I haven't bought soap since 2014

I haven't bought soap since 2014. Don't worry, I've still been washing. When I was decluttering my bathroom at the beginning of 2015, I found soap. A lot of soap! These are just the body washes.


I also have soap bars. And I found another bottle of body wash in another part of the house after I took this photo.

I've rarely finished my products. I usually tire of what I have and buy new products before using it up. The old stuff sits around until I get annoyed with moving it out of the way and I end up throwing it out. It's wasteful financially and it's bad for the environment.

This year (and from now on), because I've decided to become a minimalist, that's just not an option. I'm not buying new products until I get to the end of the ones I have. I've gotten to the end of a shampoo bottle the other day. I also got to the end of a cleaning product. Used up to the last drop. I know it sounds silly and maybe a little sad, but it made me happy.

I don't think there's a big lesson in this post. I'm just sharing a little of the progress I've made with minimalism. Bringing it back to basics. I'm still working towards minimalism every day, one body wash bottle at a time. It's a choice. Some days choosing minimalism is easy and I don't even really think about it. Other days, I have to make an effort.

But maybe there is a lesson... Maybe the reason I wasn't getting to the end of a body wash bottle had something to do with being unhappy with certain aspects of my life. Maybe I was fooling myself into thinking that if I get that new body wash (or insert whatever other thing here) that I'd finally be a little happier with my circumstances instead of taking real action to improve what I'm really unhappy with. Lately, I've been taking all sorts of action and reflecting on it all. Maybe that's why I don't look to body wash to make me happy anymore. Huh! Look at that... a lesson.

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