in the week, WD-40 had its day in the sun, which got me thinking about my own favorite low-cost, multi-purpose cleaning product, baking soda.  Basically I use baking soda interchangeably for which I might use Comet or Ajax: scrubbing sinks, whether porcelain or stainless steel; getting the mysterious gunk that collects behind facets; scrubbing tubs or laminate counters.  The non-toxic composition of baking soda makes it especially suitable for cleaning the inside of a coffee pot, microwave or refrigerator, while its famous deodorizing ability accounts for the placement of open baking soda boxes in what must be billions of refrigerators worldwide.  I've had less success adding baking soda to litter boxes--the texture seemed to gum up after one use--and I'm skeptical of some uses sited on various online sources, such as using baking soda to clean jewelry or marble.  But one task at which baking soda really excels is removing coffee or tea stains from cups: just take a tablespoon or so, wet with water to make a paste, and wipe the stains clean away in a matter of seconds. 

Contaminated Makeup: What's the Worst that Can Happen?

I know that last week was supposed to be cosmetic week on the Quest, but my little Xacto knife mishap put me back a few days.  I did think it was important to include today's topic to provide some motivation to throw out any cosmetics that might be worse than gross, but truly dangerous to your health.

Cosmetics can get seriously contaminated in any number of ways:

• Adding water to products to bring back the original consistency. The Medical College of Wisconsin's web site notes that this "could introduce bacteria that can easily grow out of control."
• Using old applicators with new products.  The University of Illinois at Chicago Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences specifically warns against this practice, explaining that "the applicator will transfer bacteria to the new cosmetic."
• Keeping and using makeup after an eye infection. According to the American Optometric Association, "Bacterial Conjunctivitis is an infection most often caused by staphylococcal or streptococcal bacteria [and] can also occur by . . .use of contaminated eye makeup and facial lotions."  In other words, if you do come down with an eye infection, throw out your eye makeup.  All of it.  Really.  This isn't something you want to mess around with.
•  Sharing cosmetics.  This is probably the biggest no-no listed among the many sites I researched.  One of the biggest risks of sharing lip gloss, for instance, appears to be "invasive meningoccal disease" (meningitis) according to the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, as well as rheumatic fever.  Likewise, the Australian Herpes Management Forum notes that there is a "moderate" chance of getting herpes from lipstick or lip gloss with someone who has a cold sore. Consumer Reports also notes that "if you come in contact with another person's germs" by sharing mascara, "you could wind up with conjunctivitis or some other infection."
• Improper storage.  The Consumer Reports article specifically warns against storing mascara above 85 degrees Fahrenheit and to not "leave it in your car for long periods. Temperatures can soar in a vehicle, making it easier for bacteria to grow." The Medical College of Wisconsin also mentions that, "Light and heat can degrade preservatives."
• Improper technique.  Because every exposure cosmetics have to air has the introduces pathogens, cbn.com warns to "Never pump your mascara; air just pushes back into the tube."
• Sometimes it's the manufacturer's fault.  According to the FDA,  "most cases of contamination are due to manufacturers using poorly designed, ineffective preservative systems and not testing the stability of the preservatives during the product's customary shelf life and under normal use conditions."

Although as the FDA notes, "Cosmetics are not expected to be totally free of microorganisms when first used or to remain free during consumer use," the problem with keeping cosmetics past their prime (see yesterday's post on Expiration Dates for Makeup) is that continued use over time invites contamination.  "Every time you open a bottle of foundation or case of eye shadow, microorganisms in the air have an opportunity to rush in," is how the FDA puts it.  "Preservatives degrade over time and may no longer be able to fight bacteria," is what the Medical College of Wisconsin has to say on the subject.  What this all points to is the old adage: when in doubt, throw it out.

Are There Expiration Dates for Makeup?

Are there expiration dates for makeup?  Yes and no. According to the FDA, "There are no regulations or requirements under current United States law that require cosmetic manufacturers to print expiration dates on the labels of cosmetic products." Nonetheless, makeup isn't like snack cakes, folks.  It really does have a shelf life.

How long does makeup last, exactly?  According to this excellent article on the CBS News website, the general guidelines for cosmetic viability are as follows:

• Liquid Foundation, 3-6 months
• Cream foundation 4-6 months
• Concealer, 6-8 months
• Powders (eye shadows, blush), 1 year
• Mascara, 3 months
• Lip gloss & Lipstick, 1 year
• Eye/Lip Pencils, 1 year (sharpen pencils at least once a week to prevent bacteria from being transferred to your eye area. You'll know the product has gone bad if it dries or crumbles).

