Last January, I lined up every product on my bathroom counter and counted twenty-three bottles. Serums I'd used twice. A moisturizer still in its box. Three different cleansers, each bought because someone on the internet said it would change everything. I hadn't finished a single product in months.
The Shelf Audit
I gave myself one rule: use what I have before buying anything new. No exceptions for limited editions, no “but this one has niacinamide.” The first two weeks were uncomfortable in a way that surprised me — I kept reaching for my phone to browse, reflexively, the way you check a fridge you just closed.
“The most radical thing I did all year was finish a bottle of cleanser.”