Thursday, January 1, 2015

My 2015 Capsule Collection Goals and Blogging Resolutions

Happy New Year, my lovely readers! I hope your New Year's Eve was filled with laughter, bubbles, good company and only a fleeting moment of deepest reflection ;) Here's to a wonderful 2015 for all of us!

The beginning of a New Year is always a bittersweet time for me; among all the party fun and social obligations, my thoughts often turn inwards to analyze the achievements (and fails) of the past year and to set goals and resolutions for the months to come. I tend to be quite hard on myself and sometimes blow negative things out of proportion, but actually, this year, I'm feeling pretty good!
In 2014, I made good on my resolution to post at least two times a week, and if you look at the number of posts per year since my blog's inception, it's been the second most prolific year of my blogging career - no doubt mostly due to the fact that I've had a lot of free time to allocate for developing my online space, but also because I've tried to be very consistent and plan and schedule posts in advance for the times I'm not around to write at leisure (like the past two weeks when we've been in Poland for the Holidays). I think this posting discipline has also helped me to be more creative overall, and using my blogging notebook to jot down ideas served as a back-up when I felt the flow of ideas slowing down for a bit. Last year, I also said I wanted to include you more in my personal life, and while there's still a lot I'd like to do in that regard, there's been a couple travel posts, tags as well as a whole lot of photos on my Instagram to give you a better idea who I am as a living breathing human, not just a made up face.

As for the stash-reducing, capsule collection goals, I'd like to stay on the same track of purchasing no more than 2 new products a month, but with certain exceptions. I did so well last year in terms of using up my skincare back-up stash that I now actually regularly run out of products, and I feel that these necessary repurchases should be exempt from my limit. I would also like to exclude make-up brushes from my self-imposed allowance, because I gave away so many that weren't working for me in the past couple years that I now have some gaps in my collection, and I'd like to fill those in with some luxuriously soft specimens.

Looking at my make-up collection at the beginning of 2015, I'm very happy with what I own and I want to take the time to appreciate and enjoy all I have without the constraints of too many 'Project X Pan' / 'Use it all up' challenges, although I will be participating in another Project Make A Dent, hopefully armed with experiences from the past year and better prepared this time round. I also don't foresee the need to further declutter my stash in any significant way, but when the need arises, I'd like to be more decisive in giving away or tossing products that don't work for me.

And that's about it! No major changes or drastic challenges, but a path of sustained, controlled consumerism. I no longer want to punish myself for making bad purchasing decisions in the past by desperately trying to use things up, I just want to enjoy what I own and treat myself here and there without feeling guilt or anxiety over the rest of my collection. What are your plans and resolutions for 2015? Are you going to take part in any stash-reducing projects this year? I'd love to know!

8 comments:

  1. Well, I am doing a stash reduction as well (or I should say I just tossed a bunch of stuff before relocating) and I think I finally passed the phase of drugstore hoarding (they didn't cost too much but they were kind of a waste of time now looking back). Anyway, I am afraid that I will just shift my attention to yarn and pens instead, which is probably more expensive than buying craps at CVS (It's like I ended my soda addition with a tea addition instead, at least it's healthier).

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  2. Happy new year and thanks for sharing, Monika. I'm going to be one track minded this year and focus on myself - to be fitter and stronger. My body's been very different after 3 children and it's time to focus on myself, to take care of myself before I can take better care of others. As for blogging, I'm just taking it as it goes since it's never been the top priority in my life. Wonder if I can use up any makeup this year though... prob'ly won't be using too much :-)

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  3. Hi Monica! I am going to try and stick to posting twice a week as well. And I do need to be better about my makeup purchases and think things through better instead of feeling the urge to buy almost every product that comes out. I like the idea of buying just two products a month. I think I could do that!

    Happy New Year and once again, I am so jealous but happy for you, that you got to spend your Christmas time in Poland!

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  4. I've been thinking about making a Project Make a Dent myself! One of my goals this year is not getting in so many maleup-buying-rampages, so that would probably help. I'm also planning on doing "shopping my stash" posts and so on to rediscover old favourites and stop the need to get new stuff. :)

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  5. Monika, I really admire your little enterprise here, the planning and the thinking that involved behind each posts. I wish I can have the same fortitude but alas, most of the time, I'm lacking time :-D. Also, the plan that you thought of for your makeup/skin care collection, they are really inspiring! Actually, I've been mulling about something in line of Project-Make-A-Dent. It is bubbling now, so I will just have to sit down and write. Maybe not so much about "making a dent" but more about optimal utilization of things I owned, which hopefully will lead to more inspiration & joy in life. My warmest & best wishes for 2015 to you and yours!

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  6. I feel like you've sort of picked up where I left off on the reducing aspect but with much greater success. :) I'm not making annual resolutions anymore but every day I look at piles of things and group them into stacks to give away, donate or sell. The biggest is the keep pile but I'm relatively happy with it. Good luck in 2015 - I'm sure you'll manage to keep yourself well in check.

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  7. Hi Monika! I'm so happy to hear that 2014 was a great year for you :D I've decided to acquire less and use up my stash, starting with a 1 product-a-month purchase challenge and a Project Pan :) I've been overwhelmed by the volume of products I had, so this is a welcome year for using stuff up! Good luck with your 2015 goals :)

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    1. Hi Carina! :) Wow, those are some rather ambitious goals - one product a month is quite strict, but I'm sure you'll do great! I often get that same feeling when looking at my existing stash, and compared to most beauty bloggers, I feel that I don't even have that much. Good luck to you too!

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