We know, we know. Teens get such a bad rap about being slobs and Chloe is, after all, a teen. She tries hard to overcome her natural tendencies to cover the floor with clothes and toss things in random place, but it's not going to change anytime soon. Since I'm an organizing freak, admittedly OCD, and Chloe's totally honest idea of clean means out of sight and out of mind, arguing about being organized comes naturally in our household, especially whenever I open a drawer in her room. So when I opened her drawers and her makeup was a jumbled mess, I listened to my inner Dr. Phil. I counted to 10, took deep breaths, and calmed down. Instead of the typical mom / daughter "moment," (i.e., me fuss, she pout, I fume, she fume, we fume) we decided to solve the problem once and for all. Especially since Chloe is craving deep dark fall colors and needs room for them!
Patting ourselves on the back, (well, why not?) we tried to figure out the best solution. The lightbulb went off when we took a look at her spice rack for our nail polish. The "aha" idea: why not use another kitchen item, drawer dividers, for her makeup since she stores it in drawers? It works perfectly and she's been staying super almost organized. Check it out, just because a divider is made for the kitchen doesn't mean it has to stay in the kitchen!
While you are organizing, it's a great time to get rid of anything that: (1) has expired, (2) looked better in the store than it did when you got home, or (3) was a gift from Aunt Molly that you had to say thank you for, but you know you are never going to use. The general rule is to get rid of foundations, concealers, and lipsticks that are a year old and mascara that was purchased more than six months ago.
We averted a huge - ahem- "discussion" about staying organized by simply working together to come up with a solution... and we came up with a solution by being creative. And it's working!
How about you? Do you and your mom/teen ever argue about organizing your vanity? How do you keep your makeup organized?