Create a Project Use It Up when spending and volume seem out of control.  Or even just to live with less.  Reduce spending and consumption by viewing all items as a category.  For example, nail polish.  Gather all items in the category together. Discard or re-home the useful.  Eliminate buying the category to avoid those small, almost-invisible expenditures that add up quickly.  Recall The Money Skinny™ mission is to save you time and money.  Let’s review Project Use It Up tips. We’ll use a Project Polish as an example.  Having a plan and anticipating your needs (and perhaps weaknesses) can save money.

Project Use It Up Tips

• Inventory all items in the category. 
• Discard waste. 
• Re-home duplicates. 
• Stop all purchasing of items in the category. 
• Set a goal for what completion looks like.  Nothing left?  Half gone?  You decide.

Project Polish Background

When items have multiple homes, they multiply.  Nail polish made its way into drawers, baskets and tins.  2-4-6-8 That I don’t appreciate!  Small, inexpensive mood boosters accumulate fast.  Too much polish and not enough digits.  What started as self-care became a burden to maintain.  At the same time technology advances.  Now there are gels, wraps and dips.  While my nail polish is stuck in 1998.  Getting older and drying out.

Project Polish – Let’s Go!

I am committed to not buying nail polish.  No matter how cheap.  No matter how great.  I am focused on what I already own.  Enjoying what I’ve already got.  Would I like a bottle of OPI Hollywood Shine I’m Really An Actress?  Sure.  Am I buying?  Nope.  Project Use It Up helps to eliminate temptation.  At most, buy Beauty Secrets Nail Polish Thinner to revive older polish.

Project Use It Up Mishap

More nail polishing requires more nail polish remover.  Onyx Professional 100% Pure Acetone is cheaper by the ounce and more effective than the Dollar Tree brand.  The Money Skinny™ likes to buy bulk and refill smaller quantity bottles.  This paid off when disaster struck.  I knocked over a bottle of polish remover onto my desk.  Instantly took the finish off.  See the Rorschach Inkblot Test below.  So glad it was a few ounces instead of the full 8 oz. bottle.

Project Use It Up Advice

What happened when I met my no nail polish goal?  I teamed up with a family member.  Bought a pile of neglected polish for a pittance that reduced her inventory.  Slowly painting my way through to another no polish goal while scoffing at retail temptations.

More ways to reduce expenses are available in The Money Skinny™ posts  Tips to Save Money on Food  and Wedding Guest Expenses and Cost Cutting Tips.