I'm not going to lie to you, Questers:  I assure you I have powders that are older than a year.  Like lip gloss and lipstick, I keep powders until they develop a funny texture or smell weird.  But that's me.  Generally I do adhere to the rest of the suggested expiration dates, although it does seem I  keep my mascara for closer to six months.  Nothing has happened to me yet, but as you know from last week's mishap with the craft knife, I live on the edge. 

The Great Makeup Cleanup: Round 2 (and Practically Painless Progress)

Sometimes when I have a big project, I find it helpful to think of it in terms of a boxing match.  You know: Round 1, Round 2, etc.  I'm not sure how many rounds boxing matches have, but whatever.  The point is to break up the project into smaller parts, the better to celebrate small victories, which in turn provide motivation for more action.

Earlier in the week, it took over two hours to clear off the top of my old-fashioned vanity, so mid-week I was looking for an easy victory to cheer me up and give me a little boost without sapping too much energy.  Using the Ground Zero Approach, I decided that now that the vanity top was cleared, what  bothered me the most was the tiny masterbath counter.  Apparently I'd decided to take the everything-but-the-kitchen-sink approach and apply it to the sink in the bathroom.

To minimize the effort of clearing the counter, I decided to use my Pass-By Approachby which I pick up one item every time I pass by a particular location (i.e. the masterbath counter) and then put that one item away. In this manner, the area was completely and painlessly cleared without dedicating more than a minute or two at a time each time I passed the counter.  As you can see from the picture below, the "before" shot wasn't pretty:

 

After putting everything away, it took me all of 16 minutes to wipe the counter, scrub the sink, and polish the mirror.  I don't have an "after" picture yet because I forgot to take one at the time and I can't take one right now, Alpay being an early-to-bed-early-to-rise type and I can only imagine his reaction if I broke out the camera, turned on the lights, and obsessively lined up the tubes and bottles remaining on the counter, turning them this way and that in the attempt to discover the most photogenic angle for facial scrub. Marriage is nothing if not compromise.  Judging by the "before" picture here and elsewhere on the Quest, my guess is that Alpay would whole-heartedly agree.

Back on Track: The Great Makeup Re-Org

So with the little drama of my (failed) attempt to craft drawer dividers now firmly in the past, it's time to pick up the pace and get on with organizing the makeup drawer, already. 

This project was so out of control, with makeup piled on the bathroom counter, makeup toppled on the vanity and crammed in the drawers, makeup stacked and tucked and jammed in any number of places, I wondered if a person in the midst of organizing their makeup had been the one to coin the term "driven to drink." Because that's pretty much how I was feeling.

Instead, I decided to push my dread aside and Just Start Somewhere.  Here's some techniques that helped get me started and to build up some momentum:

Decide What Will Make The Biggest Impact and Start There

This is related to the Ground Zero approach of deciding what bothers you the most and tackling that first.  Normally in a project of this type, I like to tackle a drawer first, which in turn makes room for more things to be put away, but the vanity top was so chaotic, I decided to start there.

Decide on the No-Brainer Throw-Aways

Some things are harder to get rid of than others.  Whether going through paperwork, clothes, books, or cosmetics, I find the job is easier if I establish a few ground rules about things I know I don't want.  In the case of cosmetics,  here's my short list of No-Brainer Throw-Away items:

• Anything that has a weird smell = serious microbial infestation.  This isn't up for debate, folks.  Get rid of it. 
• Strange textures: eye pencils that have dried up or hardened, gummy lip glosses, foundation that has developed a sludge-like quality.  
• Containers that have just a teeny-tiny bit of product left to them so that using them is an unpleasant or otherwise frustrating experience.  If you like the product so much, write down the manufacturer and the color for future reference.
• Just-in-case supplies I actually don't like and have never used.
• Packaging of all types:  cosmetic boxes, tissue paper, advertising materials, and package inserts.
• Old eye makeup applicators.
• Sad, worn-out little freebie bags.
• Brushes that come free with blush.
• Fragrance samples (I'm often allergic and have to be careful about what I try on).

 
My enormous throw-out pile. And this was just from the top of the vanity!

Separate out into Piles

At first I keep it simple, with three piles:  throw out, keep, and "maybe".

