In 2005 a woman at a mall kiosk hard sold me a nail treatment kit I did not want and could not afford.

I went home in a complete daze wondering what had just happened.

Then I did something even worse than buying an expensive nail treatment kit. I didn't use it. I'm not the kind of person who takes care of their nails on an ongoing basis. But it was expensive so I didn't want to get rid of it. I told myself I would use it eventually.

I found the cuticle oil from that kit recently. Twenty years later. Nearly full.

Even this many years later, it was a little difficult to get rid of it. But I know now that if I didn't use it in 20 years, I won't use it in the next 20.

This is something I see in every single home I work in. Not cuticle oil specifically, but that same impulse. The good candles that never get lit. The gadget still in the box. The craft supplies for the hobby that never quite happened. Kept, preserved, protected from actually being used.

And we usually know, somewhere in the back of our minds, that we're not going to use it. But getting rid of it means admitting something. That the money was wasted. That the hobby isn't happening. That the version of us who was going to use that thing isn't quite who we turned out to be.

So it sits. And takes up space. While we work around it.

Can you use it, or will you? There's a real difference. That gap is usually where the clutter lives.

What version of yourself are you holding onto in your expired items?

And if you need help letting go of 20 year old beauty products, give me a shout. I'm here to help you say goodbye and let go of the guilt as well.