Stockpiling: have I finally learned my lesson?

Stockpiling was something I learned at a very early age. My dad didn't buy months-long supplies of things, he bought decades-long supplies of things. I am not much better. But in one small area, I think I have finally learned my lesson. It only took a little external incentive from my doctor.

I've been over the "I have severe eczema, therefore I will try any cream that exists and will buy truckloads of anything that works for fear it will be discontinued" problem I have. Same went for foundation. I would buy multiple bottles of any foundation that worked. Problem was, I would end up throwing most of this stuff out in the end, either because it expired or because I would inevitably find out I was allergic to it, even if I thought I wasn't.

My dermatologist has finally put an end to my hand cream and foundation stockpiling habit. A little while ago I had patch testing done to evaluate my skin allergies. More or less, they glue blobs of 140 things to your back and leave them there for four days.

Before. From http://www.occderm.asn.au/services.html

In the end, you end up looking something like this: 

Positive reactions to a patch test. http://www.occderm.asn.au/services.html

Which mostly amounts to four days of being seriously itchy and smelly because you can't shower for four days! What did all of this unpleasantness amount to? I'm not allergic to much, but I'm allergic to some stuff that frequently finds its way into cosmetics and food. My doctor gave me a 10-page list of the only shampoos, toothpastes, hairsprays, cosmetics, creams, and lotions I could use without giving myself a reaction similar to the one above.

My list of hand creams, face creams, and foundations I can use now is very short. For hand and face creams I'm limited to Aquaphor, petroleum jelly, or mineral oil. For foundation I'm limited to Bare Minerals Matte. Not even the original, only the matte. This is not a bad thing.

Would you believe I'm
missing one bottle in this picture?

You see, I still have been using the stockpile of Eucerin products I bought on sale over a year ago, maybe even two years ago. This is only half of what I bought originally (12 in total), and now I finally realize that it's been contributing to my awful hand rashes. I can see that when I use it I get a rash within four days, and when I use petroleum jelly there's no rash even after a few days. Keeping the stuff around for so long also encouraged it to grow bacteria, which couldn't have helped. I should know better, I've dealt with the bacteria issue before!

Seven tubes of cream/lotion at $7 each is $49. I wasted $49 because I got excited about a sale. Sales are a myth to get me to spend more money!! The unopened bottles I'll drop off in the ladies rooms at work for others to use. The two opened ones will get trashed.

I'm happy I have the external incentive to downsize the quantity of cosmetics and creams I use. I now have one large jar of aquaphor in the cabinet, which I dilute with mineral oil. I fill a small mason jar from this tub and keep that at work. I expect that this will last me 6 months. Since one tub costs $20, each year I will only spend now $40 on hand and face cream. Yay for saving money and minimizing my cream/lotion collection!

As for the foundation, one thing of Bare Minerals foundation will supposedly last about 2 months. That's $25 every two months, which is still an unpleasant $150/year. However, given that the last time I stockpiled foundation I threw out three bottles of $14 foundation. I now know that I can't stockpile makeup because it grows bacteria, so there will be no danger of me doing that!

So, I've gotten some extra space in my medicine cabinet and makeup box and saved myself some money over the coming year, and reduced the amount of unused makeup and cream ending up in landfills. Oh, and no more itchy hands and face! Not that I'd recommend having allergies as a way of permanently streamlining your personal care routine though. But hey, there's good in everything, right?

How do you keep your cosmetics and lotions from taking over your cabinet?  How do you keep from overbuying?

The Reckoning

What: Seven bottles of creams and lotions
Cost: $49
Fate: Opened ones went in the trash, unopened ones get dropped off in the ladies rooms at work.
Total money wasted on crap I never should've bought: $2019.00. I just hit $2000 wasted. Dammit. 

Medicine cabinet before the hand cream purge

Medicine cabinet after the hand cream purge. Nail polish is next!