Decide How to Deal with the "Maybe" Pile

The rejects and the keepers are easy to deal with; it's the "maybe" that tends to cause problems.  Here are four ways I deal with my "maybe" pile:

• If I just can't force myself to toss a particular product, I give in and keep it--but with a caveat:  I make myself wear it.  Sometimes I'm surprised and re-discover an old favorite.  Other times, I can't wash my face fast enough.  And in this way, the "maybe" is quickly re-assigned as a reject or a keeper.
• Second-string cosmetics--not favorites but useful in their own right--make great little "kits" to store in an office drawer or purse.
• Any season-specific cosmetics--i.e. bronzing powder, the lip gloss or nail polish that looks great when you have a tan, etc., get put in it's own little season-specific bag.
• Any other cosmetics that I want to keep but I'm not currently using get assigned to group-specific bags:  eye shadows, blush/power/and foundation, and lipsticks/gloss, and lip liners.

My "After" pix of the top of the vanity: So much better! (Note: the "keepers" seen here are actually going to make their way into the vanity drawer, when I get to that part of the project.)

This Week on The Quest: The Makeup Drawer

Okay, I know some of you are thinking:  an entire week?  on a drawer?  Truth be told, I don't have a makeup drawer--cosmetic vault is more like it, including but not limited to an old-fashioned, five-drawer vanity big enough to store several thousand lipsticks.  What else?  Three medicine cabinets.  Two hatboxes. A few drawers here and there in my study.  The counter in the master bath.  The top of a chest of drawers and the top of the aforementioned vanity. A couple large ceramic pots. Some storage boxes.   And still I run out of room and have to steal space in Alpay's closet.  "You can have half the shelf back if you start buying eye shadow," I'll say, but Alpay remains unmoved by the promise.

While so many areas have improved since I started my Quest to Get Organized last summer, the state of not just my cosmetics but all manner of cleansers, lotions, haircare, pharmaceuticals, and personal grooming supplies has gotten much, much worse, especially in the last few months, when I've essentially given up any semblance of putting such things away in favor of heaping supplies willy-nilly on any available flat surface.  It's been bad, folks.  There's a reason the house-painter hasn't been invited back after painting exactly one-half of the bedroom.  Because look what I would have to move in order for him to finish the job:

Obviously, things are out of control. 

So that's what's up this week: I've decided to give my cosmetics a super-thorough shake down and encourage you to join me.  In the process, we'll review storage guidelines, expiration recommendations, and safety tips, as well as strategies to nudge you along in keep-or-toss decisions, products to help organize and corral supplies, and techniques to restore and maintain order. 

Online Color Visualizers for Help in Choosing Paint Colors

Maybe there are people out there who aren't traumatized by the prospect of choosing paint color; I'm not one of them. I never cease being surprised that the perfect color on a color swatch half the size of a business card turns into some ghastly hue once painted over an entire wall.  A lovely, neutral taupe inexplicably turned a sickly pink; cool, refreshing lavender appeared circus-bright. and a subtle peach looked merely dirty. Looking ahead at this spring's home improvement project, we're looking at the biggest painting job since we've moved in nine years ago. Suffice to say I'm a little worried.

Happily, there are plenty of cool tools out there designed with the express purpose of helping DIYers  see the big picture, at least when it comes to paint colors.  Almost every major brand has color visualizers, which "paint" the walls of virtual rooms the colors that you choose.  Most visualizers offer virtual kitchens, living rooms, and bathrooms that are all furnished and accessorized in ways appropriate for the particular room, the better to see what a particular color looks like in different settings.  Among the visualizers available are:

• Sherwin Williams Color Visualizer 
   Sherwin Williams' Color Visualizer is one of the easiest on-line resources to use: just pick the room, choose your color, and point at the wall.  I like Sherwin Williams' paint and the store is just around the corner, so this is the brand I went with, but other brands have great on line resources as well.
  
• Benjamin Moore Paints Personal Color Viewer
  Another easy-to-use, point-and-click resource.  Benjamin Moore paint is a favorite with interior designers for its quality and selection of colors.
• Valspar at Lowes Paint Online
  Valspar's on-line visualizer is a little more complicated to use, but I like the way they have organized colors not only by color family but by description: "brights," "misted," "muted," "shaded," "neutral," and "whites" are among the categories used. The collection includes paint from Eddie Bauer, Martha Stewart, and Laura Ashley, among other designers.

