Category 1: Hand Lotion

Essentially, as long as there has been Bath and Body Works, I have had an overstock of scented hand lotion. While I was never quite as loyal as some friends to a particular scent, nor did I ever really achieve the scent-stacking of early B&BW years, there was certainly the "Black Raspberry Vanilla" period of my life. 

My collection got much bigger when, while living in Queens, there was a B&BW between the train and my apartment. Long day? Let's go see about a new lotion. Upset about something? Clearly I need a new body scrub. Celebrating? Tiny hand sanitizers for everyone.  

I'd gotten out of the habit, and then it came roaring back a couple of years ago -- a friend had gotten into a direct sales/mlm thing and since I continue to like lotion... 

That's nearly all of the lotion stash. There's one more tub in the bathroom cabinet that I need to move into the drawer.  I clearly have some particular preferred scents: lemon, vanilla/marshmallow, mint, and occasionally some fruit of the peach/mango variety. 

You will notice that these are all the *new* hand lotions. Let's look at my desk where I sit everyday, shall we.  

I tend to moisturize as a passive fidgeting habit throughout the day. But here you can see we have the summer lotion (clementine and mint), the fall lotion (spicy clementine), and the recently arrived winter lotion (peppermint and marshmallow).  Three open lotions just in one room. There's also lotion on my bedside table, because inevitably my hands or feet are dry at the end of the day. 

Now, except for the OMG I found a brightly scented lemon lotion moment...yes it was a moment, no I don't regret it -- I'm fairly consistent in my lotion purchases -- one tube here, one there, depending on what strikes my fancy.  But what has been different in 2020 is that where lotion goes with me and my ability to say "ahh, too much lotion, hey friends at work..." has changed. If we were in late 2019, I'd bag up some of these, leave them on a central table at work with a "Please Adopt Me" sign and they'd be gone by lunch. I'd also have a purse lotion and work bag lotion that would be in rotation during out-and-about of normal life and at least one of those would get lost.  

So what's the plan for using this up. Well, first, I'm moving two of the office lotions to other locations in the house where I sit to knit or read for long periods.  I'm also going to make a concerted effort to not buy more lotion just because Oh Interesting Scent. I have lotion -- I'd like to use it before it hits the ~3 year mark after which it may be less stable (per WebMD, check your local lotion for expiration dates).

I'm still holding onto that unused bottle of Black Raspberry Vanilla though -- memory lane that scent.