 
Above: My first paint experiment in our condo, nine years ago.  I painted an accent wall in the bathroom light lemon yellow, then layered peach over it, followed by two shades of purple.  Then while everything was still wet, I took a fork and made squiggle patterns all over the place.  The pix above was the view in the round mirror above the sink.  To the right is the marble tile of the shower, to the left is my masterpiece.  "Oh my God," he said when I showed him. "It's awful." So much for getting creative on the bathroom wall!

Downloadable, Editable Chore Lists, Cross-Referenced By Room and Frequency

All right Questers, I've been busy.  I took the chore lists from the last four posts and cross-referenced them by room and by frequency of chore.  Then I researched a way to link the two documents, so if you edit one list, you automatically update the other.

Now here's the fun part:  if you use Windows XP and have Microsoft Office 2003, you can customize the Chore List By Room to reflect the specific things you need to do, and the Chore Schedule will automatically update accordingly.  Just be sure to make any changes to the Chore List By Room file and not the other way around.  Also, when opening the Chore Schedule, a window with the following message will appear:

This document contains links that may refer to other files.  Do you want to update this document with the data from the linked files?

Say "yes" (otherwise the link between the two files will be broken)

Here are the two Microsoft Office 2003 documents:

Download Chore list by room Word doc

Download Chore schedule Word doc

For those of you who aren't on Windows XP or don't have MS Office 2003, here are pdfs of the lists; you won't be able to edit these, but perhaps seeing the list by both room and frequency may be of use to you:

Download Chore list by room pdf

Download Chore schedule pdf

The What-to-do-When Chore List, Part I: Bathrooms

This fall, I wrote a post in which I basically mocked the idea of the what-to-do-when chore list as being compulsive and unnecessary.  I've since noticed that one of the top three google searches that land viewers onto the Quest are for . . . well, you guessed it. Moreover,  I've since re-discovered the satisfaction of checking items off a list.  And after talking with others who have more complicated arrangments for household maintenance, I also see the value of a list for those assigning chores to children, for those with hired help,  or for roommates splitting up the housework.  So here's my take on what needs to be done when in the bathroom, when it comes to chores:

Daily

• Scoop the poop from the litter box
• Sweep/vacuum excess litter from floor

• Wipe off sink/vanity with a paper towel after use

Several Times a Week

• Completely replace cat litter
• Replace hand towels

Weekly or Every-Other-Week: "Clean the Bathroom Basics"

• Take out trash
• Remove everything that's out--soap dish, shampoo bottles, etc.
• Polish mirror
• Scrub sink/vanity
• Scrub tub
• Scrub toilet
• Floors:
  1. sweep
  2. mop
  3. scrub grout
  4. scrub baseboards
• Dust/rinse off everything that has been taken out and put back
• Wash bath mat

Regular Extras

• Clean vent
• Wash out waste-paper basket
• Wipe light fixtures
• Replace soap
• Wipe off door knob
• Wipe around light switch

Spring Cleaning Extras--1 or 2x/year or as needed

• Organize under-sink cabinets--take everything out, wipe shelves or bottom of cabinet, wipe off or wash, and return
• Organize medicine cabinets--take everything out, wipe shelves or bottom of cabinet, wipe off or wash, and return
• Wash walls
• Scrub wall tiles in shower

4-Room Cleaning Guide

I love to troll the Internet and share really good articles when I find them.  Surfing this evening, I came across an old favorite article from Real Simple that I'd forgotten about:  the name of the article, "Quick Cleaning Solutions for Every Room," is a bit of a misnomer, in that some of the solutions take half-a day, which is none too quick in my book. Nonetheless, thearticle is eminently helpful and provides a fairly comprehensive task list for The Big Four:  kitchen, living room, bathroom, and bedroom.  The real stroke of genius, though, is the way the tasks for each room are organized according to how much time you have to clean: 15 minutes, 30 minutes, an hour, or a half a day. I found the lists to be the most logical yet in terms of what it takes to pull a room together, and the time-estimates seem about right, too.  (The one exception: I've never needed to spend a half a daycleaning any bathroom I've owned--even if I did everything on the list.) Another nice touch: Room-specific product suggestions are given for each room. 

 

Heretical Bathroom Cleaning

There's a basic rule--or there should be--that people who write blogs shouldn't knowingly pass on bad advice to their readers.  So don't think of tonight's post as advice; consider it an anecdote.

I use Comet to clean my bathroom floors.  Comet, Ajax, Bon Ami--it doesn't really matter, although I am curiously drawn to Comet's neon-green packaging. My theory is that there is a point at which Gaudy is so over the top, it becomes sort of mesmerizing.  Anyway.

Before we moved into our condo, we mostly had vinyl flooring in the bathroom; occasionally we had ceramic tile.  Both were blessedly easy to clean. I was partial to Spic-n-Span, which seemed to do the job just fine.  But when we moved to the condo, I had the opportunity to choose my flooring, and for the guest bath I threw caution and common sense to the wind and chose marble tile.  It seemed nothing was "safe" for cleaning marble tile, except special marble-floor cleaner, which I used to dubious effect.

Maybe the problem was that we were forced to put the cat box in the guest bath; in the past, we had a basement or an out-of-the-way place to put the box, and when we rented houses, the cat would mostly go outside anyway.  But in the condo, the marble floors seemed to absorb the dust from the litter.  Using the special marble cleaner, the grout was always disgusting, too.  And I didn't have much better luck with the floor in master bath, which is composed of teeny-tiny ceramic tiles, for that 80's gym look.  In the case of the master bathroom, the 2" x 2" tile made for a lot of grout that was perpetually dingy. 

Completely at a loss, one day I sprinkled Comet on the marble floor in a pique of frustration. I took a brush and scrubbed at a spot and the result was near-miraculous; it was clean.  The grout was gratifyingly grime-free, too.  I sprinkled with abandon and scrubbed the whole floor.  As far as I was concerned, I'd found the holy grail of marble floor-cleaning.

I used the Comet-and-scrub brush technique on the grout around the teeny tiny tiles in the master bath, and the result was as white as can be.  Eventually, I fine-tuned the procedure:  basically I wet the floor with a mop, then sprinkle with Comet and scrub with a brush.  Then I rinse the floors--usually twice--to get rid of the gritty residue. Gorgeous, clean floors, and no one is the wiser for my unconventional methods.

Again, appologies to those who subscribe to my posts via email; I accidently clicked "send" before this post was finished, thus explaining the mysterious email you just got without a title. Yow.

Medicine Cabinets Need Stylists, Too

If cleaning the under-sink cabinet was seriously gross, the medicine cabinets, in comparison, were Not That Bad, especially considering that the last time I cleaned them was . . . . let's see . . . sometime after 2000 but before 2004. . . let's move on.

It took an hour and forty minutes to clear them out, remove and wash all the shelves, make agonizing decisions on what to toss, and then wipe down and organize everything going back. 

The part I like best about any project is "styling" the newly cleaned space: arranging things so they are visually attractive as well as easy to reach and use. 

On my "raid the stash" spree the weekend before last, I enoyed the last light from the wood-wick candle my boss had given me a couple years ago; the tall glass container has a lovely shape and was too pretty to throw away.  Cleaned up, it's perfect for storing cotton balls (see above, right). A Turkish tea glass holds cotton swabs while sample-size skin treatments find a tidy home in an antique, cut-glass powder holder. An antique pig (above, left) is a convenient place to stash ponytail holders.

One of my most vexing organizational challenges was figuring out how to attractively stash what my 7th grade gym teacher used to call feminine protection.  After scoping out possible storage solutions, I realized that a freebie cosmetics bag (above, left) I had on hand is actually the perfect size for liners, while a decorative Kleenex box is exactly the right size and shape for other such supplies.  This just goes to show that sometimes the best storage solutions are the ones you already own.

Cleaning and Organizing the Master Bath Medicine Cabinets

This Weekend: Back To The Dread List

While I've made great leaps and bounds in de-junking and organizing this past month and in maintaining the various progress made, the items on my Dread List and Put-Off List have pretty much languished.  I could probably come up with a convincing explanation as to why clearing out and organizing the medicine cabinets in the master bath is Just Too Hard, but nobody likes a whiner. So instead I'll offer up what's on this weekend's to-do list:

1. Clean/organize the medicine cabinets in the master bath
2. Clean/organize the under-sink cabinet in the master bath
3. Spend an hour or two going through/filing the various papers unearthed from the craft closet project
4. Clean the bathrooms
5. Tidy up my study
6. Make an apple pie

Quick Tip: Cleaning Shower Curtains

  Given that inhaling the odor of new shower curtains turns out to be a smell-at-your-own-risk venture, here's a tip for quickly cleaning your old one: throw it in the wash machine. Works great with a minimum of hassle.